Chandragupta
Chandragupta Maurya (ca. 340 - 298 BCE; emperor ca. 320 – 298 BCE), was the founder of the Maurya Empire, which brought most of the Indian subcontinent under a centralised authority for the firt time in its history. Chandragupta's conquests secured him a territory stretching from Bengal and Assam in the east, to Afghanistan and Balochistan in the west, to Kashmir and Nepal in the north, and to the Deccan Plateau in the south. Chandragupta is also noted for defending his empire from the armies of Alexander the Great and Seleucus Nicator (one of Alexander's successors).
Role in the Timeline
Chandragupta continues to be successful in fending off invasions by a longer-lived Alexander the Great, although he ultimately loses some western territories to the Macedonians through changes in allegiance of some of his local rulers.