TheMauryanEmpire

Overview TheMauryanEmpirewasoneofthelargestempirestoruleIndia It was established in 321 BCE byChandraguptaMauryaanddissolvedin185BCE withthedeathofBhrihadrataMaurya ThecapitaloftheMauryanEmpirewasPataliputra The Mauryan Empire is known for the Arthasastra by Kautilya (Chanakya), the Rock Edicts of Asoka, and the Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath which today servesastheemblemofIndia Archaeologically, the Mauryan period falls within the era of Northern Black PolishedWare(NBPW)

Extentoftheempire

TheMauryanEmpireatitsgreatestextentunderAsoka The Mauryan Empire originated from the kingdom of Magadha (modern Bihar, WestBengal) At its greatest, the Empire encompassed almost the entire Indian subcontinent andpartsofCentralAsia It stretched to the north along the Himalayas, to the east into Assam, to the west intoAfghanistan,andtothesouthuptonorthernTamilNadu/Kerala The Empire did not include the Chera, Chola and Pandya kingdoms in the far south. Instead, these kingdoms enjoyed friendly relations with the Mauryan Empire IMPORTANTPERSONAGESOFTHEMAURYANEMPIRE 1. ChandraguptaMaurya a. Borncirca340BCE,diedc.298BCE b. HewasthefounderoftheMauryanEmpire c. He was knowninGreekandLatinaccountsasSandrokyptos,Sandrokottos orAndrocottus d. He established the empire byoverthrowingtheNandadynastyofMagadha underDhanaNanda e. Chanakya was the Prime Minister of Chandragupta while Rakhshasa was hischiefadvisor f. Starting from Magadha, he expanded westward by defeating the Greek

satrapies established by Alexander the Great.Chandragupta Maurya skillfully exploited the power disruptions in northwestern India caused by AlexanderasthelatterwithdrewintoBabylon g. After his conquests, the EmpirestretchedfromAssamtoAfghanistan,from KashmirtotheDeccan h. ChandraguptadefeatedtheSeleucusINicator,thesuccessorofAlexander in Macedonia. As part of the agreement reached later, Chandragupta marriedadaughterofSeleucusandinreturngifted500warelephants i. Seleucus sent an ambassador to Chandraguptas court called Megasthenes j. Towards the end of his life, ChandraguptaembracedJainismandmigrated southwithAcharyaBhadrabahutoShravanabelgolainKarnataka 2. Bindusara a. Bornc.320BCE,diedc.272BCE b. HewasthesuccessortoChandragupta c. HewasthesonofChandraguptaandthefatherofAsoka d. HewasalsoknownasAmitraghataorAjathasetru e. He expanded the Mauryan Empire south beyond the Deccan, as far south asMysore f. During his reign, the Empire included all of India except Kalinga and the southernkingdomsofCheras,CholasandPandyas g. ByreligionhewasanAjivaka(asectofHinduism) h. TheSeleucidambassadortoBindusarascourtwasDeimakos 3. AsokatheGreat

BuddhistproselytismunderAsoka
a. b. c. d. e. Bornc.304BCE,diedc.232BCE SuccessortoBindusara AlsoknownasDevanampriyaandPriyadarshin ConqueredKalingaandaddedittotheMauryanEmpire. Was initially an Ajivakabut laterembraced Buddhismaftertheconquestof Kalinga

f.

Under Asokas reign the Mauryan Empire included all of India exceptthe southernkingdomsofCheras,CholasandPandyas g. Contributed immensely to the spread of Buddhism, especially in SouthEastAsia,CeylonandCentralAsia h. Asoka organized the Third Buddhist CouncilatPataliputrainc. 250BCE.It was conducted by the monk MogaliputtaTissa, who was also the spiritual teacherofAsoka i. He is known for theAsokaChakra,theAsokaPillarsandtheLionCapitalat Sarnath j. The Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt under king Philadelphus sent the ambassadorDionysiustothecourtofAsoka 1.

Chanakya
a. Bornc.350BCE,diedc.283BCE b. AlsoknownasKautilya,Vishnugupta c. He was the advisor and trainer of Chandragupta Maurya and was instrumentalinthelattersascenttopower d. He later served as the Prime Minister of the Mauryan Empire under ChandraguptaandhissonBindusara e. Author of the Arthasastra and the Nitishastra. The Arthashastra discusses monetary policies, warfare andinternationalrelations whiletheNitishastra isatreatiseontheidealwayoflifeandphilosophy f. Considered to be the pioneer of economics and political science in the world

ADMINISTRATIONANDECONOMYUNDERTHEMAURYAS
Administration ThecapitaloftheMauryanEmpirewasPataliputra TheEmpirewasdividedintofourprovinces Tosali(intheeast) Ujjain(inthewest) Taxila(inthenorth) Suvarnagiri(inthesouth) TheKingsrepresentativeattheprovinciallevelwasaroyalprincetitledKumara The Emperor was assisted in theadministration by a Council of Ministers called theMantriparishad The Mauryan Empire also had an extensive and efficient civil service that managedeverythingfrommunicipalhygienetointernationaltrade Economy

ChandraguptaMauryaintroducedasinglecurrencyacrossIndia International trade with the Greek kingdoms through the Kybher Pass was extensive Exportsincludedsilkgoods,textiles,spicesandexoticfoods

THEEDICTSOFASOKA AbouttheEdicts

MapoftheEdictsofAsoka TheEdictsofAsokaareacollectionof33inscriptions The inscriptions are found in the form of Rock Edicts, Pillar Edicts and assorted inscriptionsonbouldersandcavewalls TheinscriptionsarefoundthroughouttheIndiansubcontinent Thelanguageoftheinscriptionsis Magadhi,usingtheBrahmiscript(intheeast) Sanskrit,usingtheKharosthiscript(inthewest)

 OneEdictinGreek OneEdictinGreekandAramaic ThesevenPillarEdictsofAsokaarelocatedat Sarnath,UttarPradeshLionCapital Sanchi,MadhyaPradeshLionCapital Rampurva,BiharBullandLion Sankassa,UttarPradeshElephant Vaishali,BiharLionCapital LauriyaArerajandLauriyaNandangarh,BiharLionCapital TheEdictsweredecodifiedbyBritisharchaeologistJamesPrinsepin18201830 The Lion Capital at Sarnath is currently used as the national emblem of India, whileIndiasnationalflagusesAsokasChakra MajorRockEdicts Edictnumber I II III IV Edictdescription Prohibitionofanimalsacrifice Medicaltreatmentofhumansandanimals Declares liberalitytowardsBrahmanasand Sramanas Announces that policy of Dhamma has checkedlackofviolenceandmorality Declares Bheri Ghosha replaced by DhammaGhosha Mentions appointment of

V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

Dhammamahamatas MentionsMantriParishad Religioustolerance MentionshewenttoBodhGaya Moralityandconduct Uselessnessofceremonies Mentions that the king does not desire fameorglory Explainspolicyofdhamma Appeals for tolerance among religious sects

XIII XIV MinorRockEdicts Edict KandaharRockEdict BhabruInscription BarabarInscription TaraiPillars PillarEdicts Edictnumber I II III IV V VI VII

MentionsKalingaWar PartlywritteninGreek MentionsthepurposeoftheRockEdicts

Description WritteninGreekandAramaic MentionsAsokasconversiontoBuddhism Enjoinsreligioustolerance MentionAsokasrespectforBuddhism

Edictdescription Mentionsthesocialcode Mentionseyedonation Mentionssoulandsin MentionsRajukas Mentionsanimalkilling Mentionswelfareofpeople MentionsDhammamahamatas

DECLINEOFTHEMAURYAEMPIRE The Mauryan Empire was dissolved in c. 185 BCE with the assassination of the lastrulerBhrihadratabyhiscommanderinchiefPushyamitraSunga The fall of the Mauryan Empire led to foreign invasions and theestablishmentof IndoGreekkingdomsinthenorthwest CausesoftheMauryandeclineinclude WeaksuccessorstoAsoka Asokaspacifistpolicies Financialcrisis Centralizedgovernmentandbureaucracy