4 – Chandragupta Maurya (340? – 297 BC)
Maurya founded the Maurya Empire in India and was the ruler of his kingdom for approximately 24 years. He was succeeded by his son Bindusara who was in turn followed by his son Ashoka. This continuity helped the empire flourish and it reached its greatest extent under Ashoka. The Maurya Empire lasted until 187 BC and was the biggest that ever existed in the Indian Subcontinent. At its largest, it spanned over five million square kilometers. Before the arrival of Maurya, the nation of India consisted of multiple small states but he managed to unify them and defeat the Nanda dynasty.
Alexander the Great began his invasion of India in around 327 BC and defeated King Porus of modern day Punjab the following year. Porus was retained as a vassal of Alexander and ruled all of conquered India. By 324 BC, Alexander’s army became fed up with marching. They mutinied and forced the Macedonian legend to return home. Maurya was a relation of the Nada family but was an exile and as he was a captive of Alexander’s, he may have met the general face-to-face at some point.
With Alexander out of the picture, Maurya was determined to remove Macedonian influence from his country so he raised a small army with the aid of his friend Kautilya Chanakya who was an outstanding commander in his own right. Together, the duo triggered a civil war by invading Pataliputra, the capital of the Magadha kingdom. Maurya defeated the Nanda by 322 BC and established his empire. Whether or not Maurya was an expert in propaganda, he managed to gain widespread public support because he became painted as a noble leader who defeated part of the Greek invaders and usurped the notoriously corrupt Nanda government.
The death of Alexander in 323 BC caused all manner of chaos as his conquered lands were divided up. General Seleucus received land in Eastern Pakistan and Northern India but when he traveled to his western borders to handle invaders, Maurya attacked and captured a significant tract of land. After a war that spanned almost two decades, Maurya and Seleucus signed a treaty. The two men established borders and Maurya gave Seleucus 500 war elephants in return for Punjab.
Once he was satisfied with his level of control in Northern India, Maurya turned his attention south. His army won multiple battles in the space of a few years and by 300 BC, his empire controlled practically all of the independent Indian states and extended all the way into the Deccan plateau. One of his few failures was an inability to conquer Kalinga but his grandson Ashoka completed the job 40 years later. By the time Maurya abdicated his throne in 298 BC, he had established himself as one of Asia’s greatest ever commanders. According to legend, he starved himself to death in a cave although it is probably nothing more than a fable.