Chandragupta Maurya History

History of Chandragupta Maurya 

Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of the Maurya Dynasty. He was the first emperor who unified India into one state and ruled from 320 BCE to 297 BCE. Chandragupta Maurya retired voluntarily and endorsed the great Maurya Kingdom to his son Bimbisara in 297 BCE.

Chandragupta Maurya was the illegitimate son of the last Nanda king Sarvartha Siddhi, mother of the maidservant, Mura. In the name of Mura, he named his Kingdom Maurya. His life and administration were narrated in Buddhist and Jain scriptures. He was born sometime around 340 BCE in Pataliputra, now Patna, in the Bihar state of India. Scholars or other historians did not record his childhood days. His life was only recorded after he founded the Maurya Dynasty.

End of the Nanda Empire

Before the overthrow of the Nandas, king Chandra Gupta was influenced by Brahmin and the reputed author of Arthasastra, a very famous book now. Chanakya grooms Chandragupta to conquer and rule in the place of the Nanda Emperor. He taught Maurya how to raise an army and tactics through different Hindu sutras.

His first attack on the Nanda dynasty failed. Then he met Alexander in 326 BCE and studied the Greek invasions and their successes in the wars. After Alexander died in 323 BCE, Chandragupta returned to Magadha, killed the Nanda king and proclaimed the Maurya dynasty in 322 BCE. He put an end to the Greek rule in northwest India. He founded the dynasty in the name of his mother, Mura.

Chandragupta Conquests :

In 304 BCE, he intended to expand his kingdom. He attacked Persia, ruled by Seleucus I, Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire and the former general of Alexander. Finally, the attack was over under the peace treaty. As a part of the peace treaty, Seleucus gave his daughter in marriage to Chandra Gupta. Next, Chandra Gupta Maurya turned his attention to south India; with an army of 4,00,000, he conquered all Indian territories except Kalinga.

Personal Life of Chandragupta

Chandragupta’s wife was Durdhara, and she led a happy married life for a long time. When Chandragupta Maurya became the founder of the Maurya dynasty, Chanakya thought about the emperor’s safety. Gupta had few threats from the enemies and doubted someone might be poisoning the food. So that Chanakya was adding small dosages of poison daily in the food consumed by Chandragupta Maurya. This made his body resist the poison and could escape from the tries of the enemies to kill him by poisoning food.

During the last period of Durdhara’s pregnancy, she consumed some food from Chandragupta Maurya. In the meantime, Chanakya entered the palace and saw the poison affected the queen. He realized she would not live longer and wanted to save the baby in the womb. As soon as the thought arises in their mind, he takes the sword, opens the womb, brings out the child, and saves him. Later, a boy named Bindusara became a famous king in Indian history. An fA few years later, Chandragupta married Helena, the daughter of Greece General Seleucus. Since then, he maintained an alliance with Seleucus and strengthened the Maurya Dynasty.

Chandragupta Maurya Death: 

He was attracted to the preachers and principles of Jainism at the early age of 50. He has put chiefly belief in the ascetic system in life. In 297 BCE, he wanted to follow the Jainism theories and handed the power to his son Bimbisara. Later he travelled to the south and reached Sravanabelogola, now in Karnataka. He sat in a cave, started starvation, and spent five weeks without drinking and eating until he died.

His legacy continued with Bimbisara and the great king Ashoka.