| Script: Subba
Rao
Illustrator: Ram Waeerkar
ISBN: 81-7508-082-5
Vol. No: 634
Nearly 2,300 years ago, Chandragupta
brought about the political unification of North India and established
an empire which successfully resisted the Macedonian invasion. His empire
extended upto Mysore (present day Karnataka) in the South and upto the
borders of Persia (present day Iran) in the North-West.There are various
legends about the early career of Chandragupta, and it is difficult to
distinguish fact from fantasy in the stories woven around his romantic
life. But one thing is certain. He was the first emperor of India, as no
other king before him had built an empire as vast as his Vishakhadatta's
famous play on Chandragupta - Mudrarakshasa - was written in the 9th Century
A.D. This was followed nearly seven hundred years later by two Sanskrit
works, 'Mudra Rakshasa Katha' by Mahadeva Tirtha of Tanjore and 'Mudra
Rakshasa Katha Sara' by Ravikartana of Kerala, which serve as introductions
to the earlier play.Kempu Narayana, a scholar at the court of Krishnaraja
Wadeyar III of Mysore, made a study of these works on Chandragupta and
wrote 'Mudra Manjusha' in Kannada in 1823. Our Amar Chitra Katha is based
on this pioneering work in Kannada prose. That our story on Chandragupta
should be based on a Kannada work is only befitting , for Chandragupta,
though born in the North, spent his last days at Shravanabelagola in Karnataka.
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