Mauryan Empire Part-4

Obtained information about the rule of Chandragupta, the founder of the Morya Empire in Part 2 of the Morya Empire. In this part of the Mauryan Empire we will get information about the kings who will come next. So the Maryavanshi king who came after Chandragupta was his majestic son Bindusara. Bindusara was the son of Rani Durdhara and Chandgagupta. The Greeks called him Aminorotus and in Jainism he was called Amitraghat and Simhasena.

Bindusara was born in a difficult situation. It is said that Chandragupta's enemies were increasing day by day. Chanakya, the Prime Minister of Chandragupta, was aware of this. Therefore, special attention was paid to all the general matters of the king, such as his food. Chanakya would permanently add a little poison to Chandragupta's food so that his opponents could not kill him by poisoning his food. Now the incident here is that at one time Chandragupta's meal became pudding and a little poison was mixed in it. At this time Durdhara was nine months pregnant. So this poison mixed kheer should be taken by Durdhara instead of Chandragupta, so that the poison started spreading in his body. Hence the Vedas were spoken. According to Vedana, poison has spread in Durdhara's body. But at present there is no effect on the child. Only the fetus can be saved at this time. Chanakya was present at this time. And using his punctuality, he tore Durdhar's stomach and Bindusara came out of it. By this time the poison had begun to spread from Bindusara's forehead. A drop of poison was visible on his forehead. The baby was named Bindusara in memory of the point form of the poison received from the mother.

The mother died at birth, so Bindusara is believed to have been raised by his stepmother, Helena. This does not seem to be possible if we examine the merits of this incident in history as Chandragupta married Helena at the age of 40. Her son's name was Justin. And Chandragupta died at the age of 45 years. And the marriage of Chandragupta and Durdhar took place soon after the invasion of Magadha. So there is a bit of a mess of the year here which is why this statement is not considered to be correct. Besides, it is also believed that Bindusara was his assistant in Chandragupta's victories.

Circa AD Bindusara came to the throne around 297 BC. His time in history is considered to be the time of peace of the Morya era. Bindusara conquered about 16 territories sitting on the throne but these regions are not specially mentioned as they are common. It is also believed that Bindusara made the defeated king a ransom.

Bindusara had about 16 queens. And the number of his sons was eight. According to Buddhist mythology, Bindusara had about 100 children, which seems a bit exaggerated. But it is also written in history that Ashoka killed about 99 of his brothers while sitting on the throne. And this story is also found in Buddhist legends. As mentioned earlier, Buddhist myths often show exaggerated descriptions.

History records about Bindusara's three wives. Such as 1. Rani Charumitra who had the status of the chief queen of Bindusara and her son's name was Sushim. 2. Nur J was the daughter of the king of the Khorasan region. No information is available about his son. And 3. Shubhadrangi i.e. Rani Dharma He was a physician and a native of a region called Champa. After treating Bindusara during the hunt, Bindusara aroused feelings for Shubhadrangi and got married. His son's name was Ashok. Ashoka also had a younger brother named Tiss.

Bindusara maintained the legacy inherited from his father as well as the empire. According to the Mauryan system, princes were always appointed as the governors of the main provinces. So Bindusara also adopted this practice by appointing his eldest son Sushim as Takshashila, Ashoka as Ujjaini and Tissa as Suba of the North Indian state and handling the eastern part himself.

If we get other information about Bindusara, he was fond of discussing with foreign wines, figs and philosophers. During this time India's foreign relations were very developed. Bindusara had very good relations with Syria and Egypt. So King Antiochus of Syria demanded foreign wine, figs, and philosophers. But Antiochus only sent wine and figs. According to Syrian practice, its philosophers cannot travel abroad.

Charumitra had the status of the chief queen of Bindusara and his political conjecture was very good so he declared his son Sushim as Yuvraj from this conjecture. Besides, Sushim was also Bindusara's favorite son. So the thing that happens here is that Sushim is the subo of Takshashila. And the whole administration of this region is listening to itself. It is a pity that Sushi, like her mother, did not have the political clout that led to a revolt in Taxila. The first time the rebellion broke out, Sushim suppressed it, but the second time, the rebellion failed. So Bindusara asked the king of the neighboring region for his help but he too failed. Later Bindusara himself came to suppress the revolt but he also failed. In the end, if Ashoka was appointed to suppress this revolt, only after hearing Ashoka's name did the people of Takshashila end the revolt. This success of his son, Joy Bindusara, now appointed Ashoka as his successor.

Religiously Bindusara believed in a lifelong sect. The founder of which was Makhali Gosla. This was a split from Jainism. This sect believes in destiny.