Chandragupta Maurya Retold from the Mudra Manjusha

Nearly 2,300 years ago, Chandragupta brought about the political unification of North India and established an empire which successfully resisted the Macedonian invasion. His empire extended up to Mysore (present day Karnataka) in the South and up to the borders of Persia (present day Iran) in the North-West.

There are various legends about the early career of Chandragupta, and it is difficult to distinguish fact from fantasy in the stories woven around his romantic life. But one thing is certain. He was the first emperor of India, as no other king before him had built an empire as vast as his.

Vishakhadatta's famous play on Chandragupta –Mudrarakshasa was written in the ninth century AD. This was followed nearly seven hundred years later by two Sanskrit works -Mudra Rakshasa Katha by Mahadeva Tirtha of Tanjore and Mudra Rakshasa Katha Sara by Ravikartana of Kerala which serve as introductions to the earlier play.

Kempu Narayana, a scholar at the court of Krishnaraja Wadeyar III of Mysore, made a study of these works on Chandragupta and wrote Mudra Manjusha in Kannada in 1823. Our Amar Chitra Katha is based on this pioneering work in Kannada prose.

That our story on Chandragupta should be based on a Kannada work is only befitting, for Chandragupta, though born in the North, spent his last days at Shravanabelagola in Karnataka.