''Chandragupta Maurya'' is an Indian

Historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

series based on the life of

Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya (Sanskrit: elp:IPA/Sanskrit, t̪͡ɕɐn̪d̪ɾɐgupt̪ɐ mɐʊɾjɐ (reigned 320 BCE – c. 298 BCE) was the founder and the first emperor of the Maurya Empire, based in Magadha (present-day Bihar) in the Indian ...

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

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

. 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 TV series), Ramayan (2008), Chandragupta Maurya (2011 TV series), Chand ...

. Ashish Sharma played the adult and Rushiraj Pawar played the young Chandragupta Maurya.

Summary

The story is about

, 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 Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

in the east to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

in the west. The story begins with

Chanakya Chanakya (ISO 15919, ISO: ', चाणक्य, ), according to legendary narratives preserved in various traditions dating from the 4th to 11th century CE, was a Brahmin who assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragup ...

, who goes to Dhana Nanda with the offer of Akhand Bharat (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 () is a city in the Pothohar region of Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and is just south of the Harip ...

, 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 and 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 Empire was a vast empire that governed in Magadha and Gangetic plains with an enormous geographical reach in 4th-century BCE northeastern India, with some accounts suggesting existence as far back as the 5th century BCE. The Nandas ...

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

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

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

Porus Porus or Poros ( ; 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 what is now India and Pakistan. He is only mentioned in Gr ...

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. They spread the news of the might of the forthcoming

based in the Greek camp, and also poison some of their generals. With the soldiers' deteriorating health and fierce Indian resistance at every step, Alexander is forced to abandon his Indian campaign and returns to Greece. However, his general Eudemus remains in India, joining hands with Ambhik. However, Chandragupta and Chanakya pose them against each other, killing them, therefore ending any Greek influence in India.

Cast

Main

* Ashish Sharma as

, former Prince of Piplivan, first emperor of the

Maurya Empire The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary source ...

** Rushiraj Pawar as Young Chandragupta Maurya * Manish Wadhwa as

, a scholar from

, Chandragupta's adviser, Prime Minister of the Maurya Empire & also as Chanak, father of Chanakya * Nidhi Tikoo as Durdhara, princess of Magadh, Chandragupta's wife * Sooraj Thapar as Dhana Nanda, emperor of

, sworn enemy of Chanakya & also as Mahapadma Nanda first emperor of

, father of Dhana Nanda

Recurring

* Abhijeet Sooryvanshe as Spy of Rakshas (Tej Sapru) * Malinee Sengupta as Chitraroopa * Rajeev Bharadwaj as Bhadrabhatt * Romanch Mehta as Purushdatt * Tej Sapru as Rakshas, the Prime Minister of the Nanda Empire and Dhana Nanda's closest associate * Rohit Purohit as Bhadrasaal, the General of the Nanda Army and ruler of Sahal * Alihassan Turabi as Virajas * Mohak Meet as Aditya * Sumeet Vyas 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 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 as

Seleucus I Nicator Seleucus I Nicator (; Ancient Greek, Greek: Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ, ''Séleukos Nikátōr'', "Seleucus the Victorious"; ) was a Ancient Macedonians, Macedonian Greek general, officer and successor of Alexander the Great who went on to fo ...

, the first Emperor of the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...

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

* Bhupinder Singh as

* Sunny Hinduja as

Callisthenes Callisthenes of Olynthus ( /kəˈlɪsθəˌniːz/; Greek: Καλλισθένης; 360 – 327 BCE) was a Greek historian in Macedon with connections to both Aristotle and Alexander the Great. He accompanied Alexander the Great during his Asiati ...

, a Greek scholar who accompanied

in his quest to conquer the world for documenting his victories and adventures * Yashashri Masurkar as Mrignayani * Ankit Kakkar as Aryeman * Khan Jaan as Dadhich * Raj Premi as Ahirya * Ankit Arora as Senapati of Shishunaga Dynasty, friend and trainer of Mahapadma Nanda

References

External links