Author: Purushottam Bhargava

Publisher: Bhargava Press

Published: 2008-11

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 1443729019

GHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA BY PURUSHOTTAM LAL BHARCAVA. Text extracted from opening pages of book: PREFACE: As a student of history I have always been fascinated by the career of Chandragupta Maurya, one of the greatest of kings, conquerors and administrators the world has produced. It is indeed strange that such a great personage should have passed almost unnoticed by historians, for there is so far, to my knowledge, not a single book in English describing exclusively his Achievements, I was aware of my incompetence to take up this task, yet 1 thought 1 might make an attempt. This small monograph is the result. In it, I have tried to describe, in a brief compass, the life and career of Chandragupta making use of all the original source! I could lay my hands upon. I have deviated from the accepted views where I found better evidence to the contrary. For instance, I have accepted the Jain date for the coronation of Chandragupta as it is better supported by facts than the date hitherto generally i accepted. In some matters, of course, it is difficult to achieve any kind of finality till further evidence comes to notice, for example in the case of the pre-Maurya history ot Magadha; in such oases I have simply men tioned the probabilities without emphasising the correct* ness of my views. Recently, there have been controversies on many points, of more or less important bearing on the subject. I have referred to them in the text where relevant, but 1 would like to mention one of them here as the text was already printed when it came to my notice.I refer to the controversy regarding the relation of the Brihatkatha to the Mudrarakshasa. Mr. C. D. Chatterji, in a very learned article, which appeared in the Indian Culture, Vol. I no 2, has expressed doubt on the authen ticity of the statement found in the Dasarupavaloka that the Mudrarakshasa was based on the Brihatkatha, and has shown at length that the two verses following in support of this statement are later interpolations. His arguments in support of the view that the plot of the Mudrarakshasa can not have been taken from the Brihatkatha are, no doubt, convincing. Yeti there is nothing to disprove the probability that the idea of Chandragupta's Nanda descent was suggested to Visakhadatta by the Brihatkatha. Unfortunately, the book suffers from the lack of proper diacritical marks for Sanskrit words as from a lew printing errors here and there. I hope to remedy them in the second edition if and when that comes to be published.