May 6th, 2009 
Aman When Chandragupta was busy laying the foundation of an Indian empire the Greek general of Alexander Selucus, who succeeded Alexander in the eastern parts of his empire, was moving towards India to recover the lost Greek possessions. The Indus was the eastern limit of his dominions, but he was not satisfied with this. He crossed the Indus with a large army and attempted to conquer the Punjab as Alexander had done. But he was soon disillusioned. Alexander had to fight against a divided India split into a multitude of states, but Seleucus had to face a united and stronger India. The Punjab was not longer a congeries of mutually warring tribes as Alexander had found it. I was now an integral part of an all India Empire ruled by Chandragupta Maurya, the greatest military general of India. He was perhaps well acquainted with the military tactics of the Greeks and has also the partial advantage of fighting in his own country. Selucus reached the India in about 305 BC. He was defeated in the battle with the Indian armies, and was compelled to enter into a treaty with Chandragupta Maurya. The classical writers are silent about the details of the conflict with Chandragupta but merely record the results. Selucus had to purchase peace by ceding to Chandragupta the provinces of Gandhara, Kabul, Heart and Baluchistan. In return, Chandragupta presented 500 war elephants to Selucus. To further cement the friendship between the two, Selucus married his daughter to Chandragupta Maurya. The treaty is very important from historical point of view because it extended the boundaries of Chandragupta’s empire to the Hindukush range and this gave it a splendid natural frontier. About the importance of the treaty, the first Indian emperor more than two thousand years ago entered into possession of the scientific frontier sighted for in vain by his English successor, and never held in its entirety even by the Mughal monarchs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Chandragupta ruled for about 24 years. He created the first united Indian empire known to the Indian history. He liberated the Punjab and the North West from the foreign yoke and established himself as the conqueror of the whole of north India as far as the Hindukush Mountains. He undoubtedly ruled over a vast empire which extended from the borders of Persia in the north and up to Mysore or Karnataka in the south. All these achievements entitle him to rank among the greatest and most successful kings known to history. He was succeeded by his son Bindusara, who ruled for about 2 years. During the early years of his reign, there was a rebellion in the province of Taxila. He sent Asoka with a strong force to restore peace in the region. After Asoka had accomplished his task, he was appointed the viceroy of the province of Punjab.
Bindusara maintained intact the vast empire which he had inherited from his father. He also continued the friendly policy of his father with the Greek princes of the North West. Antiochus, the successor of Selucus is said to have sent to the court of Bindusara, a Greek Ambassador named Deimachos who took the place which megasthenes had held in the days of Chandragupta. There is a story that Bindusara wrote to Antiochus to send him some figs and raisin wine and added that he would be also obliged if he sent him a philosopher to teach him to argue. Antiochus sent him a good quantity of the best available figs and raisin wine but regretted that he could not comply with this third request as it was not lawful for the Greeks to sell a philosopher. The story is important form three points of view. First, that there existed familiar exchange of thought between the people of Greece and India, second that Bindusara had a philosophical bent of mind. Thirdly, it shows that the empire of Bindusara was too powerful to being ignored by the strongest of the western power.
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