Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c4.56

c4.56

**Summary.** Now to sum up these various traditions regarding the origin and lineage of Chandragupta with reference to their points of agreement and divergence. The Greek accounts agree with the *Purāṇas* in ascribing a disreputable origin not to Chandragupta but to the Nanda king. They describe the Nanda king as an illegitimate son of a barber, while the *Purāṇas* describe the Nandas as Śūdras. The Greek accounts further trace their low origin to their Śūdra father described as a handsome barber with whom the queen of Nanda fell in love, carried on illicit intercourse, and then contrived to get her royal husband out of her way by murder. The *Mudrārākshasa*, however, turns the table, proclaiming a noble lineage for the Nandas, and Chandragupta as a mere upstart of unknown family. The drama is also sometimes inconsistent in suggesting a Nanda origin for Chandragupta. Buddhist and Jain traditions are at one in declaring for him a noble birth.