''Chandragupta Maurya'' is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

series being broadcast on Dangal TV, based on the life of

Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya (350-295 BCE) was a ruler in Ancient India who expanded a geographically-extensive kingdom based in Magadha and founded the Maurya dynasty. He reigned from 320 BCE to 298 BCE. The Maurya kingdom expanded to become an empi ...

, an Indian emperor of ancient India and the founder of the

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...

. Chandragupta Maurya was first aired in March 2011 on

Imagine TV Imagine TV was a Hindi general entertainment channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, and based in New Delhi. The channel was known for shows such as '' Ramayan (2008), Chandragupta Maurya, '' Swayamvar'', ''Baba Aiso Varr Dhoondo'', ''M ...

Ashish Sharma Ashish Sharma is an Indian film and television actor. He is recognized for his role of Prithvi Vallabh in '' Prithvi Vallabh - Itihaas Bhi, Rahasya Bhi,'' Rama in ''Siya Ke Ram,'' Major Rudra Pratap Ranawat in ''Rangrasiya'', Ranveer Singh/Fa ...

played the role of adult Chandragupta Maurya.

Summary

The story is about Chandragupta Maurya, who ruled over the Indian subcontinent in 300 BC. He would go on to become one of the greatest emperors in ancient India with his empire extending from

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

in the east to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

in the west. The story begins with

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 Kauṭilya o ...

, who goes to

Dhana Nanda Dhana Nanda (died c. 321 BCE), according to the Buddhist text '' Mahabodhivamsa'', was the last ruler of the Nanda dynasty of ancient India. He was the youngest son of Mahapadma Nanda. Chandragupta Maurya raised an army that eventually conquer ...

with the offer of

Akhand Bharat Akhand Bharat (), also known as Akhand Hindustan, is a term for the concept of a unified Greater India. The idea of Akhand Bharat in it's most widely accepted form is that Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Myanmar, ...

(literally meaning Undivided India), but Dhana Nanda and his prime minister Amatya Rakshasa end up humiliating him. Chanakya then pledges to not tie a knot in his hair until he succeeded in overthrowing the Nanda dynasty. Whilst travelling to

Takshashila Taxila or Takshashila (; sa, तक्षशिला; pi, ; , ; , ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and ...

, he meets Chandragupta and finding him suitable to achieve his dream of Akhand Bharat, (with the permission of Chandragupta's mother) takes Chandragupta to Takshashila. There they meet Prince Ambhik and his friends (Shashank, Digvijaya & Digamber), who as a group spare no expense in humiliating Chandragupta. This prompts Chandragupta to escape from Takshashila and return home to his village, but Dhana Nanda arrives with his army and destroys the village, killing Chandragupta's mother in front of him. Enraged, Chandragupta vows to destroy The

Nanda Empire 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 ...

.
With this in mind, Chandragupta begins training under Chanakya, who then takes him to train under various warriors, who themselves had suffered under the rule of Dhana Nanda. Chandragupta also takes part in a Vijay Yatra, winning it. When Chandragupta turns 13, Chanakya hatches a plan to kill Dhana Nanda and orders Chandragupta to execute it. Chandragupta manages to kill Dhana Nanda, but Prime Minister Rakshasa reveals that the real Dhana Nanda is still alive. It is shown that the Dhana Nanda had seven doppelgangers and Chandragupta had killed one of the doppelgangers. Chandragupta is shattered, but succeeds in escaping from the palace. On hearing of this, an enraged Chanakya decides to further train Chandragupta into an Excellent Warrior.
The show then skips ahead to 8 year in the future, where an adult Chandragupta is being played by

. Chandragupta is still plotting on overthrowing the Nanda Empire. The show now introduces a new Character

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

, who is called Sikandar. Prince Ambhik readily joins hands with Sikandar. Together they defeat

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 their armies enter India. When Chanakya hears about this, he determines that it is time for Chandragupta to rise to his true calling and they set out to gather the forces of India and defend the land from the Invaders.

Cast

Main

, former Prince of Piplivan, first emperor of the

Maurya Empire The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...

** Rushiraj Pawar as Young Chandragupta Maurya *

Manish Wadhwa Manish Wadhwa (born 1972) is an Indian actor and voice actor. He is best known for his roles Chanakya in Chandragupta Maurya (2011 TV series), Chandragupta Maurya, Kamsa, Kans in Paramavatar Shri Krishna and Amal Nanda/Dansh in Hero – Gayab ...

, a scholar from

, Chandragupta's adviser, Prime Minister of the Maurya Empire & also as Chanak, father of Chanakya * Nidhi Tikoo as

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 ...

, princess of Magadh, Chandragupta's wife * Sooraj Thapar as

emperor of

, sworn enemy of Chanakya & also as

Mahapadma Nanda Mahapadma Nanda (IAST: ''Mahāpadmānanda''; c. mid 4th century BCE), according to the Puranas, was the first Emperor of the Nanda Empire of ancient India. The Puranas describe him as a son of the last Shaishunaga king Mahanandin and a Shudra ...

first emperor of

, father of

Recurring

• Abhijeet Sooryvanshe as Spy of Rakshas( Tej Sapru) * Malinee Sengupta as Chitraroopa * Rajeev Bharadwaj as Bhadrabhatt * Romanch Mehta as Purushdatt *

Tej Sapru Tej Sapru (born 5 January 1955) is an Indian actor. He is the son of D. K. Sapru and Hemvati, both of whom were actors in the Hindi film industry. He has appeared in a number of Bollywood films of between the 1980s and 2010s, including ''Gupt'' ...

as Rakshas, the Prime Minister of the Nanda Empire and Dhana Nanda's closest associate *

Rohit Purohit Rohit Purohit is an Indian actor who works in Hindi television. He made his acting debut with ''Shaurya Aur Suhani'' portraying Chitwan in 2009. Purohit is best known for his portrayal of Malik Altunia in '' Razia Sultan'', Alexander in ''Porus' ...

as Bhadrasaal, the General of the Nanda Army and ruler of Sahal * Ali Hassan as Virajas * Mohak Meet as Aditya *

Sumeet Vyas Sumeet Vyas (born 27 July 1983) is an Indian actor and writer of films, web series and theatre. His breakthrough role was Mikesh Chaudhary in TVF's 2014 web series ''Permanent Roommates''. Vyas has since played supporting roles in Bollywood fil ...

as Ambhik Kumar, Ambhiraj's son and Durdhara's fiancé * Nitin Prabhat as Ambhik Kumar * Mohsin Shaikh as Sukant * Manas Adhiya as Ghanghor * Rishiraj Arya as Aerawat * Ravi Patel as Akshay *

Ankit Arora Ankit Arora is an Indian television actor. He is best known for playing Lakshman Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist ...

as Chandragupta's father * Deepti Dhyani as Mura * Onkar Nath Mishra as Acharya Shreshtha * Vishal Aditya Singh as Shashank ** Ankit Shah as Younger Shashank * Lalit Negi as Digvijay ** Siddhharth Dhanda as Young Digvijay * Tiya Gandwani as Mihika * Tarun Khanna as Karvinath, ruler of Lokhandi *

Rajesh Shringarpure Rajesh Shringarpure (born 29 October 1977) is an Indian film and television actor who appears in Hindi cinema and Marathi cinema.He is currently playing the role of Malhar Rao Holkar in television serial '' Punyashlok Ahilyabai'' on which is ...

Seleucus I Nicator Seleucus I Nicator (; ; grc-gre, Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ , ) was a Macedonian Greek general who was an officer and successor ( ''diadochus'') of Alexander the Great. Seleucus was the founder of the eponymous Seleucid Empire. In the po ...

, the first Emperor of the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...

and Alexander the Great's former general * Shiraz Hussain as

* Bhupinder Singh as

Yashashri Masurkar Yashashri Masurkar is an Indian television actress and voice actor. She is best known for playing the role of Khanak in Rang Badalti Odhani on STAR One. Yashashri has appeared in several shows such as '' Sanskaar - Dharohar Apnon Ki'', '' Chakr ...

as Mrignayani * Ankit Kakkar as Aryeman * Khan Jaan as Dadhich * Raj Premi as Ahirya *

as Senapati of

Shishunaga Dynasty The Shaishunaga dynasty ( IAST: Śaiśunāga, literally "of Shishunaga") is the fourth ruling dynasty of Magadha, an empire of ancient India. According to the Hindu '' Puranas'', this dynasty was the second ruling dynasty of Magadha, succeeding ...

, friend and trainer of

References

External links