Posted:
OK so I have already been asked to clarify about Bindusara's wives.
You have to understand the marriage laws of that era as well as understand its society. Just read my post about marriage laws in this link from MP forums. You will understand it better.
You see, marital relations was not only important but precious at that time. The kings or princes didn't just go about marrying anybody they wanted. Marital relations were important to establish relations between kingdoms. So very often they just married for official purposes. But if they fell in love with somebody and if they were not of royal lineages, there was trouble because if the prince married them (especially if its a first marriage), then the value of those inter-royal marriages can be questioned. So those so called "true love" often landed up as concubines . Very rarely did those so called "love" actually last, so it was a win-win situation for royal families - marital alliances for state purposes and concubines as lovers. The only notable exception is Ashoka who just rammed away and married a non-royal girl (Devi) for his first marriage and was devoted to her. It was only when they were estranged did he go a second (forced) marriage with Karuvaki aka Padmavati, the Princess of Kalinga.
OK the Greek and Persian thing...
Chandragupta had married the defeated King of Magadha Dhana Nanda's only daughter Durdhara who became his first wife and Empress Consort and gave birth to Bindusara. However, within a year, she died as Bindusara was born and Chandragupta, unusually for some reason, remained a grieving widower and a single father for next 18 years (sort of explains Bindusara's mother issues) until 302 BC when he married Seleucus's daughter in a political alliance. Seleucus was a Greek General who had become the King of Persia, Iraq and Syria after Alexander's death while his wife Apama was a Persian Princess, making their daughter half-Greek and half-Persian. Seleucus and Apama had four children- Antiochus (son), Apama (daughter) (yes, same name as her mother), Laodice (daughter) and Ageaus (son). We have records about Laodice marrying a Persian nobleman, so it is generally presumed that it was Apama who got married to Chandragupta. Apama was at that time the same age as Bindusara. Apama was a queen but never an Empress. The marriage produced no children and seemed to end amicably after Chandragupta's death four years later around 298 BC. The Mauryan-Seleucid relations between Bindusara and Antiochus were very good.
There was no Helen, Helena, Cornelia or whatever other name they give her. There was certainly no love story. Chandragupta was a grandfather by the time he married a second time. There was no Justin. He is a completely fictional character. And the Mauryas certainly did not have foreign-blooded offsprings. SO Chanakya never worried about foreign blood.
So, there you have your Greek and Persian connections. Now, coming to Binduasara.
Bindusara had 16 officially legal and married wives. But remember these are just the wives. Unlike Channdragupta who remained a monogamous widower for a long time, Bindusara had concubines as well. Might as well since he was Chandragupta's only child.
When Bindusara was around 16, he went and defeated the 16 kingdoms of the Deccan and added them to the Empire. The Mauryas wanted to be Ekchhatras i.e.s sole rulers of the subcontinent. So they used to dethrone the royal families, merge the kingdoms, create provinces and appoint direct governors. As a compensation for dethroning them, Bindusara married a princess from each of the 16 royal families.
The first of the wives was his Empress Consort who gave birth to a son Sushima, a daughter (name unknown) who gave birth to a son named Agnibrahmi and most probably two more sons named Sudatta and Sugatra.
His other fifteen wives also gave birth to four more sons and probably daughters as well. The 101 sons thing is a Buddhist exaggeration to elaborate Ashoka's cruelty before conversion.
There was no Noor. There was no Mir Khorasana. Bindusara didn't have a Persian consort. And Islam didn't even exist before seventh century AD. This is third century BC in the show.
Now, coming to Ashoka's mother.
OK, when Bindusara's first wife was around five months pregnant with Sushima, his Ajivika Guru Pingalavatsa prophecised that the unborn child will not become a great king and that Bindusara's child from a virgin daughter of a poor Ajivika Brahmin with certain physical characteristics (don't ask, its a long list) would bear him two sons - the elder would become the greatest emperor ever and the younger a monk who would achieve enlightenment. Historians agree that the prophecy was more religiously motivated move than an actual prophecy. Anyways, hearing this, Chanakya sent out orders to search for such girls and had them brought in to the palace as concubines.
Yes, Subhadrangi/Dharmaa/Janapadakalyani, Ashoka's mother, was a concubine, brought in to the palace to bear Bindusara's children. Nothing more than that. She was not a wife. So she certainly did not have any rights. She was not a rishikanya with Shakuntala-style romance as the show tries to make out. Just a daughter of a starving and poor Ajivika Brahmin. Bindusara's other wives were jealous of her beauty and tried make a fool of her but it backfired and it actually managed to impress Bindusara who praised her beauty and brains and made her the Chief of Concubines, not a queen or empress as wikipedia suggests. It gave her some powers but zero rights. That was one of the reasons why Ashoka had to kill his half-brothers who were all born of Bindusara's wives because as long as they were they had greater right than Ashoka to the throne. It didn't matter that Ashoka was older than them.
I hope this clarifies some of the doubt. And yeah, about Bindusara...already having Charumitra and Noor...TRUE LOVE DOES NOT GIVE YOU A LICENSE TO BE UNFAITHFUL!!!!
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