Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c18.12

c18.12

Next, the Jain story repeats the Buddhist regarding the village boy being rebuked by his mother for eating a cake by a mistaken method, like that of Chāṇakya. It was that Chāṇakya had not secured the surrounding country before attacking the enemy's stronghold. Then Chāṇakya proceeds to the country called Himavatkūṭa and entered into an alliance with its king Parvataka. Here the Buddhist version is different. The Allies then opened their campaign by reducing the outlying parts (*bahiḥ*) of Nanda's kingdom. They, however, failed to conquer one town. Chāṇakya took recourse to a stratagem. He entered the town in the guise of a beggar, as a Tridaṇḍin monk, and saw a temple of the Seven Mothers, the tutelary goddesses (*pāhidevatā*) of the town. Its citizens, tired of the protracted siege, asked the ascetic when it would be raised. He answered: "Not till the goddesses were in the temple and protected the town." The credulous citizens at once removed the idols from the temple. At this, Chāṇakya hinted to Chandragupta and Parvataka that they should retire with their army to some distance from the town. Thus the citizens were thrown off their guard and were rejoicing over their restored liberty, when they returned and took the town by surprise. They devastated the country, laid siege to Pāṭaliputra, and compelled king Nanda to capitulate, with his decreased resources (*kshīṇakośaḥ*), strength (*bala*), wits (*dhīḥ*), prowess (*vikrama*) and spiritual merit (*puṇya*). He at last threw himself on the mercy of Chāṇakya who spared his life and permitted him to leave his kingdom, carrying with him all that he could in one chariot. He carried with him his two wives and a daughter and as much treasure as could be accommodated in the vehicle. Thus king Nanda (*Nandarāṭ*) made his exit from his kingdom. While thus proceeding (*samāyāntam*), the Princess saw Chandragupta and fell in love with him at first sight. Then the father said to her that she might select him as her husband by the rite of *svayaṁvara*, because "very often the daughters of Kshatriyas have recourse to this practice." Thus Nanda is here taken as a Kshatriya. The Buddhist version of Chandragupta's marriage is different from Jain.