भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

hated the selfless national politicians. In order to undermine their prestige, he insulted them publicly. A really capable person was invariably an object of his hatred and was subjected to malicious treatment. 93. From this Mahapadmanand, it is said his concubine, Mura, had the illustrious son, Chandragupta. Some anecdotes pertaining to Chandragupta’s childhood are available, but they are far too few and merely hearsay stories. What appears to be certain is only this, that the cowardly but crafty Mahapadmanand began to fear the young Chandragupta, shining with his sharp wit, his daring and ambitious spirit, seeking to exercise his rights as the heir to the throne, bastard as he was. He feared that under the leadership of this unrestrained bastard son, his antagonists would not fail to dethrone him! Mahapadmanand very well knew how his very Nanda forerunners had vanquished the original Shishunag dynasty of Magadha and usurped the throne! Under some such apprehension, there appears to have occurred some clash that Mahapadmanand used as a pretext to banish Chandragupta out of the precincts of the Magadha empire. The intervening account is permanently lost to oblivion. Hereafter, Chandragupta makes his appearance in the University of Taxila (Takshashila) as a royal prince having his lessons in politics and the science and art of war. An anecdote that is current in that region viz. that he got access to this university mainly through the good offices of the renowned and learned Arya Chanakya may have some grain of truth in it. Chandragupta had already been studying in the manner described above at this university for about six or seven years when Alexander attacked India. There, for the first time, this illustrious disciple of Chanakya, this young Chandragupta, began to shine with his exceptional brilliance in the sacred national conspiracy, that was being hatched by the Indian patriots and politicians to avenge the insults heaped on the Indian nation by the Greeks and to liberate the territory lost to them. A Marvellous half-hour in History 94. Young Chandragupta seems to have secretly wandered through the Greek camps in order to study the peculiar features of the Greek armoury, the Greek military formations and war strategy. For, he was once caught by the Greek sentries on suspicion that he was reconnoitring in the emperor’s camp. The report reached Alexander himself, and the Macedonian emperor summoned the disguised Indian youth to his presence. Some even think that the said youth went to see Alexander by previous appointment.