User:Ragnark777

'Chandragupta Mourya ' The Maurya dynasty was founded by Chandragupta	Maurya,	who	seems	to	have belonged	to	an	ordinary	family. According	to	the	brahmanical	tradition,	he	was born	of	Mura,	a	shudra	woman	in	the	court	of	the	Nandas. However,	an	earlier Buddhist	tradition	speaks	of	the	Mauryas	as	the	ruling	clan	of	the	little	republic of	Pipphalivana	in	the	region	of	Gorakhpur	near	the	Nepalese	terai. In	all likelihood,	Chandragupta	was	a	member	of	this	clan. He	took	advantage	of	the Nandas	in	the	last	days	of	their	rule. With	the	help	of	Chanakya,	who	is	known as	Kautilya,	he	overthrew	the	Nandas	and	established	the	rule	of	the	Maurya dynasty. The	machinations	of	Chanakya	against	Chandragupta’s	enemies	are described	in	detail	in	the	Mudrarakshasa,	a	play	written	by	Vishakhadatta	in	the ninth	century. In	modern	times,	several	plays	have	been	based	on	it. Justin,	a	Greek	writer,	says	that	Chandragupta	overran	the	whole	of	India with	an	army	of	600,000. This	may	or	may	not	be	true,	but	Chandragupta liberated	north-western	India	from	the	thraldom	of	Seleucus,	who	ruled	over	the area	west	of	the	Indus. In	the	war	with	the	Greek	viceroy,	Chandragupta	seems to	have	emerged	victorious. Eventually	peace	was	concluded	between	the	two, and	in	return	for	500	elephants,	Seleucus	gave	him	not	only	his	daughter	but	also eastern	Afghanistan,	Baluchistan,	and	the	area	west	of	the	Indus. Chandragupta thus	built	up	a	vast	empire	which	included	not	only	Bihar	and	substantial	parts	of Orissa	and	Bengal	but	also	western	and	north-western	India,	and	the	Deccan. Aside	from	Kerala,	Tamil	Nadu,	and	parts	of	north-eastern	India,	the	Mauryas ruled	over	virtually	the	entire	subcontinent. In	the	north-west,	they	held	sway over	certain	areas	that	did	not	even	form	part	of	the	British	empire. The	Mauryas also	conquered	the	republics	or	samghas	which	Kautilya	considered	obstacles	to the	growth	of	the	empire.