Schoolcraft College

The Life of Chandragupta Maurya

Trevor McKersie
History 134
Professor Ryan Masters
November 9th, 2014

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The life of Chandragupta is a long lived one; his life starts out from very humble
beginnings and then he turns into a student. He becomes a protg of Kautilya also known as
Chanakya and later became the first ruler of the largest centralized government empire in all of
India. In his life he has met people who have changed him from his mentor Chanakya, to his
partner who wrote The Arthashashtra and Alexander the Great who was imposing his will upon
his country and was seen as an outside evil that shouldnt be taken lightly and refused to let him
establish his government until Alexanders death in 323 B.C.. The way Chandragupta treated
Alexander; he even put out a death sentence that had Chandragupta running for his life!
Chandragupta was destined to become a great leader his teachings, humbleness and strategy
helped him do that and of course with the help of his mentor Kautilya.
At the beginning of his life, he was from small humble beginnings, these origin stories
are based off of two novels from around that time period but not during his lifetime. In fact these
biographies written about him were written hundreds of years later in the early 2nd and mid 3rd
centuries. Chandraguptas story begins with a boy before he was ever born his father was killed
and his mother decided that it would be best to give him up to her brother which was his uncle.
His uncle then decided to sell him to a cow herder and from there he worked until he was about
eight years old1. The origin story is also conflicted with the article written in the Encyclopedia of
World Biography2, it explains that he was the illegitimate son of the last Nanda king of
Magadha. It also states that he was the son of the kings servants named Mura and thats where
1

Mookerji, Radhakumud. "Origin and Early Life, Conquests and Chronology." Chandragupta

Maurya and His times. 4th ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1966. 3-22. Web. 29 Oct. 2014
2

"Chandragupta Maurya ((?)-c. 298 B.C.)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale,

1998. General OneFile. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.

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people believe the name Maurya comes from. The differences in his birth stories are minimal to
the cause of what happens after he becomes a cow herder. One day a man named Chanakya or
better known as Kautilya from his novel The Arthashashtra, found a boy pretending to be a king
and telling his disciples what to do. This boy of course was Chandragupta, and Kautilya was so
enamored and impressed with what he saw. He believed that the boy was destined to become
something more amazing than he could imagine3.
Kautilya took in Chandragupta as his protg and he put him in the best school money
could buy back then, a school in Taxila where he learned the ways of the art of war and
humanities. Chandragupta studied here for nearly eight years and then he was able to become
Kautilyas partner rather than his son. The school was meant for men mostly and princes most
people who could afford an education back then and the school in Taxila was known for its arts
and sciences1.
This led to the first conquest of Chandragupta and Kautilya they planned on fighting the
king that was possibly Chandraguptas illegitimate father and Kautilyas sworn enemy for
banishing him from the kingdom. The challenge was too much and they were easily tossed away,
later on they were at a restaurant, that folklore has told, they noticed a child had been burnt by
the food he dug into right away and his mother scolded him for it1. This then led them to their
best solution to command and conquer; you start first slow and around the edges and then you
make your way to the middle. Which in the end they did and took over the Nanda kingdom and
killed the current king. This was the beginning steps of a new era in India that would lead to the
3

Rangarajan, L. N. "Kautilya the Legend." The Arthashastra. New Delhi: Penguin India, 1992.

Web. 29 Oct. 2014. This story isnt all written by Kautilya it was written by Rangarajan and has
two translations of Kautilyas passages.

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first centralized government until recent history of the British colonies that occupied India2. The
only problem was that Alexander the Great had conquered most of the land close to them in
present day Afghanistan.
Chandragupta didnt like Alexander at all and Alexander could tell so what he did was
execute a death sentence on Chandragupta that made him run for his life4. In the end
Chandragupta had the upper hand because in 323 B.C., Alexander had died from an
unexplainable death. This lead to the rise of Seleucus, where Chandragupta had defeated him and
reclaimed Punjab as a part of his empire Seleucus decided to wage war against him2.
In his later years Chandragupta had become more and more isolated, he very rarely
showed up in the public eye and he became worried over his assassination. He believed any plan
was ridiculous or crazy; he took extra precaution all the time and even created his own personal
secret army to protect him. Then for no reason he left his throne to his son Bindusara and
abdicated his position. It is unsure why, but it possibly couldve been because of stress or
pressure of having all the power. Chandragupta then retreated to a tribe in Sravana Belgola in
Mysore where he eventually met his demise by fasting to death. He was practicing the religion of
Jainism2.
In Chandraguptas life he was once an adopted son then became the first ruler of ancient
India. His greatness lead to his grandson Asoka to take the throne and without Asoka there may
not have been a Buddhist religion today without his influence and spread to China. Even after his
life ended his bloodline and the Mauryan Empire had changes left to make on the world until it
4

Kenoyer, Jonathan M., and Kimberley Burton Heuston. "With Friends like These, Who Needs

Enemies?" The Ancient South Asian World. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 114-115. Web. 29 Oct.
2014.

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ended and broke up the empire into smaller kingdoms. The empire didnt last for very long but it
was never fully reunited until the 17th century either. His legendary rule will live forever as the
man who assembled an empire that united a country that never could be united before, the power
and leadership it takes to do that would have been remarkable to witness.

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Annotated Bibliography
Kenoyer, Jonathan M., and Kimberley Burton Heuston. "With Friends like These, Who Needs
Enemies?" The Ancient South Asian World. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. 114-115.
Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
I used Google scholar to look at the preview of this textbook edition on ancient south
Asia. I found information about Chandragupta and how his relation to Alexander the
Great was. And also learned one of his many advisors was Kautilya who was his greatest
weapon. Kautilya used knowledge and wisdom as his many focal points.
Mookerji, Radhakumud. "Origin and Early Life, Conquests and Chronology." Chandragupta
Maurya and His times. 4th ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1966. 3-22. Web.
29 Oct. 2014.
Using the google previewer again I had learned much about Chandraguptas origins and
of his conquests. This book illustrates a very descriptive part of his early story and how
Chanakya found him and took him in as his protege.
Rangarajan, L. N. "Kautilya the Legend." The Arthashastra. New Delhi: Penguin India, 1992.
Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
In this passage of writing the has been deciphered by Rangarajan, it points out the issues
about Kautilya and how it may seem he never existed while it is pointed out none of this
is true and is completely arbitrary. It tells the stories of Chandragupta and Kautilyas
conquests on certain kingdoms until their eventual takeover of the Dhana-Nanda.
"Chandragupta Maurya ((?)-c. 298 B.C.)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit:
Gale, 1998. General OneFile. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
This article mainly illustrates the key points of Chandraguptas life and the key aspects of

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the end of his life. The part of how he leaves his empire to his son Bindusara and left for
the Sravana Belgola in Mysore. He practiced Jainism until fasting to his death.