page_title: Chandragupta Maurya
section_title: Conquest of north-west regions
hierarchical_section_title: Chandragupta Maurya / Career / Conquest of north-west regions
caption_attribution_description: Eastern Satraps After Alexander. Personal map 2007.
context_page_description: Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of the Maurya Empire in ancient India. He was taught and counselled by the philosopher Chanakya, who had great influence in the formation of his empire. Together, Chandragupta and Chanakya built one of the largest empires on the Indian subcontinent. According to Jain sources, he later renounced his empire and became a Jain monk. Chandragupta's life and accomplishments are described in ancient Greek, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain texts, but they vary significantly. In Ancient Greek and Latin accounts, Chandragupta is referred as Sandrokottos or Androcottus.
  Chandragupta Maurya was a pivotal figure in the history of India. Prior to his consolidation of power, Alexander the Great had invaded the northwest Indian subcontinent before abandoning his campaign in 324 BCE and left a legacy of several Indo-Greek kingdoms in northwest ancient India. Chandragupta created a new empire, applied the principles of statecraft, built a large army and continued expanding the boundaries of his empire. Greek rulers avoided war with him; one of them, Seleucus I Nicator, entered into a marriage alliance instead and retreated into Persia.
context_section_description: The Indian campaign of Alexander the Great ended before Chandragupta came into power. Alexander had left India in 325 BCE and assigned the northwestern Indian subcontinent territories to Greek governors. The nature of early relationship between these governors and Chandragupta is unknown. Justin mentions Chandragupta as a rival of the Alexander's successors in north-western India. He states that after Alexander's death, Chandragupta freed Indian territories from the Greeks and executed some of the governors. According to Boesche, this war with the northwestern territories were in part fought by mercenaries hired by Chandragupta and Chanakya, and these wars may have been the cause of the demise of two of Alexander's governors, Nicanor and Philip. Megasthenes served as a Greek ambassador in his court for four years.
caption: Chandragupta had defeated the remaining Macedonian satrapies in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent by 317 BCE.
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