Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c5.98

c5.98

*Chronology.* We may now consider the chronology of Chandragupta's reign. We have already seen that the first exploit of Chandragupta was the overthrow of the Greek rule which was established in India as a result of Alexander's victorious campaigns. But it was short-lived. Two events marked its rapid fall. The first was the murder of the most powerful Greek governor in the person of Philip in 325 B.C. followed by his place being taken by an Indian. The second event was the death of Alexander himself in 323 B.C. The first signal of the Indian battle for freedom was the murder of the Greek Satrap, Nicanor, by the Āśvāyanas in 326 B.C. As has been already related, the battle was won shortly after Alexander's death in 323 B.C. In 321 B.C., at the second partition of Alexander's empire, its easternmost Satrapy was the Trans-Indus Satrapy of Paropanisus. India proper was not counted as a part of that empire. An attempt to reconquer it only ended in the expansion of Chandragupta's empire to the trans-Indus provinces up to the borders of Persia. We may, therefore, take it for granted that between 323 and 321 B.C., Chandragupta made himself the ruler of the Punjab and Emperor of Magadha. We may take 322 B. C. as the date of his accession to sovereignty and of inauguration of the Maurya Dynasty.