Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/135

 EAELY LIFE OF CHAtfDRAGUPTA 105 fears of his return, and the native princes undoubtedly took the earliest possible opportunity to assert their independence and exterminate the weak foreign gar- risons. The news of Alexander's decease was known in India probably as early as August, but no serious fighting would have been undertaken by ordinary com- manders until the beginning of the cold season in Oc- tober; for Alexander's indifference to climatic condi- tions was not shared by Indian chiefs, who were accus- tomed to regulate their military movements strictly in accordance with precedent. We may feel assured that as soon as the news of the conqueror's death had been confirmed beyond doubt, and the season permitted the execution of military operations with facility, a general rising took place, and that Macedonian authority in India was at an end early in 322 B. c., except for the small remnant to which Eudamos continued to cling. The leader of the revolt against the foreigners was an able adventurer, Chandragupta by name, at that time a young man, probably not more than twenty-five years of age. Although he was on his father's side a scion of the royal house of Magadha, the principal State in Northern India, his mother was of lowly ori- gin, and, in accordance with Hindu law, he belonged to her caste and had to bear the reproach of inferior social rank. The family name Maurya, assumed by the mem- bers of the dynasty founded by Chandragupta, is said to be a derivative from Mura, his mother's name. In some way or other, young Chandragupta incurred the displeasure of his kinsman, Mahapadma Nanda, the