Chandragupta

Chandragupta, commonly known as Chandragupta Maurya, was an ancient Indian emperor who founded the Maurya Empire in the Magadha region around 322 BCE after overthrowing the Nanda Dynasty. He established a centralized, bureaucratic state and made Pataliputra (modern Patna) the capital.

Little is known about his early life. Traditional biographies credit him with allying with Chanakya (Kautilya), a Brahmin teacher and strategist who advised him in methods of statecraft, diplomacy, and military organization. With Chanakya's guidance, Chandragupta seized power from the Nanda rulers and extended his control over much of northern and western India.

His empire expanded across the Indo-Gangetic plain and into parts of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Mauryan administration is characterized by centralized governance, a standing army, and extensive bureaucratic oversight, with provincial governors and an evolving revenue system. The Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft attributed to Chanakya, is associated with the political culture of his era.

Chandragupta is said to have formed an alliance with Seleucus I Nicator, following battles in the aftermath of Alexander the Great’s campaigns. According to ancient sources, they concluded a treaty around 303 BCE, with Chandragupta ceding territories west of the Indus and receiving several hundred elephants in return.

In his later years, Chandragupta abdicated in favor of his son Bindusara and became a Jain monk. Tradition holds that he traveled to southern India and died by fasting at Shravanabelagola in present-day Karnataka, around 297–294 BCE.

Chandragupta’s founding of the Maurya Empire laid the groundwork for a large, centralized Indian state that reached its zenith under Ashoka. Much of what is known about him derives from Buddhist and Jain texts and Greek and later Indian inscriptions, yielding a blend of historical and legendary elements.