Chandragupta Maurya: The Creation of a National Hero in India

We takeit for granted that some historical figures become heroes, and others do not. ChandraguptaMaurya evolved from obscure ruler to contemporary national icon. The key momentin the making of this Indian hero was a meeting by the banks of the River Indusbetween Chandragupta and Seleucus, founder of the Seleucid empire and one of Alexander the Great'sgenerals, in c.305-3 BC. This significant event was a moment ofpeace-making at the end of conflict. But no reliable account exists in earlysources, and it is not even clear which ruler was victorious in battle. Thisuncertainty enabled British and Indian historians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to interpret the sources in radically different ways. WithChandragupta representing India and Seleucus standing in for Britain, Britishscholars argued that Seleucus defeated Chandragupta, while Indian academics contendedthe opposite.

The writing andreception of history fundamentally influences how we engage with the past, and theevolving colonial and post-colonial relationship between Britain and India iscrucial here. In India, the image of Chandragupta as an idealised hero whovanquished the foreign invader has prevailed and found expression in contemporarypopular culture. In plays, films, television series, comic books and historicalnovels, Chandragupta is the powerful and virtuous Hindu ruler par excellence.The path to this elevated standing is charted in this book.