Chandragupta Maurya

Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of the Maurya Empire in ancient India. He was born in a humble family. He was picked up, taught and counselled by Chanakya (also known as Kautilya or Vishnugupta), a Hindu Brahmin by origin who wrote the Arthashastra. Together, Chandragupta and Chanakya laid the foundation for one of the largest empires in Indian history. 

Chandragupta Maurya defeated Seleucus I Nicator, one of the Hellenistic Successor satrapies of Alexander the Great and married a daughter of Seleucus, according to both the Mahavamsa and the Bhavishya Purana. He was the ruler until 297 BC. He became a Jain monk and died of starvation at Shravanabelagola of Karnataka around 295 BC. 

Shashigupta, a ruler of the Punjab region during the during the 4th century BCE has been identified by some as Chandragupta Maurya.Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona,1936, Vol xviii, part 2, pp 161, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Dr H. C. Seth.Was Chandragupta Maurya a Punjabi?, Punjab History Conference, Second Session, October 28-30, 1966, Punjabi University Patiala, p 32-35, Dr H. R. Gupta. Though other scholars take this theory lightly. According to the Buddhist sources the Muraos tribesmen of eastern India were the ancestors of the Mauryas who under the leadership of Chandragupta Maurya in the 4th century BCE seized power in Magadha.

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Bibleography

Category:Indian monarchs
Category:4th-century BC deaths