Digital Rare Book:
MUDRARAKSHASA
With the commentary of Dhundiraja
Edited with critical and explanatory notes by Kashinath Trimbak Telang
Revised by V.S. Ghate
Published by Tukaram Javaji, Bombay - 1915

The Mudrarakshasa ("The Signet of the Minister") is a historical play in Sanskrit by Vishakhadatta that narrates the ascent of the king Chandragupta Maurya to power in India.

Mudrarakshasa is dated variously from the late 4th century to the 8th century.

Chanakya's pact with lord of the Himalayas, Parvateshwar, from the Northwest ensures his victory over Nanda.

Parvateshwar and Chandragupta plan to divide up the old possessions of Nanda. Next, Parvateshwara dies poisoned by Nanda's daughter and his son Malayaketu succeeds him. Malayaketu, together with Rakshasa, the last minister of Nanda, demands the inheritance of all the old territories of the Nanda.

The drama begins when Malayaketu and his allies (the kings of Persia, Sindh and Kashmir) are poised to attack Pataliputra (present day Patna), the capital of Chandragupta.

The outcome arrives when Chanakya, by the use of guile, manages to attract Rakshasa to the Maurya side, thus undoing the coalition of Malayaketu.

The historical authenticity of the Mudrarakshasa is somewhat supported by the description of this period of history in Classical Hellenistic sources: the violent rule of the Nanda, the usurpation of Chandragupta, the formation of the Maurya Empire.

- Wiki

Read Book Online:

http://bit.ly/1zkPuYl

Download pdf Book:

http://bit.ly/1tLAGiY

Image:
A History of India by Burton Stein, Oxford (Blackwell Publishers, 1998)