See Benjamin Fillon, “John Chandos, Connétable d’Aquitaine et Sénéchal de Poitou,” in the Revue des provinces de l’ouest (1855).
CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA (reigned 321-296 B.C.), known to the Greeks as Sandracottus, founder of the Maurya empire and first paramount ruler of India, was the son of a king of Magadha by a woman of humble origin, whose caste he took, and whose name, Mura, is said to have been the origin of that of Maurya assumed by his dynasty. As a youth he was driven into exile by his kinsman, the reigning king of Magadha. In the course of his wanderings he met Alexander the Great, and, according to Plutarch (Alexander, cap. 62), encouraged him to invade the Ganges kingdom by enlarging on the extreme unpopularity of the reigning monarch. During his exile he collected a large force of the warlike clans of the north-west frontier, and on the death of Alexander attacked the Macedonian garrisons and conquered the Punjab. He next attacked Magadha, dethroned and slew the king, his enemy, with every member of his family, and established himself on the throne (321). The great army acquired from his predecessor he increased until it reached the total of 30,000 cavalry, 9000 elephants, and 600,000 infantry; and with this huge force he overran all northern India, establishing his empire from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. In 305 Seleucus Nicator crossed the Indus, but was defeated by Chandragupta and forced to a humiliating peace (303), by which the empire of the latter was still farther extended in the north. About six years later Chandragupta died, leaving his empire to his son Bindusura.
An excellent account of the court and administrative system of Chandragupta has been preserved in the fragments of Megasthenes, who came to Pataliputra as the envoy of Seleucus shortly after 303. The government was, of course, autocratic and even tyrannous, but it was organized on an elaborate system, army and civil service being administered by a series of boards, while the cities were governed by municipal commissioners responsible for public order and the upkeep of public works. Chandragupta himself is described as living in barbaric splendour, appearing in public only to hear causes, offer sacrifice, or to go on military and hunting expeditions, and withal so fearful of assassination that he never slept two nights running in the same room.
See J.W. MacCrindle, Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian (Calcutta, 1877); V.A. Smith, Early Hist. of India (Oxford, 1908); also the articles [India]: History, and [Inscriptions]: Indian.
CHANGARNIER, NICOLAS ANNE THÉODULE (1793-1877), French general, was born at Autun on the 26th of April 1793. Educated at St Cyr, he served for a short time in the bodyguard of Louis XVIII., and entered the line as a lieutenant in January 1815. He achieved distinction in the Spanish campaign of 1823, and became captain in 1825. In 1830 he entered the Royal Guard and was sent to Africa, where he took part in the Mascara expedition. Promoted commandant in 1835, he distinguished himself under Marshal Clausel in the campaign against Ahmed Pasha, bey of Constantine, and became lieutenant-colonel in 1837. The part he took in the expedition of Portes-de-Fer gained him a colonelcy, and his success against the Hajutas and Kabyles, the cross of the Legion of Honour. Three more years of brilliant service in Africa won for him the rank of maréchal de camp in 1840, and of lieutenant-general in 1843. In 1847 he held the Algiers divisional command. He visited France early in 1848, assisted the provisional government to establish order, and returned to Africa in May to succeed General Cavaignac in the government of Algeria. He was speedily recalled on his election to the general assembly for the department of the Seine, and received the command of the National Guard of Paris, to which was added soon afterwards that of the troops in Paris, altogether nearly 100,000 men. He held a high place and exercised great influence in the complicated politics of the next two years. In 1849 he received the grand cross of the Legion of Honour. An avowed enemy of republican institutions, he held a unique position in upholding the power of the president; but in January 1851 he opposed Louis Napoleon’s policy, was in consequence deprived of his double command, and at the coup d’état in December was arrested and sent to Mazas, until his banishment from France by the decree of the 9th of January 1852. He returned to France after the general amnesty, and resided in his estate in the department of Saône-et-Loire. In 1870 he held no command, but was present with the headquarters, and afterwards with Bazaine in Metz. He was employed on an unsuccessful mission to Prince Frederick Charles, commanding the German army which besieged Metz, and on the capitulation became a prisoner of war. At the armistice he returned to Paris, and in 1871 was elected to the National Assembly by four departments, and sat for the Somme. He took an active part in politics, defended the conduct of Marshal Bazaine, and served on the committee which elaborated the monarchical constitution. When the comte de Chambord refused the compromise, he moved the resolution to extend the executive power for ten years to Marshal MacMahon. He was elected a life senator in 1875. He died in Paris on the 14th of February 1877.
CHANG-CHOW, a town of China, in the province of Fu-kien, on a branch of the Lung Kiang, 35 m. W. of Amoy. It is surrounded by a wall 4½ m. in circumference, which, however, includes a good deal of open ground. The streets are paved with granite, but are very dirty. The river is crossed by a curious bridge, 800 ft. long, constructed of wooden planks supported on twenty-five piles of stones about 30 ft. apart. The city is a centre of the silk-trade, and carries on an extensive commerce in different directions. Brick-works and sugar-factories are among its chief industrial establishments. Its population is estimated at about 1,000,000.