Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c4.40

c4.40

**Evidence of the Commentator.** But though the *Mudrārākshasa* cannot thus be invoked in support of any calumny against Chandragupta, there is no escape for him from the clutches of its commentator who definitely fastens it on him. Dhuṇḍhirāja, a commentator on *Mudrārākshasa*, of the eighteenth century, is responsible for some new history. In the *Upodghāta* of his commentary, he introduces Sarvārthasiddhi as the father of two sets of sons by two wives, viz., (1) the nine Nandas by his wife Sunandā and (2) Maurya by his junior wife named Murā. It was left to Dhuṇḍhirāja to make the discovery for the first time in the long history of these Chandragupta traditions that the woman Murā was a *Vrishalātmajā*, the daughter of a *Vrishala* or Śūdra. Dhuṇḍhirāja stands alone in this statement which may be taken for what it is worth. It is also implied that Sarvārthasiddhi was of high caste along with his nine sons, the Nandas, born of his Kshatriya wife, Sunandā. According to Dhuṇḍhirāja, Chandragupta was a son of Maurya who was entrusted with the command of his army by his father Sarvārthasiddhi in preference to his *Nanda* sons, whereupon the Nandas contrived the murder of Maurya and all his sons except Chandragupta who escaped. This united Chandragupta with Chāṇakya in a common hostility to the Nandas.