Durdhara was the empress of
, the founder of the 4th-century BCE
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 ...
of ancient India, according to the 12th century CE
Jain text ''
Parishishtaparvan The Parishishtaparvan () also known as the Sthaviravalicharitra () is a 12th-century Sanskrit mahakavya by Hemachandra which details the histories of the earliest Jain teachers. The poem comprises 3,460 verse couplets divided into 13 cantos of unequ ...
'' by
Hemachandra
Hemacandra was a 12th century () Śvetāmbara Jaina acharya, ācārya, scholar, poet, mathematician, philosopher, yogi, wikt:grammarian, grammarian, Law, law theorist, historian, Lexicography, lexicographer, rhetorician, logician, and Prosody ...
.
[ She is stated by this text to be the mother of the second Mauryan emperor, ]Bindusara
Bindusara (320 BCE – 273 BCE) () was the second Mauryan emperor of Magadha in Ancient India. The ancient Greco-Roman writers called him Amitrochates, a name likely derived from his Sanskrit title ''Amitraghāta'' ("slayer of enemies").
...
also known as Amitraghāta.
According to the Jain tradition, after Chandragupta defeated the Nanda emperor, the Nanda princess fell in love with Chandragupta and married him. The legend does not name this princess, but later names Durdhara as the mother of Chandragupta's son Bindusara. Nothing is mentioned or known about Durdhara outside of this legend written 1,600 years after Chandragupta's era. Other sources, such as the Burmese Buddhist records do not corroborate the Jain legend.Megasthenes
Megasthenes ( ; , died 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, indologist, diplomat, ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but has been partially reconstructe ...
, the Greek ambassador in the final years of Chandragupta's court, does not mention Durdhara nor use the name Bindusara, but refers to Chandragupta's successor as Amitrochates, while the Hindu scholar Patanjali
Patanjali (, , ; also called Gonardiya or Gonikaputra) was the name of one or more author(s), mystic(s) and philosopher(s) in ancient India. His name is recorded as an author and compiler of a number of Sanskrit works. The greatest of these a ...
calls him Amitraghata (meaning "vanquisher of foes").[ Scholars consider the Bindusara of Jain texts to be the same as Amitraghata.]
In popular culture
* Durdhara was portrayed by Nidhi Tikko in '' Chandragupta Maurya''
* Saanvi Talwar played Durdhara in the 2016 historical fiction series '' Chandra Nandini''.
* Pranali Ghogare and Aditi Sanwal portrayed Durdhara in '' Chandragupta Maurya''
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{ref end
Mauryan empresses consort
4th-century BC women
Year of birth unknown
4th-century BC Indian people