RAS question
Which Greek ambassador visited the court of Chandragupta Maurya?
Correct answer: (B) Megasthenes.
Megasthenes was the Greek ambassador sent by Seleucus Nicator to Chandragupta Maurya's court and the author of Indica.
Explanation
Megasthenes is the answer because eGyanKosh, Unit 16: The Mauryan 'Empire' identifies him as a Seleukidian envoy who visited the Mauryan capital, Pataliputra, during Chandragupta Maurya's reign. He was sent by Seleucus Nicator to Chandragupta Maurya's court. His Indica matters because it recorded his impressions of India, especially northern India under Chandragupta, and is treated as a major literary source for the Mauryan period. Indica is lost, but later writers preserved quotations, excerpts and summaries from it. The key historical link is therefore Chandragupta Maurya, Seleucus Nicator and Megasthenes, not a general category of foreign visitors to ancient India.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Fa-Hien came centuries after Chandragupta Maurya, while Megasthenes was the envoy who visited Pataliputra during Chandragupta Maurya's reign.
- (C) Hiuen Tsang belongs to a much later phase of Indian history, whereas Chandragupta Maurya's court and the literary source Indica are specifically connected with Megasthenes.
- (D) Deimachus was a Greek ambassador associated with a later Mauryan context, while Megasthenes is the ambassador linked to Seleucus Nicator and Chandragupta Maurya.
Concept
This tests the ancient Indian history concept of literary sources for the Mauryan period, especially Greek accounts of Mauryan administration. It recurs in RAS because one fact links a ruler, a foreign envoy and a source text in a compact, testable unit.