Chandragupta’s reign ended around 297 BCE, with his son Bindusara ascending the throne (commonly dated to about 297 BCE), ensuring dynastic continuity at the height of Mauryan power.
Chandragupta is traditionally said to have died at Shravanabelagola after undertaking ritual fasting (sallekhana). While widely repeated, the account relies heavily on later tradition rather than contemporaneous Mauryan records.
Later Jain tradition holds that Chandragupta became a Jain ascetic under Bhadrabahu and went south during a predicted famine; modern summaries note the event is historically debated and is supported mainly by later commemorative traditions and inscriptions.
The Greek envoy Megasthenes served as Seleucid ambassador at Chandragupta’s court in Pataliputra and produced the Indica (known through later quotations), a key external witness to Mauryan-era governance and society.
Fighting ended in a settlement commonly dated to c. 305–303 BCE, in which Seleucus ceded territory in exchange for Mauryan war elephants and a marriage alliance mentioned in Greco-Roman sources. The deal stabilized Maurya’s northwest and strengthened Seleucus in western wars.
As part of the postwar terms reported by classical authors (e.g., via Strabo’s summary), Seleucus relinquished control of territories along/near the Indus to Chandragupta, formalizing Mauryan dominance in the northwest.
Greco-Roman testimony summarized by later writers reports that Chandragupta provided Seleucus with 500 war elephants as part of the settlement—an exchange that had major strategic value in Hellenistic warfare.
Seleucus I Nicator, seeking to recover Alexander’s former eastern satrapies, crossed into the Indus region, triggering the Seleucid–Mauryan conflict with Chandragupta.
From the Magadhan base, Chandragupta expanded Mauryan control across much of northern India, turning a regional power into an empire capable of confronting Hellenistic successors in the northwest.
Chandragupta seized power in Magadha (with later tradition emphasizing the role of the strategist Chanakya), ending Nanda rule and establishing Mauryan authority over the Gangetic heartland.
With Pataliputra as the imperial center, Chandragupta consolidated administration and revenue systems to hold together newly conquered territories, laying the institutional foundations that enabled rapid expansion.
After Alexander the Great’s death (323 BCE), Macedonian control in northwestern India weakened. Chandragupta Maurya exploited this power vacuum to secure control in the Punjab, creating the base for a larger imperial takeover.
Reign of Chandragupta Maurya (c. 321–297 BCE)
