Bindusara

Bindusara Maurya (r. c. 320–273 BCE) was the second emperor of the Maurya Empire. During his reign, the empire expanded southwards. He had two well-known sons, Susima and Ashoka, who were the viceroys of Taxila and Ujjain, respectively. The Greeks called him Amitrochates or Allitrochades – the Greek transliteration for the Sanskrit word Amitraghata "Slayer of enemies". He was also called Ajatashatru "Man with no enemies" in Sanskrit (not to be confused with Ajatashatru, son of Bimbisara, who ruled Haryanka Magadha from 491–461 BCE).

Life

Bindusara was the son of the first Mauryan Emperor, Chandragupta Maurya, and his Empress-Consort, Durdhara. His birth name was Simhasena. According to a legend mentioned by the Jains, Chandragupta's advisor Chanakya used to feed the emperor small doses of poison to build his immunity against possible poisoning attempts by enemies of the throne. One day, Chandragupta not knowing about the poison, shared his food with his pregnant wife, Durdhara, who was 7 days away from delivery. The empress not immune to the poison collapsed and died within few minutes. Chanakya entered the room the very time she collapsed, and to save the child in the womb, he immediately cut open the dead empress' womb and took the baby out. By that time a drop of poison had already reached the baby and touched its head due to which child got a permanent bluish spot (a "bindu") on his forehead. Thus, the newborn was named "Bindusara".

Chandragupta Maurya

Chandragupta Maurya (IAST: Candragupta Maurya, c. 340 – c. 297 BCE) was the founder of the Maurya Empire and the first emperor to unify most of Greater India into one state. He ruled from 324 BCE until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favour of his son, Bindusara, in 297 BCE.

Chandragupta Maurya was a pivotal figure in the history of India. Prior to his consolidation of power, most of the Indian subcontinent was divided into mahajanapadas, while the Nanda Empire dominated the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering and subjugating almost all of the Indian subcontinent by the end of his reign, except Tamil Nadu (Chera, Early Cholas and Early Pandyan Kingdom) and modern-day Odisha (Kalinga). His empire extended from Bengal in the east to Afghanistan and Balochistan in the west, to the Himalayas and Kashmir in the north, and to the Deccan Plateau in the south. It was the largest empire yet seen in Indian history.

In Greek and Latin accounts, Chandragupta is known as Sandrokottos and Androcottus. He became well known in the Hellenistic world for conquering Alexander the Great's easternmost satrapies, and for defeating the most powerful of Alexander's successors, Seleucus I Nicator, in battle. Chandragupta subsequently married Seleucus's daughter to formalize an alliance and established a policy of friendship with the Hellenistic kingdoms, which stimulated India's trade and contact with the western world. The Greek diplomat Megasthenes, who visited the Maurya capital Pataliputra, is an important source of Maurya history.

Sameer Dharmadhikari

Sameer Dharmadhikari (Marathi: समीर धर्माधिकारी) is an Indian film and television actor and model. He played the male lead in the Marathi film Nirop that won the National Award for the Best Marathi film.

He has worked as a hydraulic machine designer and did theatre in Pune. After moving to Mumbai, he modeled for Vimal Suitings, De Beers, ICICI Bank, Nescafe and was brand ambassador for Raymond Suitings.

Filmography

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