Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c18.11

c18.11

With the wealth which Chāṇakya had acquired by his knowledge of Metallurgy, he levied troops and laid seige to Pāṭaliputra, surrounding it on its four sides (*chaturdiśamaveshtayat*). But his army was defeated by the more numerous army of King Nanda, so that he and Chndragupta had to escape by flight. Nanda, however, sent swift horsemen to overtake them. When one of them nearly came up to them, Chāṇakya, then resting on the bank of a lake, in the guise of an ascetic, ordered Chandragupta to plunge into it. Asked by the rider about the runaway youth, Chāṇakya pointed to the lake, into which he plunged, doffing his armour. Chāṇakya instantly seized the sword with which he severed the soldier's head. A second horseman also came up to them in pursuit but was disposed of by Chāṇakya by a similar trick. This time he made a washerman run away by saying that the king had a grudge against his whole guild (*tachchhreṇirushito rājā*) and then took over his work. Chandragupta's implicit faith in his master endeared the master to him, as he told him that he plunged into the lake without caring for his life out of blind devotion to his master.