Of the religious sources the Buddhist and Jain traditions the early
Dharmashastra are of great importance. The Ashokavadana and Divyavadana
are two Buddhist texts containing information about Bindusara, Ashoka's
expeditions to Taxila to suppress a rebellion and about his conversion to
Buddhism. DipVamsa and Maha Vamsa describe in detail the role played by
Ashoka in the spreading of Buddhism in SriLanka. Chaitra or
Parisisthaparvan (biography of Chanakya) of Hemachandra provides very
interesting information on Chandra Gupta Maurya.
Amongst the
Brahmanical works the Puranas give information on the history of the
Mauryas. Megasthenese 's Indica is another source in which he had
described the physical features of the country-soil, climate, animals and
plants, its government and religion, the manners of the people and their
art.
This book in original form has been lost. But most passages have been
preserved in form of epitomes and quotations which are found scattered here and
there in the later writings of various Greek and Roman authors such as Strabo,
Arrian and Plinius. Another important source which gives valuable information
on the Mauryan period is the Arthashastra. It is believed to be the work of
Vishnu Gupta Kautilya also known as Chanakya. He was the chief advisor of
Chandragupta Maurya. His book Arthashastra is a standard work on politics and
art of government.
It is considered to be the most valuable work in the
field of secular literature. Mudra Rakshasa is another important work which
throws some light on Chandragupta Maurya's career. It is a drama written by
Vaisakha Dutta in the Gupta period. The author collected all the information
available to him in the 5th century AD. This drama gives the detail of the
revolution by which Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the Nandas. It also mentioned
that Chandragupta belonged to a low caste