Nandini really existed - Page 3

Originally posted by: Meself

Niadrus is the Greek equivalent to Durdhara who was the first wife of Chandragupta Maurya. While her husband assumed the title of the Emperor she never was officially given the title of the Empress. Mind you Kshatrani or Samragyi was the title given to the mother of heir apparent. Durdhara died during the childbirth and hence could never be coronated. As far as her being the daughter of Dhananand is concerned then it is a fallacy. Many historians such as Dr. Neeke Chaturvedi, who is a known name in Mauryan and Magadhan history, denies a daughter of Nand dynasty to be married to Chandragupta Maurya. The reason were simple, no woman would marry the murderer of her family without the thought of revenge ruling in her head. Chanakya would never allow such an alliance to take place. Also Chandragupta belonged to the Moriya race/tribe who were hierarchically higher than the Nanda's. Nandas were known as the Shudra Kings and hence under no circumstances Chanakya would have allowed this marriage to have happened.

Now the case of Durdhara. She was no princess but a distant cousin of Chandragupta himself. She is said to be a daughter of a wealthy merchant and was married to Chandragupta before the war of Magadh. She was the Agramasi but was never given the formal title of Empress because of the reason stated above. Chandragupta had loved her immensely and as a testimonial to the fact he remained a monogamous widower for 16 long years before he fell for daughter of Selucus Nicator. She is addressed with various names such as Cornelia, Apama and so on but the most popular one is Helena as she belonged to the Hellenic world. She was closer to Bindusara in age and there are no records available as far as her issue or death is concerned.

Now coming to Nandini. She is fiction period. There are many evidences that support the fact. Firstly the war that broke out in Magadh took place between the forces of Chandragupta and Dhananand. At the end of which Dhananand was killed. His issues, i.e., his sons were murdered along with his parents as per Chankaya's order. He was careful to leave no living member of the dynasty so the rule of Mauryans could not be challenged. Nandini if she existed, would have married Chandragupta only after the war. Thus her being first wife is ruled out as that was Durdhara. So in all probability Niadrus is the name given to Durdhara just like Sandrocutus is the name given to Chandragupta Maurya. Yes, women were trained in warfare during the Mauryans age, they also maintained regiments that was full of women but royal women would have not been allowed to take part in wars as continuation of dynasty was through them. That was one reason why princesses, though battle trained, were not allowed in wars. The women allowed in wars were assassins such as vish-kanya or krittya. Hence going by all these logics Nandini did not exist. Ekta is aiming for a fictional representation of a love story that did not exist. She even showed Acharya Chanakya as a married man. Now what more can one expect out a series such as this.

well said buddy and absolutely true...
these all stories are belong to first wife chandra gupta maurya and mother of next king bindusar..
which was durdhara and ekta divided two stories between two women while which were belong to only one woman... and ruined beautiful history... even she has already changed original and right facts which we know already...
it is very sad😭
since starting i believe that it is historical show which is based on fictional story...
but now i also can't imagine it like good fiction drama.
they have killed it brutally... i am hell disappointed with CV and PRODUCTION HOUSE🤢
i am sorry if anyone hurt but it is true...

As far as I have read Indika key by Arian ,(Megesthenese book no longer exist,). Chandragupta definitely married the daughter of Selucus, but yes her name is never known, aside he married the daughter of Selucus after second Mecedonian attack, by when Chandragupta had already taken over the Puru empire of Maharaja Parvatak,

Originally posted by: Meself

Niadrus is the Greek equivalent to Durdhara who was the first wife of Chandragupta Maurya. While her husband assumed the title of the Emperor she never was officially given the title of the Empress. Mind you Kshatrani or Samragyi was the title given to the mother of heir apparent. Durdhara died during the childbirth and hence could never be coronated. As far as her being the daughter of Dhananand is concerned then it is a fallacy. Many historians such as Dr. Neeke Chaturvedi, who is a known name in Mauryan and Magadhan history, denies a daughter of Nand dynasty to be married to Chandragupta Maurya. The reason were simple, no woman would marry the murderer of her family without the thought of revenge ruling in her head. Chanakya would never allow such an alliance to take place. Also Chandragupta belonged to the Moriya race/tribe who were hierarchically higher than the Nanda's. Nandas were known as the Shudra Kings and hence under no circumstances Chanakya would have allowed this marriage to have happened.

Now the case of Durdhara. She was no princess but a distant cousin of Chandragupta himself. She is said to be a daughter of a wealthy merchant and was married to Chandragupta before the war of Magadh. She was the Agramasi but was never given the formal title of Empress because of the reason stated above. Chandragupta had loved her immensely and as a testimonial to the fact he remained a monogamous widower for 16 long years before he fell for daughter of Selucus Nicator. She is addressed with various names such as Cornelia, Apama and so on but the most popular one is Helena as she belonged to the Hellenic world. She was closer to Bindusara in age and there are no records available as far as her issue or death is concerned.

Now coming to Nandini. She is fiction period. There are many evidences that support the fact. Firstly the war that broke out in Magadh took place between the forces of Chandragupta and Dhananand. At the end of which Dhananand was killed. His issues, i.e., his sons were murdered along with his parents as per Chankaya's order. He was careful to leave no living member of the dynasty so the rule of Mauryans could not be challenged. Nandini if she existed, would have married Chandragupta only after the war. Thus her being first wife is ruled out as that was Durdhara. So in all probability Niadrus is the name given to Durdhara just like Sandrocutus is the name given to Chandragupta Maurya. Yes, women were trained in warfare during the Mauryans age, they also maintained regiments that was full of women but royal women would have not been allowed to take part in wars as continuation of dynasty was through them. That was one reason why princesses, though battle trained, were not allowed in wars. The women allowed in wars were assassins such as vish-kanya or krittya. Hence going by all these logics Nandini did not exist. Ekta is aiming for a fictional representation of a love story that did not exist. She even showed Acharya Chanakya as a married man. Now what more can one expect out a series such as this.

@Preet The name Durdhara appears in Hemachnadra' Parishishta Parvan. But at no point she is identified as the Empress maybe because she could not be coronated so. In older traditions, an Empress was that consort who was politically able and was the mother to heir apparent and not just the first wife. It is another matter that mostly the first wives were the one to sire the first borns. In Greek narratives, Durdhara is not explicitly mentioned. Instead names such as Niandrus or Deodara is used to address Chandragupta's first wife. It is usually identified as names of Durdhara. The reason behind are these:

Thanks Shivu as of cross cousin marriage some communities had that tradition n others didn't

Originally posted by: Meself

@Preet The name Durdhara appears in Hemachnadra' Parishishta Parvan. But nowhere she is identified as Chandragupta's Agramasi. But at no point she is identified as the Empress maybe because she could not be coronated so. In older traditions, an Empress was that consort who was politically able and was the mother to heir apparent and not just the first wife. It is another matter that mostly the first wives were the one to sire the first borns. In Greek narratives, Durdhara is not explicitly mentioned. Instead names such as Niandrus or Deodara is used to address Chandragupta's first wife. It is usually identified as names of Durdhara. The reason behind are these:

1) Durdhara was no princess. She was a daughter of a wealthy merchant, assumed to belong to the region of what is Northern Bihar today. She was a distant cousin of Chandragupta who was raised to the position of Agramasi after her marriage to CGM. (Cross cousin marriages are allowed in Hinduism and is practiced in South India even today, though in North India it is a complete taboo. The biggest example of it would be marriage of Arjun and Subhadra in Mahabharat who were cross cousins.)

2) Durdhara and CGM got married in around what is assumed to be 324 BC. Some two years before the War of Magadh and overthrowing of Nanda Empire. The said war happened in 322 BC. So by all logic she was the first wife. Their marital life ran for some six year untill 320 BC when Bindusara was born and Durdhara died. (Again I am speaking of assumed years.)

3) There are many folk legends that suggest how Bindusara was brought up by nannies and that CGM remained a monogamous widower until he married the daughter of Selucus I Nicator. This is enough an evidence to suggest how much he had loved his wife.

So all in all it was Durdhara and not Nandini who needs to be in focus. There is no mention of a princess in Nanda dynasty also they were Shudra Kings. So no Kshatriya would marry a daughter of this dynasty. It is known as act of Pratiloma Vivah. While it is frowned that a man of higher caste should marry a woman of lower caste, it is completely forbidden for a woman to do so. Hence CGM could unfortunately not marry Nanda Princess. Also there is no mention of her in history, so she did not exist.

Chanakya was a Bramhachari Brahmin. He could not marry but had adopted Radhagupta as his grandson. People usually point that this Radhagupta might have been his real grandson but that is just theory.

Child marriages weren't existent in India until the coming of Muslim rulers, which is honestly another history with solid reasons. So skipping over it. The marriageble age was considered as 16 while that to embrace motherhood was 18. It is listed in the marital laws. CGM is believed to be 20 when he married Durdhara, making her at least 16 years old. So she must have died at the age 18 at least leaving behind her husband who must be around 22. And it was 16 years after her death that he married Helena who was herself in her late teens. So it must have been a 38 year old CGM marrying a 20 year old Helena. That explains how she was "closer" in age to Bindusara who must be 16 then.

. I don't understand who created this rumour that Chandragupta never married after durdhara because arthshastra and megasthenes both mention about harem of Chandragupta. He had harems not only in patliputra but in other states too and his successors followed that tradition. Marriages were done for politics mainly at that time and Chandragupta was no different. It was a necessity to build such a large empire.

Diadora is actually a Greek name which created fantasies of historians but a mention of mereos or sisikotus or shashigupta by Arian shows that this guy was close to Paris and Alexander and mentions that megasthenes said Chandragupta is a great king even better than porus.

Originally posted by: Meself

I said CGM was a monogamous widower for 16 years, not that he did not have a Harem. He had one in Patliputra, one at Vidisha and practically one at every damn nook and corner of his kingdom. Its just he didn't marry anyone after Durdhara's death. It is believed he had sons from his mistresses who are known as Dalakas. Durdhara was the Agramasi (I can clearly see a typo in my previous reply.) But she was never coronated as the Empress. Second the name Deodara and Niandrus both appear in few texts saying this was the name of CGM's Agramasi. Going by historical timeline it is assumed that it was Durdhara who was being addressed all the while. Also during CGM's reign, Magadh was being strengthen from within mostly. It was with Bindusara that expansion began and reached its peak with Asoka.