The ancestry of Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire, is debated.
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Chandragupta Kshatriya origin most practical evidence came from The book which was composed by His Prime Minister Chanakya. The book describes the reason for preference of a poor and weak Kshatriya(Chandragupta) over a rich Shudra(Nanda) king. Chanakya describes himself as protector of religion because he destroyed Shudra Nanda and gave the empire to the Kshatriya Chandragupta.[1][2]
Puranas are clear on the Kshatriya lineage of Chandragupta Maurya. Matsya Purana tells about a King Moru who will retore the Kshatriya rule over India and will be the founder of Morya(or Maurya) dynasty.This dynasty will be followed by Shunga Dynasty. Vishnu Purana the oldest of all Purana too speak about King Moru who will re-establish the kshatriya rule over India by destroying the Shudra Nanda. Another Purana Vayu Purana declares that in 19th coming Yuga Morya dynasty will restore Solar dynasty(Suryavanshi Kshatriya) in India and will be followed by Shunga Dynasty.[3][4][5] The medieval commentator Ratnagarbha in his commentary on Vishnu Purana distorts this and concludes that Chandragupta is Son of Nanda Emperor even though nothing such has been written in Vishnu Purana. The Vishnu Purana clearly maintains that Chandragupta has no Link with Nanda kings and a Millitant Brahmin undoubtedly Chanakya will be the protector of "Dharma"(Religion) , he will uproot the Shudra Nanda with the help of a Royal Kshatriya(Chandragupta) who has valid claim to become the emperor of India.[6]
Some Indian literary traditions connect him with the Nanda Dynasty of Magadha in eastern India. More than half a millennium later, the Sanskrit drama Mudrarakashasa not only calls him Mauryaputra (Act II) but also a Nandanvaya (Act IV). Again more than a millennium later, Dhundiraja, a commentator of 18th century on Mudrarakshasa states that Chandragupta was son of Maurya who in turn, was son of the Nanda king Sarvarthasiddhi by a wife named Mura, daughter of a Vrishala (shudra). Mudrarakshasa uses terms like kula-hina and Vrishala for Chandragupta's lineage. This reinforces Justin's contention that Chandragupta had a humble origin.[7][8] On the other hand, the same play describes the Nandas as of Prathita-kula i.e. illustrious lineage. The medieval commentator on the Vishnu Purana informs us that Chandragupta was son of a Nanda prince and a dasi (English: maid), Mura. The poets Kshmendra and Somadeva call him Purvananda-suta, son of genuine Nanda as opposed to Yoga-Nanda i.e. pseudo Nanda.
Other literary traditions imply that Chandragupta was raised by peacock-tamers (Sanskrit: Mayura-Poshakha), which earned him the Maurya epithet. Both the Buddhist as well as Jaina traditions testify to the supposed connection between the Moriya (Maurya) and Mora or Mayura (Peacock). While the Buddhist tradition describes him as the son of the chief of the Peacock clan (Moriya) kshatriya , the Jaina tradition on the other hand, refers to him as the maternal grandson of the headman of the village of peacock tamers (Moraposaga).[9] This view suggests a degraded background of Chandragupta. (The same Jain tradition also describes Nanda as the son of a barber by a courtesan).
According to some scholars, there are some monumental evidence connecting the Mauryas with peacocks. The pillar of Ashoka in Nandangarh bears on its bottom the figures of a peacock which is repeated in many sculptures of Ashoka at Sanchi.[10] According to Turnour,[11] Buddhist tradition also testifies to the connection between Moriya and Mora or Mayura or peacock. Aelian informs us that tame peacocks were kept in the parks of the Maurya palace at Pataliputra. But scholars like Foucher[12] do not regard these birds as a sort of canting badge for the dynasty of Mauryas. They prefer to imagine in them a possible allusion to the Mora Jataka. Moreover, besides the peacocks, there were also other birds like pheasants, parrots as well as a variety of fishes etc. also kept in the parks and water pools of the Mauryas.
Yet there are other literary traditions according to which Chandragupta belonged to Moriyas, a Kshatriya (warrior) clan of a little ancient republic of Pippalivana located between Rummindei in the Nepalese Tarai and Kasia in the Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Tradition suggests that this clan was much reduced in the 4th century BCE under Magadhan rule, and young Chandragupta grew up among the peacock-tamers, herdsmen and hunters.
The Buddhist text Mahavamsa calls Chandragupta a scion of the Khattya (Kshatriya) clan named Moriya (Maurya). Divyavadana[13] calls Bindusara, son of Chandragupta, an anointed Kshatriya, Kshatriya Murdhabhishikata, and in the same work, king Ashoka, son of Bindusara, is also styled a Kshatriya. The Mahaparinnibhana Sutta[14] of the Buddhist canon states that the Moriyas belonged to the Kshatriya community of Pippalivana. These traditions, at least, indicate that Chandragupta may have come from a Kshatriya lineage. Ancinet Greek scholar and Historian Plutarch confirms or reinforces the Kshatriya origin of Chandragupta, Chandragupta told Alexander about the mean and low origin of Nanda Emperors by doing so he clearly showed Alexander his own High Origin and also nullify those sources who link Chandragupta with Nanda family because otherwise Chandragupta would have not spill dirt on his own lineage.[15]
The commentary on the Mahavamsa connects him with the Sakya clan of the Buddha, a clan which also claimed to belong to the race of Aditya i.e. solar race.[16]
Ancient Jain texts Punyashrava Katha Kosh refers to Chanragupta as Kshatriya.[17]
A medieval inscription represents the Maurya clan as belonging to the solar race of Kshatriyas.[18] It is stated that the Maurya line sprang from Suryavamsi Mandhatri, son of prince Yuvanashva of the solar race.[19]
Although most of the sources claim Chandragupta to be of east Indian origin, additional views have been proposed by an alternative school of scholars.
Some scholars relate Sandrocottos (or Androcottos) with Sisicottos of the Classical writings. Sisicottos was the ruler of Paropamise (Hindu Kush) who had helped the last Persian satrap Bessus of Bactria against Alexander but later co-operated with the latter throughout the Sogdian campaigns.[20] During Alexander's campaign of Kabol and Swat valleys, prince Sisicottos had rendered great service to Alexander in reducing several principalities of the Ashvakas. During war of rock-fort of Aornos, where Alexander faced stiff resistance from the local people, Sisicottos was put in command of this fort of great strategical importance. Arrian calls Sisicottos the governor of Assakenoi.
It is however not clear at all whether this Sisicottos was same as Sandrocottos or if they were brothers or else they were related in someway. Dr J. W. McCrindle and Dr H. R. Gupta think that they both possibly belonged two different branches of the Ashvakas.[21] Meri was probably another political centre of the Mor or Meros people.
It is asserted by some that the name Moriya or Maurya comes from the Mor (Modern name Koh-i-Mor i.e. Mor hill---alleged to be the ancient Meros of the classical writings) located in the Paropamisade region between river Kunar and Swat in the land of Ashvakas (This name, however, refers to the Meru mountain of Chitral, Tirich Mir; there also is a Deva-Meru, modern Diamar). It is claimed that since Chandragupta Maurya could have belonged to Mor he was called Moriya or Maurya after his motherland.[22][23]
Dr Spooner observes: "After Alexander's death, when Chandragupta marched on Magadha, it was with largely the Persian army (Shaka-Yavana-Kamboja-Parasika-Bahlika) that he won the throne of India. The testimony of the Mudrarakshasa is explicit on this point, and we have no reason to doubt its accuracy in matter of this kind".[24] Although this theory contradicts the Mudrarakshasa, which talks about Malayketu forming an alliance with Persians not Chandragupta. As per the Mudrarakshasa, Malayaketu, together with Rakshasa, the last minister of Nanda and his Persian allies wanted to invade Pataliputra, the capital of Chandragupta, though their alliance was undone by Chanakya, who managed to attract Rakshasa to the Maurya side.
A Jat writer B.S.Dehiya published a paper titled The Mauryas: Their Identity[25] in 1979 and a book titled Jats the Ancient rulers[26] in 1982, wherein he concludes that the Mauryas were the Muras or rather Mors and were jatt of Scythian or Indo-Scythian origin. It is claimed that the Jats still have Maur or Maud as one of their clan names.[27]
The Rajputana Gazetteer describes the Moris as a Rajput clan.[28]