Or THE HINDUS- £S5 



1 actions ; and that his wicked minifter, Sacat 

 ruled with defpptie i way in his name. Diodorus Si- 

 cuius and Cur tins relate, that Cnandram was of a low 

 tribe, his father being a barber. That he, and his fa- 

 ther Nanda too, were of a low tribe, is declared in 

 the Vijlinu- purdna and in trie Bhdgavai Chandram, as 

 well as his brothers, was called Maury a from his mo- 

 • ther Mura ; and as that word * in Sanfcrit Signifies 

 a barber, it furnifhed occasion to his enemies toafperfe 

 him as the fpurious offspring of one. The Greek 

 hiftorians fay, the king of the Prafu was afiafiinated 

 by his wife's paramour, the mother of Chandra ; and 

 that the murderer got poiTcffion of the fovereign au- 

 thority, under the ipecious title of regent and guar- 

 dian to his mother's children, but with a view to de- 

 ftroy them. The pur anas and other Hindu books, 

 agree in the fame facts, except as to the amours of 

 Saeatara with Mura, the mother of Chandra-Gupta, 

 on which head they are filent. Diodorus and Cur tins 

 are miflaken in laying, that Ghandram reigned over 

 the Prafu, at the time of Alexander s invaiion : he 

 was contemporary with Scleucus Nicaior. 



I fufpeel Chandra-Gupta kept his faith with the 

 Greeks or Yavans no better than he had done with 

 his ally, the king of Nepal ; and this may be the mo- 

 tive for Seleucus croiTing the Indus at the head of a 

 numerous army ; but rinding Sandro-coptos prepared, 

 he thought it expedient to conclude a treaty with 

 him, by which he yielded up the conquefts he had 

 made ; and, to cement the alliance, gave him one 

 of his daughters in marriage -j-. Chandra-Gupta 

 appears to have agreed on his part to furmfh 



■ * See the JutlvWcca, where it is faid, the offspring of a barber, 

 begot by ileal th, of a female of the Sudra tribe, is called Maurya; 

 the offspring of a barber and a flave woman is called Maurya. 

 f Strahj B.45, p. 72-1. 



S 3 SeJeucui 



