Chandra Nandini – Is it Real or mare a fiction for TRP

After  jodha Akbar, Ekta Kapoor has returned once again with  a historical Saga Chandra Nandini. The show is going to be aired on Star Plus and is based on emperor Chandragupta Maurya’s life.

 

After seeing so many times the promo  of this upcoming serial on Star Plus ,  I was  curious enough to browse the whole story of Chandragupta Maurya’s and his wife .

So here we go :-

Historical evidence suggests the name of Chandragupta Maurya’s wife as Durdhara, but the serial portrays her as Nandni. Nandini is being  played by Shweta Basu Prasad.

According to Jain tradition, Durdhara was the consort of Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire of India. She was the mother of her husband’s successor and the second Mauryan emperor, Bindusara.

Also Read : Chandra Nandini Serial Review: Till Date

Lineage of Durdhara According to History :-

According to the Mahavamsa-tika, Chandragupta had married his first-cousin, the daughter of the eldest of the maternal uncles who accompanied his mother to Pataliputra and raised her to the dignity of queen-consort. This daughter is surmised to have been Durdhara.

But what we are going to see in Chandra Nandini is Totally different .

Also Read : Story of Chandragupta Maurya and Helena-Facts & Myths

Also Read : Chandra Nandni : why you want to play with History

Also Read :Chandra Nandini-Not so historical, Fictional character Nandini getting blamed for Durdhara’s Death

 

TV Serial Chandra Nandini –  portrays Durdhara as Nandni the Daughter of Dhana Nanda – the Magadh King before Chandragupta Maurya

 

Before Chandragupta Maurya ,  Patliaputra was ruled by Nanda dynasty .

Mahapadma Nanda was the founder of the Nanda dynasty. He was the son of  a shudra mother. When his brothers from royal mothers opposed his growing influence, he killed them all, same is known to be done by Ashoka the great.

During Chandragupta’s time Mahapadma’s son Dhana Nanda ruled Patliaputra. According to the serial, Nandni is the daughter of Dhana Nanda But as already mentioned,  in reality Chandragupta’s wife Durdhara is believed to be the daughter of his maternal uncle.

Nandni was married to Chandragupta Maurya the killer of her father 

History suggests  Chandragupta Maurya killed Dhana Nanda to acquire his kingdom with the help of Chanakya. Though it is not well documented, some people believe he even married Dhana Nanda’s daughter.  Chandra-Nandni is sure to focuse on a deep and intense story between Chandragupta Maurya and the princess Nandini.

Nandni in the serial is a warrior princess who grows up learning war tactics right from her childhood. However, things take a drastic turn when Chandragupta killed her father and later marries her.

On the other hand, little is known about Maharani Durdhara apart from the fact that she died after accidentally eating the toxic food meant for Chandragupta when she was pregnant.

Story of Bindusara’s Birth

According to Jain texts, Chandragupta’s advisor Chanakya, used to feed the him with small doses of poison to build his immunity against possible poisoning attempts by enemies. One day, Chandragupta not knowing about the poison, shared his food with the pregnant Durdhara who was just seven days away from delivery. The empress, not immune to the poison, collapsed, and died within a few minutes. Chanakya  in order to save the child in the womb,  immediately cut open the dead empress’ belly and took the baby out, by that time a drop of poison had already reached the baby and touched its head due to which the child got a permanent blueish spot or bindu  on his forehead. Thus, the newborn child was named Bindusara.

So Now we  see that  the History of  Durdhara mother of  Bindusara and wife of  Chandragupta Maurya is itself not clear.

As per the repo of  our tv industry , it is doubtful that they might  have done any serious  reasearch on this topic, so mostly this serial is going to be a fictious one with lots of drama to increase the TRP.

Also Read : Chandra Nandini – Deforming the Real story of Chandragupta Maurya