THE FIRST EMPRE 97

about 321 BC at the age of twenty-five. Indian

Nandathrone in
the that the brabnnana Kautilya,:also knovwn as Chanakya
tradition has it
Vishngupta, was his mentor and guide. The origin and early life
or Chandragupta remain obscure, though according to the prevalent

Vien he
belonged to the Moriva tribe and his caste was low. The
his base birth is no longer acceptable to most historians.
older story of
classical Greek sources state that he overthrew the
Both Indian and
last Nanda
Tuler and occupied his capital Pataliputra (Patna). The
add that he moved to north-vwest India and subdued
Greek accounts Alexander.
the Greek garrisons left behind by
Soon however, Seleukos Nikator gained control of most of the
Asiatic provinces of the Macedonian empire, and in 305 BC he seems
to have met Chandragupta in battle. They signed a treaty and entered
into a marriage alliance. Who married whose daughter is not quite
dear but it seems that Chandragupta probably made a gift of 500
elephants to the Greek general and obtained territory across the
Indus. Seleukos's ambassador, Megasthenes, lived for many years at
the Maurya court at Pataliputra and travelled extensively in the country.
According to Jaina sources, Chandragupta embraced Jainism towards
the end of his life and stepped down from the throne in favour of his
son. Accompanied by Bhadrabahu, a Jaina saint, and several other
monks, he is said to have gone to Sravana Belgola near Mysore,
where he dliberately starved himself to death in the approved Jaina
fashion.
In 297 BC Chandragupta was succeeded by his son Bindusara,
known to the Greeks as Amitrochates (Sanskrit, Amitraghata = the
destroyer of foes). He is said to have had contacts with Antiochus I,
he Deleucid king of Syria. A man of wide tastes and interests, he
Tequested Antiochus to send him some sweet wine, dried figs, and a
oOpnst; the last being not meant for export, however, could not be
sent. According to the Tibetan Buddhist monk Taranatha, who visited
India in the sixteenth
the two century, Bindusara conquered'the land between
seas'.This has been taken to mean that he annexed to the
Magadhan kingdom the peninsular region of India. Early Tamil
literature, it has been pointed out, also mentions the Maurya invasion
of the far south.
But this does not adequately justify the assumption
that
empire.Bindusara annexedit theis possible
Nevertheless, southernmost of Indiato the Maurya
that his partkingdom extended in the