King Chandra Gupta Maurya

Chandra Gupta Maurya was the founder of the Maurya empire in India. He is credited with bringing together the fragmented small kingdoms in the country and combining them into a large empire. Of Greek and Latin accounts, known King Chandra Gupta Maurya as Sandracottos or Andracottus. During his reign, Maurya Empire extended from Bengal and Assam in the east to Afghanistan and Balochistan in the West, to Kashmir and Nepal in the north and the Deccan Plateau in the south. Read on this biography cum life history of Chandra Gupta Maurya to know more about the great king: 

Conflicting Views on His Lineage:

Chandra Gupta Maurya was born in 340 BC. But there is not much information about his parentage. Some historians believe that he was an illegitimate child of a Nanda prince and his girl, Mura. Others believe that Chandra Gupta belonged Moriyas, a Kshatriya (warrior) clan of a little old republic Pippalivana located between Rummindei (Nepali Tarai) and Kasia (Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh). Two other views is that he belonged either to Mura (or mother) or Kshatriyas of Indo-Scythian descent. Last but not least, it is claimed that Chandra Gupta Maurya belonged Assakenoi or Ashvaka Kshatriya clan Swat / Kunar valley.

Early Life: 

There is not much information about the childhood king Chandra Gupta Maurya. Per traditional records, Chanakya, a teacher at Takshila University, found him in the Magadha kingdom. So Chanakya brought Chandra Gupta to Takshila, where he took him under his guidance. Further reports that Chandra Gupta, when they met Alexander the Great and told him about his face that the evidence from Nanda empire was defective. 

Foundation of the Maurya Empire: 

Much of the credit for the construction of Maurya Empire goes to Chanakya. He was a teacher at Takshila University, began when Alexander invaded India. When the king of Gandhara Takshila and had surrendered to Alexander, Chanakya sought help from other kings to unite and fight him. Porus (Parvateshwar), a king of Punjab, challenged Alexander at the Battle of the Hydaspes river. But he was defeated in battle. Chanakya also sought the help of Dhana Nanda, ruler Nanda Empire, but was rejected. After that incident, he began to learn the idea of building an empire that could fight against foreign invasion into his disciple, Chandra Gupta. Chanakya was his principal adviser or prime minister. 

Expansion: 

Chandra Gupta Maurya defeated the Macedonian Satrapi in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent in 317 BC. Then he turned his attention to the Northwest India. Chandra Gupta allied with the Himalayan king Parvatka and launched an attack against Dhana Nanda of the Nanda Empire. The battle ended around 321 BC, the siege of the capital Kusumapura and conquest of the Nanda Empire. Thus was born the powerful Maurya empire in northern India. 

Conquest of Seleucus' Eastern areas: 

After the conflict with the Seleucus in 305 BC, Emperor Chandra Gupta Maurya extended his kingdom towards Seleucid Persia. Through a treaty sealed in 305 BC, Seleucus gave it up around the Indus to Chandra Gupta, the Hindu Kush day Afghanistan and Baluchistan province in Persia. In return, he received five hundred war elephants, increasing its military strength. 

Southern conquests: 

After attaching the eastern provinces Persian Seleucus, Chandra Gupta's empire stretched across the northern parts of southern Asia, from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. Then began his conquests in the south, beyond the Vindhya Range and into the Deccan Plateau. Most of the Southern Asia was unified under the rule of Chandra Gupta Maurya. 

Death: 

It is believed that in the last days of his life, gave the king Chandra Gupta Maurya his throne and adopted asceticism of the Jain saint, Swami Bhadrabahu. He breathed his last in 298 BC at Shravanabelagola (now Karnataka), ends his days on his own hunger. A small temple marks the cavities (called Bhadrabahu Cave), where he died. 

Successors: 

Chandra Gupta Maurya Sun Bindusara succeeded to the throne. He wore Asoka, who went on to become one of the most powerful kings of the Indian subcontinent.