Dhana Nanda (died c. 321 BCE), according to the Buddhist text ''
Mahabodhivamsa'', was the last ruler of the
Nanda dynasty
The Nanda dynasty ruled in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent during the fourth century BCE, and possibly during the fifth century BCE. The Nandas overthrew the Shaishunaga dynasty in the Magadha region of eastern India, and expanded ...
of ancient India. He was the youngest son of Mahapadma Nanda.
Chandragupta Maurya raised an army that eventually conquered the Nanda capital
Pataliputra
Pataliputra ( IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliputra at the ...
and defeated him. This defeat marked the fall of the Nanda Empire and the birth of the
Maurya Empire.
The
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
tradition presents a similar legend about the last Nanda emperor, although it simply calls the emperor "Nanda", and states that the emperor was allowed to leave his capital alive after being defeated. The
Puranas give a different account, describing the last Nanda emperor as one of eight sons of the dynasty's founder, whom they call
Mahapadma. The Greco-Roman accounts name
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
's contemporary ruler in India as Agrammes or Xandrames, whom modern historians identify as the last Nanda emperor. According to these accounts, Alexander's soldiers mutinied when faced with the prospect of a war with this emperor's powerful army.
In Buddhist tradition
The Buddhist text ''
Mahāvaṃsa
The ''Mahāvaṃsa'' (, Sinhala: මහාවංශය, Pali: ''මහාවංස (Mahāvaṃsa)'' – written in the 5th century CE) is the meticulously kept historical chronicle of Sri Lanka written in the style of an epic poem written in t ...
'' names 9 Nanda kings, who were all brothers, and ruled in succession for a total of 22 years. The first of these kings was Ugrasena, and the last was Dhana Nanda:
The Buddhist tradition states that Dhana Nanda insulted the
Chanakya
Chanakya (Sanskrit: चाणक्य; IAST: ', ; 375–283 BCE) was an ancient Indian polymath who was active as a teacher, author, strategist, philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭil ...
for his ugly appearance during an alms-giving ceremony at Pupphapura (
Pushpapura
Pataliputra (IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliputra at the ...
), ordering him to be thrown out of the assembly. Chanakya then cursed the king, who ordered his arrest. Chanakya escaped and befriended the king's son Pabbata, instigating the prince to seize the throne. With help of a
signet ring
A seal is a device for making an impression in wax, clay, paper, or some other medium, including an embossment on paper, and is also the impression thus made. The original purpose was to authenticate a document, or to prevent interference with ...
given by the prince, Chanakya fled the Nanda palace. Determined to overthrow Dhana Nanda, he acquired wealth to raise an army by using a secret technique that allowed him to turn 1 coin into 8 coins.
Chanakya narrowed down two candidates to replace Dhana Nanda: Pabbata, and
Chandragupta, who belonged to a former royal family. To test them, he gave each of them an amulet to be worn around the neck with a woolen thread. One day, while Chandragupta was asleep, he asked Pabbata to remove Chandragupta's woolen thread without breaking it and without waking up Chandragupta. Pabbata failed to accomplish this task. Some time later, when Pabbata was sleeping, Chanakya challenged Chandragupta to complete the same task. Chandragupta retrieved the woolen thread by cutting off Pabbata's head. Over next seven years, Chanakya trained and mentored Chandragupta. When Chandragupta became an adult, Chanakya assembled an army using his wealth.
The army invaded Dhana Nanda's capital, but was decisively defeated and disbanded. Subsequently, Chandragupta and Chanakya raised a new army, and started capturing the border villages. Gradually, they advanced to the Nanda capital Pataliputta (
Pataliputra
Pataliputra ( IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliputra at the ...
), and killed Dhana Nanda. Chanakya found the treasure of Dhana Nanda through a fisherman, and appointed Chandragupta as the new king.
Other descriptions of the last Nanda king
Jain tradition
The Jain tradition contains a legend that has several similarities with the Buddhist legend, but does not mention the name "Dhana Nanda": the Jain texts simply call Chanakya's rival king "Nanda". According to the Jain tradition, Chanakya visited the Nanda capital
Pataliputra
Pataliputra ( IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliputra at the ...
to seek donations from the king, but felt insulted by a servant of the king. He then vowed to overthrow the Nanda dynasty. He discovered and mentored Chandragupta, and raised an army that defeated the Nanda forces after an initial debacle. However, unlike the Buddhist tradition, the Jain tradition states that the Nanda king was allowed to leave his capital alive after being defeated. The king's daughter fell in love with Chandragupta and married him. This daughter is not named, although later, the mother of Chandragupta's son
Bindusara
Bindusara (), also Amitraghāta or Amitrakhāda (Sanskrit: अमित्रघात, "slayer of enemies" or "devourer of enemies") or Amitrochates (Greek: Ἀμιτροχάτης) (Strabo calls him Allitrochades (Ἀλλιτροχάδης)) ...
is named
Durdhara
Durdhara was the Queen of Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the 4th-century BCE Maurya Empire of ancient India, according to the 12th century CE Jain text '' Parishishtaparvan'' by Hemachandra. She is stated by this text to be the mother of the ...
.
Nanda's chief minister was Sakadala who had two sons,
Sthulabhadra (297-198 BCE) and Srikaya. Srikaya became the king's personal bodyguard. Sthulabhadra loved the royal dancer Rupakosa and lived for 12 years with her. Sakadala was killed in a plot of his political opponent Varichi, after which, his son Srikaya was made the chief minister.
Puranas
Like the Buddhist tradition, the
Puranas also state that there were 9 Nanda kings. However, they name the first of these kings as
Mahapadma, and state that the next 8 kings were his sons. The Puranas name only one of these sons: Sukalpa. Dhundiraja, a commentator on the ''
Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana ( IAST:, sa, विष्णुपुराण) is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus.
The manusc ...
'', claims that Chandragupta Maurya was the grandson of a Nanda king called Sarvatha-siddhi, although this claim does not occur in the Puranas themselves.
Greco-Roman accounts
The Greek accounts name
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
's contemporary ruler in India as Agrammes or Xandrames, whom modern historians identify as the last Nanda king. "Agrammes" may be a Greek transcription of the Sanskrit word "Augrasainya" (literally "son or descendant of Ugrasena", Ugrasena being the name of the dynasty's founder according to the Buddhist tradition). The Greco-Roman tradition suggests that this dynasty had only two kings: according to Curtius, the dynasty's founder was a barber-turned-king; his son was overthrown by
Chandragupta Maurya.
Indian kings
Porus
Porus or Poros ( grc, Πῶρος ; 326–321 BC) was an ancient Indian king whose territory spanned the region between the Jhelum River (Hydaspes) and Chenab River (Acesines), in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. He is only ment ...
and Phegeles (Bhagala) are said to have informed
Alexander III of Macedon
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to t ...
of the unpopularity of Agrammes among his subjects. According to the Roman historian
Quintus Curtius Rufus, his army had as 200,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, 2,000 four-horsed chariots and 3,000 elephants. The Greek accounts describe Agrammes as the ruler of the
Gangaridai
Gangaridai ( gr, Γανγαρίδαι; Latin: ''Gangaridae'') is a term used by the ancient Greco-Roman writers (1st century BCE-2nd century AD) to describe a people or a geographical region of the ancient Indian subcontinent. Some of these wri ...
(the
Ganges valley
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
) and the Prasii (probably a transcription of the Sanskrit word ''prachya''s, literally "easterners"). When faced with the prospect of facing the powerful army of Nanda, Alexander's soldiers mutinied, forcing him to retreat from India.
All historical accounts agree that the last Nanda king was unpopular among his subjects. According to Diodorus,
Porus
Porus or Poros ( grc, Πῶρος ; 326–321 BC) was an ancient Indian king whose territory spanned the region between the Jhelum River (Hydaspes) and Chenab River (Acesines), in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. He is only ment ...
told Alexander that the contemporary Nanda king was a man of "worthless character", and was not respected by his subjects as he was thought to be of low origin. Curtius also states that according to Porus, the Nanda king was despised by his subjects. According to
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
, who claims that Androkottos (identified as Chandragupta) met Alexander, Androkottos later declared that Alexander could have easily conquered the Nanda territory (Gangaridai and Prasii) because the Nanda king was hated and despised by his subjects, as he was wicked and of low origin. The Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition blames the Nandas for being greedy and for imposing oppressive taxation. The Puranas of India label the Nandas as ''adharmika'', indicating that they did not follow the norms of ''
dharma'' or righteous conduct.
In popular culture
Dhana Nanda appears as the primary antagonist in almost every series on Indian television portraying the life of Chanakya or Chandragupta Maurya.
*In the epic historical drama
Chanakya (TV series)
''Chanakya'' is a 47-part drama epic Indian television historical drama written and directed by Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi that was originally telecasted on DD National from 8 September 1991 to 9 August 1992. Produced by Prakash Dwivedi, the s ...
, Suraj Chaddha portrayed the role of Dhana Nanda.
* In
Chandragupta Maurya (2011 TV series)
''Chandragupta Maurya'' is an Indian Historical drama series being broadcast on Dangal TV, based on the life of Chandragupta Maurya, an Indian emperor of ancient India and the founder of the Mauryan Empire. Chandragupta Maurya was first aired i ...
, Sooraj Thapar portrayed Dhana Nanda.
* In
Chandra Nandini
''Chandra Nandini'' is an Indian Hindi-language Historical fictional drama television series which aired on Star Plus from 10 October 2016 until 10 November 2017. It was produced by Ekta Kapoor under her banner Balaji Telefilms and is directed b ...
TV Serial,Arpit Ranka portrayed the role of Dhana Nanda.
* In
Porus
Porus or Poros ( grc, Πῶρος ; 326–321 BC) was an ancient Indian king whose territory spanned the region between the Jhelum River (Hydaspes) and Chenab River (Acesines), in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. He is only ment ...
and
Chandragupta Maurya,
Saurabh Raj Jain
Sourabh Raaj Jain (born 1 December 1985) is an Indian actor in Hindi television. He gained a household name with his portrayal of Lord Krishna in ''Mahabharat'' (2013–2014), that met with nationwide acclaim and proved to be a "game-changer" ...
essayed the role of Dhana Nanda.
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
4th-century BC Indian monarchs
Nanda Empire