Dhana Nanda

According to Mahabodhivamsa, Dhana Nanda (Sanskrit: धनानन्द) was the last ruler of the Nanda dynasty. He was one of nine sons of Mahapadma Nanda. Plutarch tells that Androkottos or Chandragupta Maurya had stated that Nanda was hated and despised by his subjects on account of the wickedness of his disposition and meanness of his origin.

Dhana Nanda is referred to as Agrammes or Xandrames by Diodorus (Greek historian). The name Agrammes is possibly a distorted form of the Sanskrit Augrasainya (son or descendent of Ugrasena).

Dhana Nanda inherited throne from his father Mahapadma Nanda. Although it could be said that the Dhana Nanda dynasty was very unpopular among the people and the neighboring states, possible explanations of the unpopularity could be their financial extortion.

Dhana Nanda is described as a powerful king who ruled over the Parsii (Prachya, i.e. the eastern people) and the Gangaridai (the people of the lower Ganga valley). During his reign, the Nanda Empire extended from Bihar and Bengal in the east to Punjab and Sindh in the west. He had four ministers - Bandu, Subandu, Kubera and Sakatala. Sakatala emptied Dhana Nanda's treasury for purchasing peace from Mleccha invaders. He was then punished by the King for the act by casting into a subterranean dungeon along with his family with handful of grains and little water. The food and water being sufficient for only one human, all died but Sakatala himself. The foreign kings invaded again and Nanda requested of Sakatala's assistance which he denied. Sakatala found Chanakya to take his revenge from Dhana Nanda by ending his rule.

Although the relations of Kalinga kingdom and Nanda Dynasty weren't very companionable, there had been a brief period in the past where the relations were affable, when Prince Shauryananda wed Damyanti of Kalinga. However, the relations were short lived as the marriage itself. The people of Kalinga despised the Magadha rulers, the Nanda dynasty, for belonging to Shudra varna and categorized them as barbaric. Dhana Nanda possessed similar aversion for Kalinga and its crown prince Kharasala.

King Dhana Nanda inherited the vast empire of his father. The army of Emperor Dhana Nanda consisted of large number of cavalry, infantry, chariots and elephants. His army, as described by Diodorus and Quintus Curtius Rufus, consisted of 200,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, 2,000 war chariots and 3,000 war elephants. According to Plutarch however, the size of the Nanda army was even larger, numbering 200,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, 8,000 war chariots, and 6,000 war elephants.

According to Jain work Parishishtaparvan, he was allowed to leave Pataliputra along with his two wives after defeat from Chandragupta Maurya. He permitted his daughter to marry Chadragupta.

The exact circumstances surrounding the death of Dhana Nanda are unclear. Some accounts suggest that Dhanananda was killed by Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan Empire, after the latter captured Pataliputra, the capital of Nandas. Other accounts however suggest that after Pataliputra was stealthily captured by Chanakya, Dhana Nanda was sent into exile and was never heard of again. It is also suggested that Dhana Nanda was killed on Chanakya's orders during exile, thus clearing the path for Chandragupta's kingship.

Some other accounts also suggest that as Dhana Nanda had taken to Buddhism before exile, he renounced life completely after his clan was wiped out in a coup; thus not being a threat to Chanakya's plans and therefore was allowed to live.