Chandragupta Maurya and the Treaty with Seleucus
Chandragupta Maurya rose from obscure origins to found one of history's greatest empires. He was mentored by Chanakya (also called Kautilya), a brilliant political theorist whose work the Arthashastra became India's most important treatise on statecraft. Around 322 BCE Chandragupta overthrew the Nanda dynasty that ruled the Ganges plain, establishing the Maurya dynasty at Pataliputra (modern Patna). He then turned west, taking advantage of Alexander's death and the chaos of the Diadochi wars to recapture the territories Alexander had briefly held in northwestern India. When Seleucus I attempted to reassert control over the Indian territories around 305 BCE, Chandragupta's forces resisted effectively. The resulting treaty was favorable to Chandragupta: Seleucus ceded the Indus Valley, Gandhara, and parts of modern Afghanistan and Baluchistan in exchange for 500 war elephants — a transaction that would have profound consequences at Ipsus. Seleucus also gave his daughter in marriage to Chandragupta or a Maurya prince. Seleucus sent his ambassador Megasthenes to the Maurya court at Pataliputra, where he resided for years and wrote an account of India (Indica) that became the primary Greek source on the subcontinent. Megasthenes described a magnificent city with a great palace, public granaries, a vast army, and sophisticated administration. Chandragupta eventually abdicated, converted to Jainism, and according to tradition starved himself to death at Shravanabelagola. His grandson Ashoka would convert to Buddhism and create the first Buddhist empire.
- Year: 305 BCE
- Category: Political
