Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c5.93

c5.93

It is also interesting to note in this connection that the Pāli work *Petavatthu* and its commentary, *Paramatthadīpanī*, mention a ruler of Suraṭṭha (Surāshṭra) named Piṅgala who ascended the throne in the sixteenth regnal year of Bindusāra (283 B.C.). He had a *senāpati* or a general named Nandaka who converted him to a new doctrine, a sort of atheism called (*Natthika-diṭṭhi*). Fired with his zeal for his new faith, he was bold enough to leave for Pāṭaliputra with a large retinue to convert to his creed the emperor Dharmāśoka (*Piṅgalo rājā Dhammāsokassa rañño ovādaṁ dātum gato*) but remained himself to be converted to the emperor’s creed of Buddhism [B. C. Law, *Buddhist Conception of* *Spirits*, p. 72 f; C. D. Chatterji in *D. R. Bhandarkar Volume*, pp. 329-340.]