37 Chandragupta Maurya Facts That Reflect Details On Ancient India

Chandragupta Maurya established the biggest kingdom that South Asia had ever seen.

He was under the complete guidance of his teacher Chanakya. Chanakya is said to have found Chandragupta because of his initiative-taking ability and then trained him to be a great ruler.

There are many versions of stories that differ in details about the birth and upbringing of child Chandragupta Maurya. One of them was that after the death of his father, his maternal uncle left the child with a cowherd who then looked after him.

However, he was later sold and then brought by Kautilya(Popularly known as Chanakya), a Brahman politician. Chanakya took him to Taxila.

It was after Kautilya's advice that Chandragupta Maurya assembled and built an army to attack King Dhana Nanda. Some texts say that he did not kill King Dhana Nanda and just threw him out of his kingdom.

Chandragupta Maurya rose to power after around two years after the death of Alexander. Not only throughout the Deccan plateau, he even spread the Maurya Dynasty to northwest India and areas of modern-day Kabul and Baluchistan.

He then connected many cities throughout India to the capital Patliputra such as Dehradun, Nepal, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Mirzapur, and many more. In this article, we will be talking about Chandragupta Maurya and how he established Maurya Dynasty.

Life History Of Chandragupta Maurya

Unlike many other kings, the founder of the Maurya Dynasty had a very different and difficult childhood. In this paragraph, we will be sharing the life history of Chandragupta Maurya.

The most information we get about Chandragupta Maurya's early life is from old Jain texts, Greek texts, Buddhist texts, and old Hindus known as Brahmanism.

It is said that he was an ill-conceived offspring of a Nanda dynasty ruler and his house cleaner Mura.

Some claim that Chandragupta had a place with Moriya's, a Kshatriya (warrior) group of the little old republic of Pippalivana, located between Kasia (Gorakhpur region of Uttar Pradesh) and Rummindei (Nepali Tarai).

As indicated by the forecast, he was raised by a peaceful family and later on was protected by Chanakya, who became his teacher from a very early stage.

Chanakya taught him the principles of organization and all other knowledge that is required for one to be a great ruler.

Many books state that Chanakya was looking for a reasonable individual to end the rule of the Nanda dynasty and make the new king.

During this time, Chanakya spotted Chandragupta, a youthful child who was cooperating with his friends in Magadha.

He forwarded the Mauryan Empire southwards to the Deccan plateau in 300BC.

Impressed by Chandragupta's ability to take the initiative, Chanakya is said to have taken Chandragupta Maurya with him to train him as a warrior.

Then they recruited soldiers and attacked the Nanda Empire and eventually won over the Nanda Empire and proclaimed Patliputra as their capital after winning over most of the Indian territories.

Chanakya made Chandragupta the leader of the recruited soldiers.

Contribution Of Chandragupta Maurya to the Mauryan Empire

When it comes to Mauryan Empire, the first name which pops up in our mind is King Chandragupta Maurya, and in this section, we will be explaining the reasons why he is one of the finest rulers in the Mauryan Empire.

Chandragupta Maurya (reigned c.321-c.297 BCE) was the one who founded the Mauryan Empire, one of the biggest Empires in South Asia.

He won over Nanda Empire and established the Mauryan Empire, and after ruling for years, he renounced everything and became a Jain monk.

His achievements are described in many ancient texts such as Hindu texts, Greek texts, and texts written by Buddhism followers at that time. However, the details vary in most of the texts.

He was a person who had no identity of his own, got treated like a slave, had no aim in his life, and then eventually brought down The Nanda Empire, which was the biggest Empire in India at that time.

His story looks so imaginary where a child with no dream ends up becoming the Greatest Ling of all times with the only purpose of seeing United Bharat (India) only because of right guidance and hard work.

Chandragupta even marched into the Indian Satraps, the Greek Ambassador, Seleucus I Nicator, and secured a marriage alliance.

Chandragupta's Empire almost covered the entire Indian Subcontinent, except the southernmost regions (now Kerala and Tamil Nadu) and Kalinga (modern-day Odisha).

After unifying most parts of India, Chanakya and Chandragupta passed a number of major political and economic reforms.

Chandragupta also established a very strong Central Administration from the capital, Pataliputra (now Patna).

Chandragupta's India had a highly organized and effective structure.

The Mauryan Empire built infrastructures such as temples, irrigation, mines, and roads, which led to a strong economy. During Chandragupta's reign, many religions thrived in India, with Jainism, Buddhism, and Ajivika gaining fame along with the Brahmanism traditions.

Maurya Chandragupta had a massive army, well trained, and it was paid directly by the state as suggested by his Chief Advisor Chanakya. In Greek records, it is estimated to be hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

According to Strabo, his army had around 400,000 soldiers.

Pliny the Elder said that the army consisted of 600,000 infantry, 9,000 war elephants, and 30,000 cavalries.

Battles fought by Chandragupta Maurya

Most of the great Kings are known for winning a number of battles, and King Chandragupta Maurya is also one of them. In his lifetime, he has fought many wars and won most of them. In this paragraph, we will be talking about the wars that he won during his journey.

It was a very hard task for Chandragupta to liberate the northwest from the harness of the Greeks. The Satraps of ALexander were exerting their control with the help of the Macedonian Garrison. Although the death of Alexander started a conflict among his Generals and this conflict resulted in the weakened position of Greeks in the Indian Subcontinent.

Chandragupta took full advantage of this political situation. He first liberated Sind from the control of Macedonians. Sind used to be a part of Alexander's Empire, and by using the Lower Singh as the base of operation, Chandragupta conquered the whole of Sindh by 321B.C.

After establishing the authority over the entire Sindh, Chandragupta Maurya looked towards Punjab, and the situation in Punjab was favorable for Chandragupta Maurya. King Porus was killed by Greek general Eudemus who also fled from the region. This made the task easy for Chandragupta, and he conquered Punjab up to Jhelum.

After that, he marched to the west and conquered the land between Jhelum and Indus.

After establishing the region around the Nandas Empire, Chandragupta Maurya turned his full attention to overthrowing the Nanda king. As the king of the Nanda Empire, Dhana Nanda was very unpopular with his subjects. The first time, Chandragupta made a grave mistake by attacking the Magadha itself but failed.

Then he overheard an old woman scolding her son who got his finger burned by after eating hot cake right from the middle. This gave Chandragupta an idea, and then he started off by conquering nearby territories and finally attacked and won over the Nanda Empire.

After again forming a large army, Chandragupta decided to conquer territories outside the geographical boundaries of India. Seleucus Nicator was the master of western Asia after the Greek ruler Alexander's death. He reorganized his Empire from Syria to Afghanistan. He advanced to reconquer the Indian parts of Alexander's previous Conquests and waged war on Chandragupta.

In this war, Seleucus was defeated and had to hand over Arachosia, Paropanisadai, and Aria with their respective capitals at Kandahar, Kabul, and Herat. He also had to surrender Gedrosia(Baluchistan) or at least one part of it to the Indian Emperor.

World Renunciation Details By Chandragupta Maurya

The founder of the Mauryan Empire started his journey from nothing, conquered most of Southern Asia, and hen after obtaining everything, finally decided to leave everything behind. In this article, we will be discussing world renunciation by this great king.

When Chandragupta Maurya had conquered most of the Indian Subcontinent, the forecast of 12-year famine was seen.

It is said that Chandragupta saw 16 dreams. He then requested the head of the Jain temple Acharya Bhadrabahu who explained the meaning of dreams, and according to the last one, he forecasted a famine of 12 years.

The evidence of this famine is found on the copper inscription of Sohagaura in Gorakhpur district as well as in the Mahsthana inscriptions in Bogra district. Fearing the complexities and the consequences of the prophecy of Bhadrabahu, a number of Jains, including Chandragupta, moved to South India.

Chandragupta, who was also a follower of Bhadrabahu, crowned his son Simhasena and also went to the south.

For some years, the teacher and the pupil lived at a foothill. After that, Bhadrabahu died by Sallekhana, which means ending one's life by self-starving to death.

Chandragupta lived at Shravanabelagola for some years in a cave. He then spent his time here worshipping his teacher Bhadrabahu's footprints.

He finally ended his life following the Sallekhana and ended his life with the absolute world renunciation.