Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c5.79

c5.79

The present of elephants was followed by other expressions of friendly relations between the two kings. There is a suggestion made by Appian [Syr. 55] that there was a marriage alliance between the two kings so that Seleukos became either the father-in-law or the son-in-law of Chandragupta. It is more likely that, as Strabo suggests [XV. 724], "there was a convention establishing a *jus connubii* between the two royal families. In that land of caste, a *jus connubii* between the two peoples is unthinkable" [*Cambridge History*, I. p. 431]. That Chandragupta's relations with Seleukos continued to be very friendly is indicated by the story related by Athenaeus that he sent to Seleukos a present of some Indian drugs [*Ib.* p. 432], while Seleukos further confirmed this friendship by sending Megasthenes as an ambassador to the Mauryan court. He had been serving as his ambassador at the court of Sibyrtius, Satrap of Arachosia. According to Arrian, Megasthenes resided for some time even at the court of Poros [V. 220], but the original is translated differently by Schwanbeck. At any rate, he must have come to live at Pāṭaliputra somewhere between 304 and 299 B.C., the date of Chandragupta's death. Thus he was able to see Mauryan India as a well-organized State under Chandragupta at the height of his power in the last days of his life.