Bindusara (298-273 BC)
1. Bindusara was son of Chandragupta Maurya and Durdhara. He inherited a vast empire from his father Chandragupta Maurya which included Northern, Central and Eastern parts of India along with parts of Afghanistan and Baluchistan. He was born in 320 BC and ruled from 298 BC to 272 BC.
2. He is also known as Amitraghata (amitra-enemy, ghata-slayer) in Sanskrit Literature. Strabo has named him Amitrochates or Allitrochades which are greek version of the name Amitraghata.
3. In Rajvalli katha he is mentioned as Seemseri. Some texts even call in Bindupala.
4. He had two sons Sumana & Ashoka. Ashoka later succeded him, after his death.
5. Chanakya worked as Prime Minister of Bindusara too.
6. He brought sixteen states under the Mauryan Empire and thus conquered almost the entire Indian peninsula. That is why he is called the “conqueror of Land between the two seas”, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.
7. Bindusara didn’t conquer Dravidian kingdoms of the Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras as they were friendly to him.
8. Kalinga was the only kingdom in India that didn’t form the part of Bindusara’s empire. It was later conquered by his son Ashoka.
9. Bindusara is known as “The Son of a Great Father and the Father of a Great Son” because he was the son of a great father Chandragupta Maurya and father of a great son Ashoka, the Great.
10. Bindusara had friendly relationships with Syrian King Antiochus-I . A Greek Daimachos from Antiochus-I had come to his court.
11. Ptolemy -II Philadelphus of Egypt had sent and ambassador Dionysios to Bindusara.
