Mudhra RakshasaChandra Guptha Maurya was the son of the cousin of a great king called Mahananda. Mahananda killed all the relations of Chandra Guptha and retained him as his servant. Chandra Guptha one day met a great Brahmin called Chanakya. Chandra Guptha served food to Chanakya in the golden plate reserved for Nandas. Nandas became furious and threw out Chanakya. Chanakya was a great scholar and became furious. He vowed to kill all Nandas and help Chandra Guptha the king of Magadha. (Read the story of Chandra Guptha Maurya). Chanakya took Chandra Guptha as his student and taught him all he knew about being a brave warrior. He called and told him, Chandra Gupta,” it is time for you to retaliate .Travel through out the country and tell the people, how they are being tormented by the Nandas. Ask their help and slowly build an army.” Chandra Guptha did as he was told and eventually gathered an army of supporters. Parvatak was a king to the neighboring kingdom. Chanakya met Parvatak and told him, “King, your kingdom is small. My student Chandra Guptha has already raised a great army to wage war against the Nandas. If you help him, he would give half his kingdom to you.” King Parvatak agreed and the armies of Chandra Guptha and Parvatak invaded Magadha and with the help of the people defeated the Nandas. Chanakya soon found out the hiding place of Maha Nanda and his eight sons. He caught hold of one of their maid servants and told her, “You are but a servant to the Nandas. If you help us by poisoning the Nandas, we would give you a small palace and make you a Duchess.” Overcome with greed the maid servant killed the Nandas by poisoning their food. True to his word, Chanakya gave her a palace and made her rich. Though all the Nandas were no more, their minister called Rakshasa was alive. He was also a great scholar. He wanted to take revenge on Chanakya for having killed his masters. So he approached King Parvatak and told him, “Sir, Chandra Guptha is a very small man and you are a real king. It is because of your army that Chandra Guptha has become the king. I would help you to kill Chandra Guptha and make you the king of the entire Magadha.”Naturally King Parvatak was delighted. But this was being watched by a servant of Chanakya, who told him about it Because of this Chanakya became very suspicious and careful. At this time Chandra Guptha became ill. Rakshasa bribed the doctor of Chandra Guptha and asked him to poison Chandra Guptha. The doctor examined Chandra Guptha and told him, “Sir, if you take the medicine which I am giving you, you would be cured soon.” At this time Chanakya who was with Chandra Guptha told the doctor, “The king does not take any thing, unless some body takes it before him. So please take some of that medicine first.” When the doctor took the medicine he died. Rakshasa was terribly disappointed. But he did not loose hope. Through one of his friends, he presented Chandra Guptha with a very beautiful lady. Actually she was a poison lady and any body touching her would die. Chanakya, who was there, send the lady as a present to King Parvatak and King Parvatak died. Rakshasa was further disappointed. Malaya Kethu, the son of Parvatak became the king instead of Parvatak. Rakshasa became a close friend of Malaya Kethu also At this time Chandra Guptha decided to occupy the palace of Maha Nanda. Rakshasa had filled the basement with the soldiers of Maha Nanda, No body knew about it. Before occupying the palace, Chanakya wanted to inspect the palace. When he was inspecting he saw a row of ants moving to the basement. He immediately ordered the palace to be burnt. Chandra Guptha was very upset about it and asked Chanakya, “Sir, I am not able to understand you. Why did you burn this great palace?’ Then Chanakya took him to the basement of the palace and showed him the dead soldiers of Maha Nanda. At this time, the wife of Rakshasa was living in hiding in Magadha. One day without her knowledge, she dropped the seal of Rakshasa on the road. This was picked by one of the friends of Chanakya and given it to him. Chanakya then called a friend of his and gave him a letter. He told him to go and meet Malaya Kethu. This friend, went and cried before Malaya Kethu, “Sir, Chandra Guptha and Chanakya are fighting. Because of this Chanakya is staying away from the palace. Rakshasa, who acts as if he is your friend, is actually a friend of Chandra Guptha. Both of them want to kill you as well as Chanakya. As a proof, I am having her with me a letter written by Rakshasa”.Saying this he gave the letter give to him by Chanakya. In that letter the seal of Rakshasa was properly put. So Malaya Kethu became the enemy of Rakshasa. |