The king of Vijayanagara, Vira Narasimha, was very ill. He was afraid that after his death, his much loved and popular brother, Krishnadeva Raya, would seize the throne from his little son. So he asked a trusted minister to put Krishnadeva to death. The conscience-stricken minister could not perform such a heinous deed and convinced the bewildered prince to escape. Fate had already decreed that Krishnadeva Raya would one day rule the Vijayanagara empire and take it to its zenith of glory.

Chandragupta Maurya defeated the Nandas and established himself on the throne of Magadha in 321 B.C. It was a journey fraught with dangerous challenges but his chance meeting with the wily Chanakya changed his destiny forever. The clever Brahmin showed him how by the sheer brilliance of his wit and wile he could help the young Mauryan prince to rise from being an unknown warrior to one of the greatest emperors of India.

Can a music loving, scholarly prince be a successful king? Will a skilled and committed warrior encourage the arts and science? Samudra Gupta proved he was a multi-faceted ruler. By bringing peace to a huge area of the warring subcontinent, this benevolent king gave his people the leisure to be creative. His court official Harishena engraved his master's achievement on the Ashoka pillar in Allahabad.