The Emergence Of Unsung Lineage

India is known for possessing one of the greatest and vast histories of the world. There are many contexts of political and military success of the greatest empires of the Indian history, which also illustrate the rise of the kingdoms from ashes. One such historical rule was the great "Saga Of The Mauryan Rise". It all started from the insult of the greatest scholars of that time "Chanakya"and lead to emergence of “The Mauryan Empire” ,one of the largest empires of Indian subcontinent .

Inception of the downfall

Dhana Nanda was the last king belonging to the lineage of Nanda dynasty before the kingdom was overthrown. He is known as the addict for wealth and unpopular in the kingdom as the taxes he charged on the people and his wickedness were intolerable. The cause of insult to Chanakya was unclear and there are two versions of this context. One narrated that the kingdoms and smaller reign around the rule of the Nanda dynasty in the Indian subcontinent were in turmoil and had rivalry towards each other. This came under the notice of foreign empires to invade the kingdoms. Chanakya, the then courtier of the Nanda dynasty identified this and wanted to advise the king Dhana Nanda about the actions to be taken to prevent the invasions. Instead of accepting the advice the king dishonored and deeply wounded the pride of the scholar. The second version depicts that Chanakya being a poor Brahmin attends the ceremony where the king announced to distribute alms. Chanakya had an ugly appearance with broken teeth and crooked feet. Disgusted by the appearance the king ordered Chanakya to be thrown away from the kingdom and deeply insulted him. In both the cases Chanakya vows to uproot Nanda dynasty and the king’s establishments out of revenge. He searches for a worthy king to overthrow Dhana Nanda. One day he encounters a boy named Chandragupta Maurya raised by a hunter playing mock court with other children of his age and him taking the role of the king. To his surprise Chanakya found the inherent king in the boy through the way of conduct and the judgments the boy showed. Chankaya paid 1000 gold coins to the hunter and took the young Chandragupta to teach him  the political and military sciences which followed the principles of Arthashastra, authored by Chanakya himself. Chandragupta was assumed to be born in a royal family which was of unknown lineage, but was brought up by a hunter after his father was killed by a usurper. The Nanda Empire was believed to have strong military forces and large army. Even the mighty Alexander’s invasion dared not to encounter the army of this kingdom.

The storm cast away...
Chanakya accumulated wealth and army by the time Chandragupta reached the age. The first attack on the Nanda dynasty went defeated by the Dhana Nanda forcing Chandragupta and Chanakya to disband the battlefield. While wandering in disguise, the two men overheard the conversation between a woman and her son. The child had burnt his finger by putting it in the middle of a bowl of hot gruel. The woman told her son that by not starting from the cooler edges, he was being foolish like Chanakya, who attacked the capital before conquering the bordering regions. Chanakya and Chandragupta realized their mistake and brought up new plans.

Aiming towards maneuver and accomplishment
They started assembling new army taking  advantage of  the outrage in Punjab and other northwestern kingdoms against the Greek. The alliances were made with several small kingdoms and also with the king Parvathaka who is again known as Porus II.  They conquered the border villages and gradually advanced to the kingdom's capital Pataliputra  where they killed the king Dhana Nanda. Chanakya then coronated Chandragupta Maurya as the new king, and appointed a man named Paṇiyatappa to eliminating rebels and robbers from the kingdom. Chandragupta appointed Chanakya as the chief minister of the Mauryan Empire.

The scion of legacies
After unifying major parts of India, Chandragupta and Chanakya passed a series of major economic and political reforms. The king established a strong administration from Pataliputra (now Patna), following the policies and principles of Arthashastra. Infrastructure such as irrigation, temples, mines and roads, thrived and agriculture flourished leading to a strong economy and trained permanent army to help expand and protect its boundaries. The legacy of the kingdom was continued by Bindusara and Asoka to emerge as one of the greatest unsung lineages of the history.