It is stated in Matsya Puran, chapter cclxxii., that ten Moryas would
reign over India, and would be succeeded by the Shoongas, and that Shata
Dhanva will be the first of these ten Maureyas (or Moryas).
In Vishnu Purana (Book IV. chapter iv.) it is stated that there was in
the Soorya dynasty a king called Moru, who through the power of devotion
(Yoga) is said to be still living in the village called Katapa, in the
Himalayas (vide vol. iii. p. 197, by Wilson), and who, in a future age,
will be the restorer of the Kshatriya race, in the Solar dynasty, that
is, many thousands of years hence. In another part of the same Purana
(Book IV. chapter xxiv.) it is stated that, "upon the cessation of the
race of Nanda, the Moryas* will possess the earth, for Kautilya will
place Chandragupta on the throne." Col. Tod considers Morya, or Maurya,
a corruption of Mori, the name of a Rajput tribe.
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* The particulars of this legend are recorded in the Atthata katha of
the Uttaraviharo priests.
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The Commentary on the Mahavanso thinks that the princes of the town Mori
were thence called Mauryas. Vachaspattya, a Sanskrit Encyclopaedia,
places the village of Katapa on the northern side of the Himalayas--
hence in Tibet. The same is stated in chapter xii. (Skanda) of
Bhagavat, vol. iii. p. 325. The Vayu Purana seems to declare that Moru
will re-establish the Kshatriyas in the nineteenth coming Yuga. In
chapter vi. Book III. of Vishnu Purana, a Rishi called Koothoomi is
mentioned. Will any of our Brothers tell us how our Mahatmas stand to
these revered personages?
--R. Ragoonath Row