A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.349

c5.349

CHANDRA-GUPTA. This name was identified by Sir W. Jones with the Sandracottus or Sandrocyptus mentioned by Arrian and the other classical historians of Alexander’s campaign; and somewhat later on as having entered into a treaty with Seleucus Nicator through the ambassador Megasthenes. The identification has been contested, but the chief writers on Indian antiquities have admitted it as an established fact, and have added confirmatory evidence from various sources, so that the identity admits of no reasonable doubt. This identification is of the utmost importance to Indian chronology; it is the only link by which Indian history is connected with that of Greece, and everything in Indian chronology depends upon the date of Chandra-gupta as ascertained from that assigned to Sandracottus by the classical writers. His date, as thus discovered, shows that he began to reign in 315 B.C., and as he reigned twenty-four years, his reign ended in 291 B.C. Chandra-gupta is a prominent name in both Brāhmanical and Buddhist writings, and his accession to the throne is the subject of the drama Mudrā-rākshasa.