Chandragupta had an army of 600,000, but it is likely the number also included camp followers. The empire was divided into three provinces, each under a viceroy, usually a member of the royal family. The death penalty was imposed for evasion of taxes, and maiming was inflicted for perjury. Much of this was no doubt due to the harsh penal system. The people enjoyed a reputation for honesty lying and stealing were generally unknown, and the Greek ambassador notes that litigation was seldom resorted to. He employed an army of secret agents, and no method was considered unscrupulous to destroy his enemies. The capital, Pataliputra, was a magnificent city, and the royal palace was, according to Megasthenes, filled with "wonders which neither Memnonian Susa in all its glory nor the magnificence of Ekbatana can hope to vie indeed, only the well-known vanity of the Persians could imagine such a comparison." Having come to power through intrigue, the Emperor feared plots. The Magadhan state under Chandragupta was both opulent and totalitarian. Scholars owe much information about Mauryan India to a detailed account written by Megasthenes. Seleucus also gave his daughter in marriage to Chandragupta and appointed Megasthenes as ambassador to the Maurya court. The attempt of Seleucus Nicator, a Greek satrap, to recapture Punjab in 304 was foiled, and Chandragupta obtained present-day Afghanistan as part of the peace treaty. Exiled, he met Alexander in 326/325 B.C., studied the significance and success of the Greek invasion, and bided his time.Īfter Alexander's death in 323 B.C., Chandragupta put an end to the Greek rule in northwest India, returned to Magadha, killed the Nanda king, and proclaimed the Maurya dynasty in 322. Aided by Chanakya, Chandragupta conspired to usurp the Magadhan rule but failed in his first attempt. In his youth Chandragupta came under the influence of Chanakya, also known as Kautilya, a Taxilian Brahmin and the reputed author of Arthasastra, the celebrated work on Indian polity. Jain and Buddhist sources declare him to be a scion of the Moriya clan of Pippalivana. 298 B.C.) was the founder of the Maurya dynasty and the first historical emperor of India.Īccording to the Puranic tradition, Chandragupta, also known as Sandracottus, was the illegitimate son of the last Nanda king of Magadha by the maid servant Mura, hence the name Maurya.
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