Aided by the wind, the dung heap was on fire and the man behind the Mauryan Empire and the author of Arthashastra was burned to death. He arranged for a ceremony of respect, but unnoticed by anyone, slipped a smoldering charcoal ember inside the dung heap. Subandhu, who still hated Chanakya, wanted to make sure that he did not return to the city – alive. Bindusara vent his fury on Subandhu, who asked for time to beg for forgiveness from Chanakya. Bindusara, meanwhile heard the full story of his birth from the nurses and rushed to beg forgiveness of Chanakya. He donated a his wealth to the poor, widows, and orphans and sat on a dung heap, prepared to die by total abstinence from food and drink. On hearing that the Emperor was angry with him, Chanakya thought he had nothing to lose but his life. One person who did not like this was Bindusara’s minister Subandhu who revealed to Bindusara that Chanakya was responsible for the murder of his mother. A drop (bindu) of poison had passed to the baby’s head, and hence Chanakya named him Bindusara.Īfter Chandragupta abdicated the throne, Chanakya stayed as the Prime Minister of Bindusara. Chanakya decided that the baby should not die he cut open the belly of the queen and took out the baby.

Since poisoned food was not her staple diet, she died. One day a pregnant queen Durdha shared the food with the Emperor. This gourmet cuisine was prepared to prevent the Emperor from being poisoned by enemies. This narration talks not just about the death of Chanakya, but also about the birth of Bindusara and associated palace intrigues.Īccording to Hemacandra, while Chanakya served as the Prime Minister of Chandragupta Maurya, he started adding small amounts of poison in the Emperor’s food so that he would get used to it railway meals was not available then. The only information I could find about Chanakya’s life after this period is in the book The Lives of the Jain Elders by the Jain monk Hemacandra.

Even now there is a cave with a carving of a stone foot, where the Mauryan emperor is believed to have starved to death (See from 35 min onwards)īut what about Chanakya? While most popular accounts of Chanakya end with coronation of Chandragupta Maurya’s coronation, Visakshadutta’s Mudrarakshasa is about events after the coronation where Chanakya tries to get the deposed minister of the Nandas, Amatya Rakshasa, to serve as the Emperor’s minister.

According to Jain tradition, after a teacher warned Chandragupta about an impending famine, Chandragupta made Bindusara the king, took a begging bowl and walked to Deccan. In Episode 2 of The Story of India, Michael Wood, journeys from Patna to Sravanabelagola following the footsteps of Chandragupta Maurya.

Chandragupta maurya serial review