chandragupta maurya

Chandragupta Maurya, who founded the Maurya Empire, was one of the most important rulers in the history of India. He is credited for unifying small independent states to form a large single kingdom for the first time under one administration, leaving aside Kalinga and the Tamil regions of Chera, Chola, Satyaputra, and Pandya. He was successful in destroying the Nanda dynasty, which ruled most of northern India, at the young age of 20. Along with his chief advisor and Brahmin scholar, Chanakya, he seized the Macedonian territories and conquered the eastern territories of Alexander’s general Seleucus to add them to his empire. His empire stretched across Kashmir in the north to Deccan Plateau in the south and Afghanistan and Balochistan in the west to Bengal and Assam in the east. Nevertheless, he voluntarily left his throne and accepted Jainism, moving southwards to Karnataka. His grandson, Ashoka, followed his footsteps in completing the pending conquest of Kalinga and Tamil kingdom in 260 BC. While Ashoka was a highly cruel and fierce initially, Chandragupta, on the other hand, was far less bloodthirsty.

Childhood & Early Life

• Chandragupta Maurya was born in 340 BC in Pataliputra, in modern-day Bihar. His background is, however, uncertain. Some claim that he was born to a Nanda prince and his maid-servant, Mura, from the Shudra caste, while others state that he belonged to the Moriya tribe of Peacock-tamers.
• Being a brave and determined leader since childhood, he was very well guided by Chanakya, a great Brahmin scholar of economics and political science at Takshashila University, who later became his mentor.