Question

Give a brief description of Chandragupta and his empire given by the foreign traveller Fa Hsien in his writings.

Answer 1

Chandragupta was a son of Purva-Nanda, the older Nanda based in Ayodhya. The common theme in the Hindu sources is that Chandragupta came from a humble background and with Chanakya he emerged as a dharmic king loved by his subjects. The Buddhist texts such as Mahavamsa describe Chandragupta to be of Kshatriya origin.