Pre Mauryan empires
Pradyota dynasty-
The Pradyota dynasty, also widely recognized as prthivim bhoksyanti (lit. enjoying the earth), had been a pre - historic Indian dynasty which governed Avanti in the modern-day the state of Madhya Pradesh. However, according to the majority of Puranas with the exception of a text of the Brahmanda Purana which is kept in the University of Dhaka), this ruling family replaced the Barhadratha For 138 years, the dynasty held power.
Kings
- Pradyota Mahasena or Chanda (541-518 BCE)
- Palaka (518-494 BCE)
- Visakhayupa (494-444 BCE)
- Ajaka or Aryaka (444-423 BCE)
- Varttivarddhana or Nandivardhana (423-403 BCE)
The dynasty's founder and the ruler of Avanti was Pradyota. He is claimed to be Pulika's (Punika's) son, who is believed to have assassinated his master at Ujjain in order to make his son the emperor. Pradyota, who lived at the same time as Buddha and Bimbisara, is recorded in the Mahavagga and Puranas. According to sources, he reigned for 23 years.
The beginning of Palaka's rule, according to Visarasreni of Merutunga, was around 518 BC. He was Ujjayini's Chanda Pradyota's son. He is credited with conquest of Kosambi. He constantly defeated Udayin, but in 444 BC, he killed Udayin. According to legend, Palaka reigned for 25 years.
According to mythology, Visakhayupa, Ajaka, and Nandivardhana each ruled for 50, 21 and 20 years, respectively. According to mythology, Sisunaga defeated Nandivardhana, and as a result, Magadha annexed Avanti.
Haryanka dynasty
The Haryanka dynasty is believed to have been the second ruling dynasty of Magadha, an empire of ancient India, which succeeded the mythological Barhadratha dynasty. The reign of this dynasty probably began in the middle of 6th century BCE. Initially, the capital was Rajagriha. Later, it was shifted to Pataliputra, near the present day Patna in India. Brihadaratha founded the dynasty around 566 BCE, although Bimbisara, his grandson, significantly expanded the dynasty's boundaries during his rule from 544 BCE to 492 BCE. Thus Bimbisara is considered as the main founder of the dynasty.
According to the Buddhist text, the Mahavamsa, Bimbisara was anointed king by his father, Bhattiya, at the age of fifteen.
This dynasty was succeeded by the Shishunaga dynasty.
Governance
The governance structure of Haryanka dynasty is mentioned in Buddhist texts. They mention gramakas (village headmen) who headed village assemblies and mahamatras (high-ranking officials) who had executive, judicial and military functions.
Haryanka Dynasty Kings
Bimbisara
Bimbisara reigned from 545-493 BCE. The extent of his kingdom is mentioned in Mahavagga. His advisors included Sona Kolivisa, Sumana (flower gatherer), Koliya (minister), Kumbhaghosaka (treasurer) and Jīvaka (physician). He was given the title of Seniya.
Both Jain and Buddhist text claim the king to be a follower of their respective religions. Uttaradhyayana Sutra mention him to be a follower of Mahavira, whereas Sutta Nipata depict him and his wife, Khema, as a follower of Buddha. The latter further mentions him to have deputed Jīvaka to assist Buddha's Sangha. He also married Chellana and Kosala Devi, sister of Pasenadi.
According to George Turnour and N.L. Dey, the name of the father of Bimbisara was Bhatiya or Bhattiya, but the Puranas refer him as Hemajit, Kshemajit, Kshetroja or Ksetrauja and the Tibetan texts mention him as Mahapadma.
Ajatashatru
Ajatashatru reigned from 493-462 BCE. He married Vajira, Kosala's princess. In some sources, Bimbisara was imprisoned and killed by his son and successor, Ajatashatru, under whose rule the dynasty reached its largest extent. Ajatashatru was contemporary with Mahavira (599–527 BCE) and Gautama Buddha (563–483 BCE). Ajatashatru fought a war against Vajji, ruled by the Lichhavis, and conquered the republic of Vaisali.
Udayin
Udayin or Udayabhadra is mentioned in Buddhist and Jain texts as the successor of Ajatashatru. Puranas however mention him as the fourth king after Darshaka.
Puranas mention Nandivardhana and Mahanandin as successors of Udayin. According to Buddhist tradition, Anurudhha, Munda and Nagadarshaka were his successors.
Decline
Haryanka dynasty was ultimately overthrown out of power by their Amatya (minister), Shishunaga.
Shaishunaga dynasty
The Shaishunaga dynasty (IAST: Śaiśunāga, literally "of Shishunaga") is believed to have been the third ruling dynasty of Magadha, an empire of ancient India. According to the Hindu Puranas, this dynasty was the second ruling dynasty of Magadha, succeedingNagadashaka of Haryanka Dynasty.
Shishunaga, the founder of the dynasty, was initially an amatya or "minister" of the last Haryanka dynasty ruler Nāgadāsaka and ascended to the throne after a popular rebellion in c. 421 BCE. The capital of this dynasty initially was Rajgir; but later shifted to Pataliputra, near the present day Patna, during the reign of Kakavarna. According to tradition, Kakavarna was succeeded by his ten sons. This dynasty was succeeded by the Nanda Empire in c. 345 BCE.
Establishment
According to Buddhist tradition, Shishunaga was amatya in Haryanka kingdom, who revolted and became the king.
Shaishunaga dynasty kings
Shishunaga
Shishunaga founded his dynasty in 413 BCE with its capital in Rajgir and later Pataliputra (both in what is now Bihar). Buddhist sources indicate that he had a secondary capital at Vaishali, formerly the capital of Vajji, until it was conquered by Magadha. The Shaishunaga dynasty ruled one of the largest empires in the Indian subcontinent.Most important achievement of Shisunga was destruction of the pradyota dyanasty of Avanti.This brought to an end the hundred year old rivalry between Magadh and Avanti .From then Avanti became a part of Magadh rule.
Kakavarna/Kalashoka
According to the Puranas, Shishunaga was succeeded by his son Kakavarna and according to the Sinhala chronicles by his son Kalashoka.[5] On the basis of the evidence of the Ashokavadana, Hermann Jacobi, Wilhelm Geiger and Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar concluded that both are the same. During Shishunaga's reign, he was the governor of Varanasi. The two most significant events of his reign are the Second Buddhist council at Vaishali in 383 BC and the final transfer of the capital to Pataliputra. According to the Harshacharita, he was killed by a dagger thrust into his throat in the vicinity of his capital According to Buddhist tradition, he had nine or ten sons, who were ousted by Ugrasena Nanda.
According to tradition, ten sons of Kalashoka ruled simultaneously. The Mahabodhivamsa states their names as Bhadrasena, Korandavarna, Mangura, Sarvanjaha, Jalika, Ubhaka, Sanjaya, Koravya, Nandivardhana and Panchamaka. Only one of them is mentioned in the Puranic lists, Nandivardhana.
The Puranas list Nandivardhana as the ninth Shaishunaga king and his son Mahanandin as the tenth and the last Shaishunaga king. Mahanandin was killed by his illegitimate son from a Shudra wife named Mahapadma.
Decline
According to Puranas, Shaishunagas were followed by Nanda Empire, which was established by Mahanandin's illegitimate son Mahapadma Nanda.
Nanda Empire
The Nanda dynasty ruled in northern part of the Indian subcontinent during the 4th century BCE, and possibly during the 5th century BCE. The Nandas overthrew the Shaishunaga dynasty in the Magadha region of eastern India, and expanded their empire to include a larger part of northern India. Ancient sources differ considerably regarding the names of the Nanda kings, and the duration of their rule, but based on the Buddhist tradition recorded in the Mahavamsa, they appear to have ruled during c. 345-322 BCE, although some theories date the start of their rule to 5th century BCE.
Modern historians generally identify the ruler of the Gangaridai and the Prasii mentioned in ancient Greco-Roman accounts as a Nanda king. The chroniclers of Alexander the Great, who invaded north-western India during 327-325 BCE, characterize this king as a militarily powerful and prosperous ruler. The prospect of a war against this king led to a mutiny among the soldiers of Alexander, who had to retreat from India without waging a war against him.
The Nandas built on the successes of their Haryanka and Shaishunaga predecessors, and instituted a more centralized administration. Ancient sources credit them with amassing great wealth, which was probably a result of introduction of new currency and taxation system. Ancient texts also suggest that the Nandas were unpopular among their subjects because of their low status birth, their excessive taxation, and their general misconduct. The last Nanda king was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire, and the latter's mentor Chanakya.
Origins of Nandas
Both Indian and Greco-Roman traditions characterize the dynasty's founder as of low birth. According to Greek historian Diodorus (1st century BCE), Porus told Alexander that the contemporary Nanda king was thought to be the son of a barber Roman historian Curtius (1st century CE) adds that according to Porus, this barber became the former queen's paramour thanks to his attractive looks, treacherously assassinated the then king, usurped the supreme authority by pretending to act as a guardian for the then princes, and later killed the princes.
The Jain tradition, as recorded in the Avashyaka Sutra and Parishishta-parvan, corroborates the Greco-Roman accounts, stating that the first Nanda king was the son of a barber. According to the 12th century text Parishishta-parvan, the mother of the first Nanda king was a courtesan. However, the text also states that the daughter of the last Nanda king married Chandragupta, because it was customary for Kshatriya girls to choose their husbands; thus, it implies that the Nanda king claimed to be a Kshatriya, that is, a member of the warrior class.
The Puranas name the dynasty's founder as Mahapadma, and claim that he was the son of the Shaishunaga king Mahanandin. However, even these texts hint at the low birth of the Nandas, when they state that Mahapadma's mother belonged to the Shudra class, the lowest of the varnas.
Since the claim of the barber ancestry of the dynasty's founder is attested by two different traditions Greco-Roman and Jain, it appears to be more reliable than the Puranic claim of Shaishunaga ancestry.
The Buddhist tradition calls the Nandas "of unknown lineage" (annata-kula). According to Mahavamsa, the dynasty's founder was Ugrasena, who was originally "a man of the frontier": he fell into the hands of a gang of robbers, and later became their leader.[9] He later ousted the sons of the Shaishunaga king Kalashoka (or Kakavarna).
Regnal period of Nandas
There is little unanimity among the ancient sources regarding the total duration of the Nanda reign or their regnal period. For example, the Matsya Purana assigns 88 years to the rule of the first Nanda king alone, while some scripts of the Vayu Purana state the total duration of the Nanda rule as 40 years. The 16th century Buddhist scholar Taranatha assigns 29 years to the Nandas.
It is difficult to assign precise date for the Nanda and other early dynasties of Magadha. Historians Irfan Habib and Vivekanand Jha date the Nanda rule from c. 344-322 BCE, relying on the Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition which states that the Nandas ruled for 22 years. Historian Upinder Singh dates the Nanda rule from 364/345 BCE to 324 BCE, based on the assumption that Gautama Buddha died in c. 486 BCE.
According to another theory, based on astronomical calculations, the first Nanda king ascended the throne in 424 BCE. Proponents of this theory also interpret the Hathigumpha inscription to mean that "Nandaraja" (the Nanda king) flourished in year 103 of the Mahavira Era, that is, in 424 BCE.
The 14th century Jain writer Merutunga, in his Vichara-shreni, states that king Chandra Pradyota of Avanti died on the same night as the Jain leader Mahavira. He was succeeded by his son Palaka, who ruled for 60 years. After that, the Nandas rose to power at Pataliputra and captured the Avanti capital Ujjayini. The Nanda rule, spanning the reigns of nine kings, lasted for 155 years, after which the Mauryas came to power. According to the Shvetambara Jain tradition, Mahavira died in 527 BCE, which would mean that the Nanda rule - according to Merutunga's writings - lasted from 467 BCE to 312 BCE. According to historian R. C. Majumdar, while all the chronological details provided by Merutunga cannot be accepted without corroborative evidence, they cannot be dismissed as entirely unreliable unless contradicted by more reliable sources.
The Buddhist, Jain, and Puranic traditions all state that there were 9 Nanda kings, but the sources differ considerably on the names of these kings.
According to the Greco-Roman accounts, the Nanda rule spanned two generations. For example, the Roman historian Curtius (1st century CE) suggests that the dynasty's founder was a barber-turned-king, and that his son was the dynasty's last king, who was overthrown by Chandragupta. The Greek accounts name only one Nanda king - Agrammes or Xandrames - who was a contemporary of Alexander. "Agrammes" may be a Greek transcription of the Sanskrit word "Augrasainya" (literally "son or descendant of Ugrasena", Ugrasena being the name of the dynasty's founder according to the Buddhist tradition).
The Puranas, compiled in India in c. 4th century CE (but probably based on earlier sources), also state that the Nandas ruled for two generations. According to the Puranic tradition, the dynasty's founder was Mahapadma: the Matsya Purana assigns him an incredibly long reign of 88 years, while the Vayu Purana mentions the length of his reign as only 28 years. The Puranas further state that Mahapadma's 8 sons ruled in succession after him for a total of 12 years, but name only one of these sons: Sukalpa. A Vayu Purana script names him as "Sahalya", which apparently corresponds to the "Sahalin" mentioned in the Buddhist text Divyavadana. Dhundiraja, a commentator on the Vishnu Purana, names one of the Nanda kings as Sarvatha-siddhi, and states that his son was Maurya, whose son was Chandragupta Maurya. However, the Puranas themselves do not talk of any relation between the Nanda and the Maurya dynasties.
According to the Sri Lankan Buddhist text Mahavamsa, written in Pali language, there were 9 Nanda kings - they were brothers who ruled in succession, for a total of 22 years. These nine kings were.
- Ugra-sena (Uggasena in Pali)
- Panduka
- Pandugati
- Bhuta-pala
- Rashtra-pala
- Govishanaka
- Dasha-siddhaka
- Kaivarta
- Dhana
Nandas' Imperial extent
The Nanda capital was located at Pataliputra (near present-day Patna) in the Magadha region of eastern India. This is confirmed by the Buddhist and Jain traditions, as well as the Sanskrit play Mudrarakshasa.
The Puranas also connect the Nandas to the Shaishunaga dynasty, which ruled in the Magadha region.
The Greek accounts state that Agrammes (identified as a Nanda king) was the ruler of the Gangaridai (the Ganges valley) and the Prasii (probably a transcription of the Sanskrit word prachyas, literally "easterners"). According to the later writer Megasthenes (c. 300 BCE), Pataliputra (Greek: Palibothra) was located in the country of the Prasii, which further confirms that Pataliputra was the Nanda capital.
The Nanda empire appears to have stretched from present-day Punjab in the west to Odisha in the east. An analysis of various historical sources - including the ancient Greek accounts, the Puranas, and the Hathigumpha inscription - suggests that the Nandas controlled eastern India, the Ganges valley, and at least a part of Kalinga. It is also highly probable that they controlled the Avanti region in Central India, which made it possible for their successor Chandragupta Maurya to conquer present-day Gujarat western India. According to the Jain tradition, the Nanda minister subjugated the entire country up to the coastal areas.
The Puranas state that the Nanda king Mahapadma destroyed the Kshatriyas, and attained undisputed sovereignty.The Kshatriyas said to have been exterminated by him include Maithalas, Kasheyas, Ikshvakus, Panchalas, Shurasenas, Kurus, Haihayas, Vitihotras, Kalingas, and Ashmakas.
- The Maithala (literally, "of Mithila") territory was located to the north of Magadha, on the border of present-day Nepal and northern Bihar. This region had come under the control of Magadha during the reign of the 5th century BCE king Ajatashatru. The Nandas probably subjugated the local chieftains, who may have retained some degree of independence from Magadha.
- The Kasheyas were the residents of the area around Kashi, that is, present-day Varanasi. According to the Puranas, a Shaishunaga prince was appointed to govern Kashi, which suggests that this region was under Shaishunaga control. The Nandas may have captured it from a successor of the Shaishunaga prince.
- The Ikshvakus ruled the historical Kosala region of present-day Uttar Pradesh, and had come into conflict with the Magadha kingdom during the reign of Ajatashatru. Their history after the reign of Virudhaka is obscure. A passage of the 11th century story-collection Kathasaritsagara refers to the Nanda camp (kataka) in the Ayodhya town of the Kosala region. This suggests that the Nanda king went on a military campaign to Kosala.
- The Panchalas occupied the Ganges valley to the north-west of the Kosala region, and there are no records of their conflict with the Magadha monarchs before the Nanda period. Therefore, it appears that the Nandas subjugated them. According to the Greek accounts, Alexander expected to face king Agrammes (identified as a Nanda king) if he advanced eastwards from the Punjab region. This suggests that the Nanda territory extended up to the Ganges river in the present-day western Uttar Pradesh.
- The Shurasenas ruled the area around Mathura. The Greek accounts suggest that they were subordinates to the king of the Prasii, that is, the Nanda king.
- The Kuru territory, which included the sacred site of Kurukshetra, was located to the west of the Panchala territory. The Greek records suggest that the king of Gangaridai and Prasii controlled this region, which may be taken as corrorobrative evidence for the Nanda conquest of the Kuru territory.
- The Haihayas ruled the Narmada valley in central India, with their capital at Mahishmati. The Nanda control over this territory does not seem improbable, given that their predecessors. the Shaishunagas - are said to have subjugated the rulers of Avanti in central India (according to the Puranas), and their successors, the Mauryas, are known to have ruled over Central India.
- The Vitihotras, according to the Puranas, were closely associated with the Haihayas. Their sovereignty is said to have ended before the rise of the Pradyota dynasty in Avanti, far earlier than the Nandas and the Shaishunagas came to power. However, a passage in the Bhavishyanukirtana of the Puranas suggests that the Vitihotras were contemporaries of the Shaishunagas. It is possible that the Shaishunagas restored a Pradyota prince as a subordinate ruler, after defeating the Pradyotas. The Nandas may have defeated this Vitihotra ruler.The Jain writers describe the Nandas as the successors of Palaka, the son of king Pradyota.
- The Kalingas occupied the coastal territory in present-day Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The Nanda control of this region is corroborated by the Hathigumpha inscription of the later king Kharavela (c. 1st or 2nd century BCE). The inscription states that "Nanda-raja" (the Nanda king) had excavated a canal in Kalinga, and had taken a Jain idol from Kalinga. According to the inscription, this canal had been dug "ti-vasa-sata" years ago: the term is variously interpreted as "three hundred" or "one hundred and three".
- The Ashmakas occupied the Godavari valley in the Deccan region. According to one theory, Nanded in this region was originally called "Nau Nand Dehra" (abode of the nine Nandas), which may be considered as evidence of the Nanda control of this area. However, there is no concrete evidence that the Nanda rule extended to the south of the Vindhya range.
Some inscriptions suggest that the Nandas also ruled the Kuntala country, which included a part of present-day Karnataka in southern India. However, these inscriptions are relatively late (c. 1200 CE), and therefore, cannot be considered as reliable in this context. The Magadha empire included parts of southern India during the reign of the Mauryas - the successors of the Nandas - but there is no satisfactory account of how they came to control this area.
Nandas' Military strength
Alexander the Great invaded north-western India at the time of Agrammes or Xandrames, whom modern historians generally identified as the last Nanda king - Dhana Nanda. In the summer of 326 BCE, Alexander's army reached the Beas River (Greek: Hyphasis), beyond which the Nanda territory was located.
According to Curtius, Alexander learned that Agrammes had 200,000 infantry; 20,000 cavalry; 3000 elephants; and 2,000 four-horse chariots. Diodorus gives the number of elephants as 4,000.Plutarch inflates these numbers significantly, except the infantry:[according to him, the Nanda force included 200,000 infantry; 80,000 cavalry; 6,000 elephants; and 8,000 chariots. It is possible that the numbers reported to Alexander had been exaggerated by the local Indian population, who had the incentive to mislead the invaders.
The Nanda army did not have the opportunity to face Alexander, whose soldiers mutinied at the Beas River, refusing to go any further in the east. Alexander's soldiers had first started to agitate to return to their homeland at Hecatompylos in 330 BCE, and the stiff resistance that they had met in north-western India in the subsequent years had demoralized them. They mutinied, when faced with the prospect of facing the powerful Nanda army, forcing Alexander to withdraw from India.
Nandas' Ministers and scholars
According to the Jain tradition, Kalpaka was the minister of the first Nanda king. He became a minister reluctantly, but after assuming the office, he encouraged the king to adopt an aggressive expansionist policy. The Jain texts suggest that the ministerial offices of the Nanda Empire were hereditary. For example, after the death of Shakatala, a minister of the last Nanda king, his position was offered to his son Sthulabhadra; when Sthulabhadra refused the offer, Shakatala's second son Shriyaka was appointed as the minister.
The Brihatkatha tradition claims that under the Nanda rule, the city of Pataliputra not only became the abode of goddess of material prosperity (Lakshmi), but also of the goddess of learning (Sarasvati). According to this tradition, notable grammarians such as Varsha, Upavarsha, Panini, Katyayana, Vararuchi, and Vyadi lived during the Nanda period. While much of this account is unreliable folklore, it is probable that some of grammarians who preceded Patanjali lived during the Nanda period.
Nandas' Wealth
Several historical sources refer to the great wealth of the Nandas. According to the Mahavamsa, the last Nanda king was a treasure-hoarder, and amassed wealth worth 80 kotis (800 million). He buried these treasures in the bed of the Ganges river. He acquired further wealth by levying taxes on all sorts of objects, including skins, gums, trees, and stones.
A verse by the Tamil poet Mamulanar refers to "the untold wealth of the Nandas", which was "swept away and submerged later on by the floods of the Ganges". Another interpretation of this verse states this wealth was hidden in the waters of the Ganges. The 7th century Chinese traveler Xuanzang mentions the "five treasures of king Nanda's seven precious substances". Greek writer Xenophon, in his Cyropaedia (4th century BCE), mentions that the king of India was very wealthy, and aspired to arbitrate in the disputes between the kingdoms of West Asia. Although Xenophon's book describes the events of the 6th century BCE (the period of Cyrus the Great), historian H. C. Raychaudhuri speculates that the writer's image of the Indian king may be based on the contemporary Nanda king.
The Kashika, a commentary on Panini's grammar, mentions Nandopakramani manani - a measuring standard introduced by the Nandas. This may be a reference to their introduction of a new currency system and punch-marked coins, which may have been responsible for much of their wealth. A hoard of coins found at the site of ancient Pataliputra probably belongs to the Nanda period.
Nandas' Religion
The Nanda Empire's population included adherents of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The Nandas and the Mauryas appear to have patronized the religions originating in the Greater Magadha region, namely Jainism, Ajivikism, and Buddhism. However, the rulers of the empire never engaged in conversion of their subjects to other religion and there is no evidence that these rulers discriminated against any contemporary religion.
In the pre-Nanda period, the Vedic Brahmanism was supported by several smaller kings, who patronized the Brahmin priests. The declining power of these kings under the more centralized Nanda and Maurya rule appears to have deprived the Brahmins of their patrons, resulting in the gradual decline of the traditional Vedic society.
The Jain tradition suggests that several Nanda ministers were inclined towards Jainism. When Shakatala, a minister of the last Nanda king, died, his son Sthulabhadra refused to inherit his father's office, and instead became a Jain monk. Sthulabhadra's brother Shriyaka accepted the post.
Magadhan Architecture
Pataliputra Voussoir Arch
A granite stone fragment of an arch discovered by K. P. Jayaswal from Kumhrar, Pataliputra has been analysed as a pre Maurya-Nanda period keystone fragment of a trefoil arch of gateway with mason's marks of three archaic Brahmi letters inscribed on it which probably decorated a Torana. The wedge shaped stone with indentation has mauryan polish on two sides and was suspended vertically.
Nanda era
According to K. P Jayaswal, Nanda era is mentioned in three sources. Kharavela's Hathigumpha inscription mentions Nandaraja constructing canal 300 or 103 years ago. According to Al beruni The Sriharsha era was being used in areas of Kannauj and Mathura and there was a difference of 400 years between sriharsha era and Vikrama era which would make it 458 BC, the attributes of which matched with the Nanda kings. According to 12th century Yedarava inscription of Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI, Nanda era along with vikram era and Shaka era were extent which were abolished in favor of a new Chalukyan era, but other scholars have opined that evidences are too meager to make anything conclusive.
Nands' Unpopularity and overthrow
All historical accounts agree that the last Nanda king was unpopular among his subjects. According to Diodorus, Porus told Alexander that the contemporary Nanda king was a man of "worthless character", and was not respected by his subjects as he was thought to be of low origin. Curtius also states that according to Porus, the Nanda king was despised by his subjects. According to Plutarch, who claims that Androkottos (identified as Chandragupta) met Alexander, Androkottos later declared that Alexander could have easily conquered the Nanda territory (Gangaridai and Prasii) because the Nanda king was hated and despised by his subjects, as he was wicked and of low origin. The Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition blames the Nandas for being greedy and for imposing oppressive taxation The Puranas of India label the Nandas as adharmika, indicating that they did not follow the norms of dharma or righteous conduct.
The Nanda dynasty was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya, who was supported by his mentor (and later minister) Chanakya. Some accounts mention Chandragupta as a member of the Nanda family. For example, the 11th century writers Kshemendra and Somadeva describe Chandragupta as a "son of the genuine Nanda" (purva-Nanda-suta). Dhundiraja, in his commentary on the Vishnu Purana, names Chandragupta's father as Maurya; he describes Maurya as a son of the Nanda king Sarvatha-siddhi and a hunter's daughter named Mura.
The Buddhist text Milinda Panha mentions a war between the Nanda general Bhaddasala (Sanskrit: Bhadrashala) and Chandragupta. According to the text, this war led to the slaughter of 10,000 elephants; 100,000 horses; 5,000 charioteers; and a billion foot soldiers. While this is obviously an exaggeration, it suggests that the overthrow of the Nanda dynasty was a violent affair.
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