Chandragupta Maurya (339–296 BCE)
Born 339 BCE, died 296 BCE.
Chandragupta Maurya (reigned c. 320 BCE – c. 298 BCE) was the founder and the first emperor of the Maurya Empire, based in Magadha (present-day Bihar) in the Indian subcontinent. His rise to power began in the period of unrest and local warfare that arose after Alexander the Great's Indian campaign and early death in 323 BCE, although the exact chronology and sequence of events remains subject to debate among historians. He started a war against the unpopular Nanda dynasty in Magadha on the Ganges Valley, defeated them and established his own dynasty. In addition, he raised an army to resist the Greeks, defeated them, and took control of the eastern Indus Valley. His conquest of Magadha is generally dated to c. 322–319 BCE, and his expansion to Punjab subsequently at c. 317–312 BCE, but some scholars have speculated that he might have initially consolidated his power base in Punjab, before conquering Magadha; an alternative chronology places these events all in the period c. 311–305 BCE. According to the play Mudrarakshasa, Chandragupta was assisted by his mentor Chanakya, who later became his minister.
Text from the Wikipedia article Chandragupta_Maurya, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.