Durdhara
| Durdhara | |
|---|---|
| Empress consort of the Maurya Empire | |
| Tenure | ? - 320 BCE |
| Died | 320 BCE Pataliputra |
| Spouse | Chandragupta Maurya |
| Issue | Bindusara |
| Dynasty | Maurya |
Durdhara (? - 320 BCE) was the consort of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire. According to Jain texts, she was the mother of her husband's successor and the second Mauryan emperor, Bindusara.
Biography
According to Jain texts, she was the wife of Chandragupta Maurya and the mother of Bindusara.[1]
Lineage
Burmese legends do not mention the name, but assign to the mother of Chandragupta's successor a Maurya lineage and the chief place among the queens.[2] According to the Mahavamsa-tika, Chandragupta had married his first-cousin, the daughter of the eldest of the maternal uncles who accompanied his mother to Pataliputra and raised her to the dignity of Queen-consort. This daughter is surmised to have been Durdhara.[3][4]
Bindusara's birth
According to a legend mentioned in Jain texts, Chandragupta's advisor Chanakya, used to feed the emperor with small doses of poison to build his immunity against possible poisoning attempts by enemies.[5] One day, Chandragupta not knowing about the poison, shared his food with the pregnant Durdhara who was just 7 days away from delivery. The empress, not immune to the poison, collapsed, and died within a few minutes. Chanakya entered the room the very time she collapsed, and in order to save the child in the womb, he immediately cut open the dead empress' belly and took the baby out, by that time a drop of poison had already reached the baby and touched its head due to which the child got a permanent blueish spot (a "bindu") on his forehead. Thus, the newborn child was named "Bindusara".[6]
In popular culture
- Durdhara was portrayed by Niddhi Tikoo in NDTV Imagine's historical drama, Chandragupta Maurya.
References
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- ↑ Mookerji 1988, p. 234.
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