Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c5.74

c5.74

The stories also bring out the probable fact that the conquest of Nanda’s empire was not an easy undertaking, but the result of several attempts. It was because that empire was possessed of immense power and resources. Curtius estimates its military strength at 200,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, 2,000 four-horsed chariots, and 3,000 elephants. The empire was also very wide in extent. It extended as far as the Punjab. It is stated that when Alexander invaded his country which lay between the Chenab and the Ravi, the second Poros escaped for shelter into the adjoining territory of the Nanda king [McCrindle’s *Invasion*, p. 273]. We have already seen how the Nanda king by his conquests made himself the supreme sovereign (*ekarāṭ*) of numerous States which he brought together under the umbrella of his sole authority (*eka-chchhatra*). These States are described to be those of the Aikshvākus, Pañchālas, Kāśis, Haihayas, Kaliṅgas, Aśmakas, Kurus, Maithilas, Śūrasenas, and Vitihotras. All these Kshatriya dynasties were “uprooted,” as the *Purāṇas* tell us. He is known to the Greeks as the ruler of peoples called the Gangaridae and the Prasii, i.e., the peoples of the Ganges valley, and the Prāchyas or ‘easterners,’ peoples living to the east of the “Middle country,” such as the Pañchālas, Śūrasenas, Kosalas, and the like. Towards the south also the Nanda king extended his sovereignty by his conquest of Kaliṅga, as recorded in the Hāthīgumphā inscription of Khāravela. It mentions 'Nanda-Rāja' as being associated with an old aqueduct, and as having carried away to Magadha as trophies the statue (or footprints) of the first Jina and treasures of the royal house. Nanda rule is also stated to have extended up to the province of Kuntala in the north of Mysore in some Mysore Inscriptions [Rice, *Mysore and Coorg from Inscriptions*, p. 3]. But these inscriptions are as late as twelfth century and cannot be considered as reliable evidence, failing earlier evidence on the subject. We have also seen how, by his grinding taxation, he made himself master of untold wealth which he hoarded in subterranean chambers.