Indians Must Take Heart from the Military Campaigns of Chandragupta Maurya
At a time when the Indian state is beset by myriad problems of language and religion, it is worthwhile to remember a great warrior king named Chandragupta. He was the man who founded the Maurya dynasty. He was the grandfather of Samrat Ashok and though having embraced Jainism, remains the foremost exponent of the art of war. Considering the application of strategy and tactics of Chandragupta, it is difficult to visualise how the Hindus were repeatedly defeated by the Muslims and ended up being subjects in their own land for 900 years.
The invasion of India by Alexander the Great is a watershed event in Indian history. The great Alexander met Raja Porus in the battles of Hydespes ( River Jhelum) in 326 BC.At that time Chandragupta must have been a teenager. The army of Alexander met Porus in Battle and faced an army of elephants. These massive beasts unnerved the Greek army who were in awe of them. When they learnt that further ahead was the Nanda empire with a force of 6000 elephants, the Greek army refused to carry on fighting into the Indo-gangetic plain.
The departure of Alexander and his subsequent death in 323 BC at Babylon, opened the flood gates in India and Chandragupta took full advantage of it. There are reports that he perhaps joined forces with Porus and moved against the Nanda Empire. He was joined by a learned Brahmin named Chanakya who had been slighted at the Nanda court and was seeking revenge. He became the advisor of Chandragupta.
Not much is known about the early life of Chandragupta, but there are reports that perhaps he was the son of Prince Sarvarthasiddhi of the Nanda empire and a slave girl(possibly a Shudra). Perhaps he was made an outcast and thus one can say he may have lowly origins.
He was, however, with the help of Raja Porus, able to raise an army and in a decisive battle defeated the Nanda army and captured Pataliputra in 321 BC. Thus within 5 years of the departure of Alexander he started his Maurya dynasty and ushered in the golden age of India. Chandragupta at that time was just 20 years old.
This was just the beginning and he set out to conquer the entire North India. It is a matter of pride that within a span of 5 years by 316 BC, Chandragupta's army conquered entire North India and Central Asia, that included Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.This brought him into conflict with the Greek emperor Seleucus Nikator, who ruled Persia and was a general in the army of Alexander.
Seleucus moved against Chandragupta and in 305, the Greek and Indian army met in battle. History records that Seleucus was defeated and gave one of his daughters in marriage to Chandragupta.Chandragupta gave a gift of 500 elephants to Seleucus. The battle is important as it marked the high point of the rule of Chandragupta. His empire now stretched from Iran, Tajikistan to Bengal and from Kashmir to the Deccan in the south. Only the state of Kalinga and a Tamil kingdom in South India were outside his realm.
Chandragupta now did something exemplary. He abdicated in favour of his son and became a Jain monk in 298 BC. He was only 43 year old at that time. He proceeded to Karnataka and meditated for 6 weeks without food and water and passed away. What an example for all Indians. The bigger lesson to draw is that there is no substitute to military power as he raised the finest army in Asia. Many western historians rate him a notch higher than Ashoka, who brought in pacifism and allowed his empire to disintegrate after his death.
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