CHANDRAGUPTA, the Sandracottus or San dracoptus of the Greeks, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty of Magadha. He was the illegitimate son of the last Nanda, by the beautiful but low caste Mura, from whom he obtained the designation of Maurya. In the Mudra Rakshasa, a Sanskrit drama detailing his elevation, Chandra gupta is, however, frequently named Vrishala, a term said to be equivalent to Sudra ; and as Nanda himself was the son of a Sudra woman, there can be little doubt that the celebrated Maurya family were of Sudra extraction. In the early part of his career, Chandragupta led a wandering life in the Panjab (see Tumour, Intro duction to the Mahawanso, p. 41, quoting the Tika or Commentary), and was probably engaged with his fellow-countrymen in opposing Alexander. His chief adviser, the Brahman Chanakya, was a native of Takshasila or Taxila, the capital of the Western Panjab ; and it was in that country that Chandragupta first established himself by the complete expulsion of the Greek troops left by Alexander (Justin. xv. 4 : Auctor libertatis Sandrocottus fuerat'). It would appear that the Greek colonists in the Panjab had first been placed under Philip, while the civil administration of the country remained in the hands of its native princes, Taxiles and Porus. . Afterwards, on the murder of .Philip by the mercenary soldiers, Alexander (Anabasis, vi. 2, vii.) directed Eudemos and Taxiles to govern the country until he should send another deputy. It is probable, however, that they continued to 'retain the charge ; for, after Alexander's death in B.C. 323, Eudemos contrived, by the treacherous assassination of king Porus by his general Eumenes, to make himself master of the country (Diodorus, xix. 5). Some few years later, in B.C. 317, he marched to the assistance of Eumenes with 3000 infantry and 5000 cavalry, and no less than 120 elephants. With this force he performed good service at the battle of Gabiene. But his continued absence gave the Indians an opportunity not to be neglected, and their liberty was fully asserted by the expulsion of the Greek troops and the slaughter of their chiefs (Justin. xv. 4 oefactos ejus, oeciderat ; ' again, Moli enti deinde bellum adversus prmfactos Alexandri '). Chandragupta was present when Porns was murdered. He afterwards became the leader of the national movement, which ended in his own elevation to the sovereignty of the Panjab. Justin attributes his success to the assistance of banditti (Justin. xv. 4 : Contractis latronibus Indos ad novitatem regni solicitavit '). But in this Colonel Cunningham thinks he has been misled by a very natural mistake ; for the Aratta, who were the dominant people of the Eastern Panjab, are never mentioned in the Mahabharata without being called robbers (Lassen, Pentapot Indica : Aratti profecto latrones,' and Bahici latrones '). The Sanskrit name is Arashtra, the kingless, which is preserved in the Adraistm of Arrian, who places them on the Ravi. They were the republican defenders of Sangala or Saka]a, a fact which points to their Sanskrit name of Arashtra, or kingless. But though their power was then confined to the eastern Panjab, the people themselves had once spread over the whole country : Ubi fluvii illi quivi . . . ibi cedes cunt Arattorum.'—Lassen, Pentapot Indica, from the Mahabharat. They were known by the several names of Bahika, Jarttika, and Takha ; of which the last would appear to have been their. true appellation, for their old capital of Taxila or Takka-sila was known to the Greeks of Alexander ; and the people them selves still exist in considerable. numbers in the Panjab hills. The ancient extent of their power is proved by the present prevalence of their alphabetical characters, which, under the name of Takri or Takni, are now used by all the Hindus of Kashmir and the northern mountains, from Simla and Sabathu to Kabul and Batnian. On
these grounds, Major Cunningham identifies the banditti of Justin with the Takka, or original inhabitants of the Panjab, and assigns to them the honour of delivering their native land from the thraldom of a foreign yoke. This event occurred most probably about 316 B.C., or shortly after the march of Eudemos to the assistance of Eumenes. It was followed immediately by the conquest of Gangetic India (Justin. xv. 4), and in 316 B.C. the rule of Chandragupta was acknow ledged over the whole northern Peninsula. from the Indus to the mouth of the Ganges. Authorities differ as to the length of Chandragupta's reign. The Mahawanso gives 34 years ; the Dipawanso and the \rap' Purana give only 24 years. This difference may perhaps have originated in two distinct reckonings of the data of his accession, the one party counting from the death of Nanda Mahapadnia, in n.c. 325, and the other party from the conquest of India, in n.c. 315. Sonie assump tion of this kind is clearly necessary to reconcile the different authorities, unless, indeed, we take the only alternative, of adopting the one and of rejecting the other. At this period the capital of India was Pataliputra or Palibrotha, which was situated on the Ganges, at the junction of the Erranaboas or Alaos river. The former name has been identified with the Sanskrit Hiranyabahu, an epithet which has been applied both to the Gandak and to the Sone. The latter name can only refer to the Hi-le-an of the Chinese travellers, which was to the north of the Ganges, and was there undoubtedly the Gandak. Indeed, this river still joins the Ganges immediately opposite to Patna, that is, the city, or metropolis, as its proper name (Patna) implies ; the junction of the Sone is some nine or ten miles above Patna. But as there is good reason for believing that the Sone once joined the Ganges at Bakipur or Bankipur, immediately above Patna, it is quite possible that the Erranaboas may have been intended for the Sone, and the Alaos for the Gaudak. According to Megasthenes, Palibrotha was 80 stadia or nearly nine miles in length, and 15 stadia or one mile and two-thirds in breadth. It was surrounded with a deep ditch, and was enclosed by lofty wooden walls, pierced with loopholes for the dis charge of arrows (Arrian, Indica, x., and Strabo, xv., both quoting Megasthenes). But when Alex ander's successors were at peace with each other, the great Seleucus turned his arms towards the east, with the intention of recovering the Indian provinces of Alexander, but Chandragupta formed an alliance with Seleucus, whose daughter he received in marriage. He also received, at his court, of Palibrotha, Megasthenes as- an ambas sador, and in return Chandragupta sent presents with an ambassador to Seleucus Nicator to Babylon. The Hindu drama Mudra Rakahasha records the memorable political event of his usurpation. His name occurs in an inscription at Sanchi, also on one at Ujjain. Tod says be was of the Takshak race. He died B.C. 289. His successor died B.C. 261 ; and Asoka, the great Buddhist sovereign, the grandson of Chandra gupta, then succeeded. Asoka had murdered his brother, whose son converted him to Buddhism, and he was crowned n.c. 259-258, at Patalipura, in the third year of his reign. Asoka engraved on rocks numerous inscriptions inculcating Bud dhist doctrines, and erected, it is said, 84,000 chaitya, many of which still remain. — Bhilsa Topes, Cunningham, pp. 87-91, 141 ; Bunsen, Egypt, iii. 544 ; Tod, Rajasthan ; Cal. Review ; Indische Alterthumskunde, i. App. p. xxx., and ii. pp.' 1161, 1162 ; To. As. Soc. Ben. p. 146 ; Thomas' Prinsep, i. pp. 61, 276; Burgess and pp. 190, 725 ; Tennant's Ceylon.
eHANDRAGUPTA, a Chauban prince of Ajmir, grandson of Manikya Rai, who lived A.D. 695. His descendant, Pritha Rai, was the last Hindu prince who reigned at I ndraprestha or Dehli.