Overthrow of the Nanda dynasty
Overthrow of the Nanda dynasty | |||||||||
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Extend of Nanda Empire around the time of the war. | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Nanda Empire | House of Maurya | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Amatya Rakshas Bhaddasala [2] |
Chandragupta Maurya Chanakya | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
200,000 infantry 80,000 cavalry 8,000 chariots 6,000 war elephants[3] | Around 600,000 troops [4] |
The overthrow of the Nanda dynasty
Chandragupta's ancestry is unknown. The knowledge of statecraft and warfare was taught to Chandragupta by his teacher
War
Much of what is known about the conquest comes from accounts written long after the war itself. Ancient historian
Estimates of the number of soldiers involved are based in part on ancient Roman sources. Plutarch estimates that Chandragupta's army would later number 600,000 by the time it had subdued all of India,[13] an estimate also given by Pliny (23 AD–79 AD). Pliny and Plutarch also estimated the Nanda Army strength in the east as 200,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots, and 6,000 war elephants. These estimates were based in part of the earlier work of the Seleucid ambassador to the Maurya, Megasthenes.[14] One 21st-century author, Suhas Chatterjee, suggests that "Chandragupta had to engage all his military strength, even Greek mercenaries from Punjab in his conquest of the Nanda king" and according to references about the conquest in the Milinda Panha "100,000 of soldiers, 10,000 elephants, 100,000 horses and 5,000 charioteers were killed in the encounter".[15]
In Mudrarakshasa, Chandragupta was said to have first acquired Punjab, and then combined forces with Chanakya and advanced upon the Nanda Empire.[11] Similarly, Plutarch writes that he first overthrew Alexanders Prefects in the northwest of India.[10] P. K. Bhattacharyya concludes that the war would have consisted of gradual conquest of provinces after the initial consolidation of Magadha.[13] In Mudrarakshasa, he laid siege to Kusumapura (or Pataliputra, now Patna), the capital of Magadha, with the help of north-west frontier tribe mercenaries from areas already conquered.[11] The siege may have begun in 320 BCE.[16] By 312 BCE he had conquered all of north and north-west India.[11]
In the war, Chandragupta may have allied with the Matsya king and the Suryavamshi king of Kalinga (modern-day Odisha).[17] The prior experience of his mercenaries from the Punjab were likely important in his military success.[18] It is also suggested that Chandragupta's campaign was laid out by using popular guerrilla tactics, as the Nanda Empire was large and had been able to wield large armies that would have been overwhelming to oppose by an upstart.[16] The war brought an end to the Nanda Dynasty and established the Maurya Empire with Chandragupta Maurya as its emperor.
Aftermath
See also
- Magadha
- Chanakya
- Nanda Empire
- Maurya Empire
- List of wars involving India
- List of monarchs of Magadha
References
- ^ a b Mookerji 1988, p. 6.
- ^ [11] Roy, Kaushik. Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia: From Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge University Press, 2012. p61-62
- ^ Mookerji, Radhakumud. Chandragupta Maurya and his times. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1966. p165-166
- ^ Bhattacharyya, Pranab Kumar. Historical Geography of Madhyapradesh from Early Records. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1977. p8
- ^ Roy 2012, p. 62.
- ^ Sen 1895, pp. 26–32.
- ^ Boesche, Roger. "Kautilya's Arthasastra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India." The Journal of Military History, vol. 67 no. 1, 2003, pp. 9-37. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jmh.2003.0006
- ^ Boesche, Roger. "Kautilya's Arthasastra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India." The Journal of Military History, vol. 67 no. 1, 2003, pp. 9-37. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jmh.2003.0006
- ^ Trautmann, Thomas R. (1971). Kauṭilya and the Arthaśāstra: A Statistical Investigation of the Authorship and Evolution of the Text. Brill. p. 11.
- ^ Project MUSE(subscription required)
- ^ a b c d e Roy, Kaushik. Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia: From Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge University Press, 2012. p61-62
- ^ Sharma, Urmila, and Sanjeev Kumar Sharma. Indian Political Thought. Atlantic Publishers & Dist, 2001. p53
- ^ a b c Bhattacharyya, Pranab Kumar. Historical Geography of Madhyapradesh from Early Records. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1977. p8
- ^ Mookerji, Radhakumud. Chandragupta Maurya and his times. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1966. p165-166
- ISBN 9788175330832.
- ^ a b c R.G. Grant: Commanders, Penguin (2010). pg. 49
- ^ Roy, Kaushik. Warfare in Pre-British India–1500BCE to 1740CE. Routledge, 2015. p46-50
- ^ a b Roy, Kaushik. Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Routledge, 2015. p13
- ^ Strabo, Geography, xv.2.9
- ^ Kosmin 2014, p. 33–34.
Works cited
- ISBN 978-0-674-72882-0.
- ISBN 81-208-0433-3
- Roy, Kaushik (2012), Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia: From Antiquity to the Present, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-01736-8
- Sen, R.K. (1895), "Origin of the Maurya of Magadha and of Chanakya", Journal of the Buddhist Text Society of India, The Society