Maurya Empire, conceptualised as a network of core regions connected by networks of communication and trade, with large areas with peripheral or no Maurya control.[a]
Traditional depiction of the Maurya Empire under Ashoka as a solid mass of Maurya-controlled territory.[b][c]
TheMaurya Empire was a geographically extensiveIron Age historical power inSouth Asia with its power base inMagadha. Founded byChandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE,[h] it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE.[i] The primary sources for the written records of the Mauryan times are partial records of the lost history ofMegasthenes in Roman texts of several centuries later;[12] theEdicts of Ashoka, which were first read in the modern era byJames Prinsep after he had deciphered theBrahmi andKharoshthi scripts in 1838;[13] and theArthashastra, a work first discovered in the early 20th century,[14] and previously attributed toChanakya, but now thought to be composed by multiple authors in the first centuries of thecommon era.[j] Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era ofNorthern Black Polished Ware (NBPW).
Through military conquests and diplomatic treaties,Chandragupta Maurya defeated theNanda dynasty and extended hissuzerainty as far westward as Afghanistan below theHindu Kush and as far south as the northernDeccan;[k] however, beyond the core Magadha area, the prevailing levels of technology and infrastructure limited how deeply his rule could penetrate society.[l] During the rule of Chandragupta's grandson,Ashoka (ca. 268–232 BCE), the empire briefly controlled the major urban hubs and arteries of thesubcontinent excepting the deep south.[i] The Mauryan capital (what is todayPatna) was located in Magadha; the other core regions wereTaxila in the northwest;Ujjain in theMalwa Plateau;Kalinga on theBay of Bengal coast; and theprecious metal-rich lowerDeccan plateau.[m] Outside the core regions, the empire's geographical extent was dependent on the loyalty of military commanders who controlled the armed cities scattered within it.[15][16][a]
The Mauryan economy was helped by the earlier rise ofBuddhism andJainism—creeds that promoted nonviolence, proscribed ostentation, or superfluous sacrifices and rituals, and reduced the costs of economic transactions; by coinage that increased economic accommodation in the region; and by the use of writing, which might have boosted more intricate business dealings. Despite profitable settled agriculture in the fertile eastern Gangetic plain, these factors helped maritime and river-borne trade, which were essential for acquiringgoods for consumption as well as metals of high economic value.[n] To promote movement and trade, the Maurya dynasty built roads, most prominently a chiefly winter-time road—the Uttarapath—which connected eastern Afghanistan to their capitalPataliputra during the time of year when the water levels in the intersecting rivers were low and they could be easilyforded.[o] Other roads connected the Ganges basin to Arabian Sea coast in the west, andprecious metal-rich mines in the south.[17]
The population of South Asia during the Mauryan period has been estimated to be between 15 and 30 million.[11] The empire's period of dominion was marked by exceptional creativity in art, architecture, inscriptions and produced texts,[18] but also by the consolidation ofcaste in theGangetic plain, and the declining rights of women in the mainstreamIndo-Aryan speaking regions of India.[19] After theKalinga War in which Ashoka's troops visited much violence on the region, he embracedBuddhism and promoted its tenets in edicts scattered around South Asia, most commonly in clusters along the well-traveled road networks.[20][a] He sponsored Buddhist missionaries toSri Lanka, northwest India, and Central Asia,[21] which played a salient role in Buddhism becoming a world religion, and himself a figure of world history.[22] As Ashoka's edicts forbade both the killing of wild animals and the destruction of forests, he is seen by some modern environmental historians as an early embodiment of that ethos.[23][24] In July 1947,Jawaharlal Nehru, the interim prime minister of India, proposed in theConstituent Assembly of India thatLion Capital of Ashoka atSarnath be theState Emblem of India, and the 24-pointedBuddhistWheel of Dharma on the capital's drum-shapedabacus the central feature of India's national flag. The proposal was accepted in December 1947.[25]
The domains ofAshoka are addressed as 𑀚𑀁𑀩𑀼𑀤𑀻𑀧Jaṃbudīpa inhis edicts. This term, meaning "island/continent ofjambu", is the common name for the entireIndian subcontinent in ancient Indian sources. Neighbouring cultures usually addressed this land by a variety ofexonyms, such as the GreekἸνδῐ́ᾱ (Indíā, derived from theIndus River), which gave mostEuropean languages the common name for the subcontinent, includingEnglish. Both of these terms are, however, more geographical than political, and in common parlance could include areas outside of the Mauryan control.
The name "Maurya" does not occur in any of the Edicts of Ashoka, or the contemporary Greek accounts such asMegasthenes'sIndica, but it is attested by the following sources:[26]
Kuntala inscription (from the town of Bandanikke,North Mysore) of 12th century AD chronologically mention Maurya as one of the dynasties which ruled the region.[28]
According to some scholars, Kharavela'sHathigumpha inscription (2nd-1st century BCE) mentions era of Maurya Empire as Muriya Kala (Mauryan era),[29] but this reading is disputed: other scholars—such as epigraphistD. C. Sircar—read the phrase as mukhiya-kala ("the principal art").[30]
According to the Buddhist tradition, the ancestors of the Maurya kings had settled in a region where peacocks (mora inPali) were abundant. Therefore, they came to be known as "Moriyas", literally meaning, "belonging to the place of peacocks". According to another Buddhist account, these ancestors built a city called Moriya-nagara ("Peacock-city"), which was so called, because it was built with the "bricks coloured like peacocks' necks".[31]
The dynasty's connection to the peacocks, as mentioned in the Buddhist and Jain traditions, seems to be corroborated by archaeological evidence. For example, peacock figures are found on theAshoka pillar at Nandangarh and several sculptures on the Great Stupa ofSanchi. Based on this evidence, modern scholars theorise that the peacock may have been the dynasty's emblem.[32]
Some later authors, such asDhundhi-raja (an 18th-century commentator on theMudrarakshasa and an annotator of theVishnu Purana), state that the word "Maurya" is derived from Mura and the mother of the first Maurya emperor. However, the Puranas themselves make no mention of Mura and do not talk of any relation between the Nanda and the Maurya dynasties.[33] Dhundiraja's derivation of the word seems to be his own invention: according to the Sanskrit rules, the derivative of the feminine name Mura (IAST: Murā) would be "Maureya"; the term "Maurya" can only be derived from the masculine "Mura".[34]
History
Sources
The primary sources for the written records of the Mauryan times are partial records of the lost history ofMegasthenes in Roman texts of several centuries later;[12] and theEdicts of Ashoka, which were first read in the modern era byJames Prinsep after he had deciphered theBrahmi andKharoshthi scripts in 1838.[13] TheArthashastra, a work first discovered in the early 20th century, and previously attributed toKautilya, but now thought to be composed by multiple authors in the first centuries of thecommon era, has lost its value as a source for Mauryan times, as it describes post-Mauryan customs.[j]
The origins of the Maurya Empire are shrouded in legend. Greek sources refer to confrontations between the Greeks and Chandragupta Maurya, but are almost silent on his conquest of the Nanda Empire. Indian sources, on the other hand, only narrate the conquest of the Nanda Empire, and provide no info on what happened at the Greek frontier.
A number of Indian accounts, such as the Gupta-era dramaMudrarakshasa[p] byVishakhadatta, describe his royal ancestry and even link him with the Nanda family. A kshatriya clan known as the Mauryas are referred to in the earliestBuddhist texts,Mahāparinibbāna Sutta. However, any conclusions are hard to make without further historical evidence.
Chandragupta first emerges in Greek accounts as "Sandrokottos". Plutarch states that Chandragupta, as a young man, saw Alexander.[35][q]
Unrest and warfare in the Punjab
Alexander the Great's empire in 326 BCE. The routes taken to South Asia and the return from South Asia to Babylon by land and sea are shown.Alexander's eastern Satrapies, with territories ceded by the Seleucid Empire in 303 BCE.[37][38]
Alexander the Great was leading his Indian campaigns and ventured into Punjab. His army mutinied at theBeas River and refused to advance farther eastward when confronted by another army. Alexander returned toBabylon and re-deployed most of his troops west of theIndus River. Soon after Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BCE, his empire fragmented into independent kingdoms ruled by his generals.[39]
The Roman historianJustin (2nd c. CE) states, inEpit. 15.4.12-13, that after Alexander's death, Greek governors in India were assassinated, liberating the people of Greek rule. This revolt was led by Chandragupta, who in turn established an oppressive regime himself "after taking the throne":[40][r]
India, after the death of Alexander, had assassinated his prefects, as if shaking the burden of servitude. The author of this liberation was Sandracottos [Chandragupta], but he had transformed liberation in servitude after victory, since, after taking the throne, he himself oppressed the very people he has liberated from foreign domination."
Raychaudhuri states that, according to JustinEpitome 15.4.18–19, Chandragupta organised an army. He notes that early translators interpreted Justin's original expression as "body of robbers", but states Raychaudhuri, the original expression used by Justin may mean mercenary soldier, hunter, or robber.[42] Mookerji refers to McCrindle as stating that "robbers" refers to the people of the Punjab, "kingless people." Mookerju further quotes Rhys Davids, who states that "it was from the Punjab that Chandragupta recruited the nucleus of the force with which he besieged and conquered Dhana-Nanda."[43] According to Nath Sen, Chandragupta recruited and annexed localmilitary republics such as theYaudheyas that had resisted Alexander's Empire.[44]
When Alexander's remaining forces were routed, returning westwards, Seleucus I Nicator fought to defend these territories. Not many details of the campaigns are known from ancient sources. Seleucus was defeated and retreated into the mountainous region of Afghanistan.[45]
Conquest of the Nanda Empire
Possible extent of Nanda Empire c.325 BCE[46][47]Pataliputra, capital of the Mauryas. Ruins of pillared hall at Kumrahar site.ThePataliputra capital, discovered at theBulandi Bagh site of Pataliputra, 4th–3rd c. BCE.
TheNanda Empire ruled the Ganges basin and some adjacent territories. The Nanda Empire was a large, militaristic, and economically powerful empire due to conquering themahajanapadas.
Historically reliable details of Chandragupta's campaign against theNanda Empire are unavailable, and legends written centuries later are inconsistent. Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu texts claimMagadha was ruled by theNanda dynasty, which was defeated and conquered by Chandragupta Maurya, withChanakya's counsel.[48][49][50] The conquest was fictionalised in the Gupta-era playMudrarakshasa, which embellished the legend with further narratives not found in earlier versions of the Chanakya-Chandragupta legend. Because of this difference,Thomas Trautmann suggests that most of it is fictional or legendary, without any historical basis.[51]Radha Kumud Mukherjee similarly considers Mudrakshasa play without historical basis.[52]
Justin reports that Chandragupta met the Nanda king, angered him, and made a narrow escape.[s][unreliable source?] According to several Indian legends, Chanakya travelled toPataliputra,Magadha, the capital of the Nanda Empire where Chanakya worked for the Nandas as aminister. However, Chanakya was insulted by the KingDhana Nanda when he informed them of Alexander's invasion. Chanakya swore revenge and vowed to destroy the Nanda Empire.[53] He had to flee in order to save his life and went toTaxila, a notable center of learning, to work as a teacher. On one of his travels, Chanakya witnessed some young men playing a rural game practising a pitched battle nearVinjha forest. One of the boys was none other than Chandragupta. Chanakya was impressed by the young Chandragupta and saw imperial qualities in him as someone fit to rule.
The BuddhistMahavamsa Tika and JainParishishtaparvan records Chandragupta's army unsuccessfully attacking the Nanda capital.[54] Chandragupta and Chanakya then began a campaign at the frontier of the Nanda empire, gradually conquering various territories on their way to the Nanda capital.[55] He then refined his strategy by establishing garrisons in the conquered territories, and finally besieged the Nanda capital Pataliputra. ThereDhana Nanda accepted defeat.[56][57] In contrast to the easy victory in Buddhist sources, the Hindu and Jain texts state that the campaign was bitterly fought because the Nanda dynasty had a powerful and well-trained army.[58][49] These legends state that the Nanda emperor was defeated, deposed and exiled by some accounts, while Buddhist accounts claim he was killed.[59] With the defeat of Dhana Nanda, Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire.[60]
Historically reliable details of Chandragupta's campaign into Pataliputra are unavailable and the legends written centuries later are inconsistent. While his victory, and ascencion of the throne, is usually dated at ca. 322-319 BCE,[61][62] which would put his war in the Punjab after his ascencion, an ascencion "between c.311 and c.305 bc" is also possible, placing his activity in the Punjab at ca. 317 BCE, "at the time Seleucos was preparing future glory":[63][h]
Later, as he was preparing war against the prefects of Alexander, a huge wild elephant went to him and took him on his back as if tame, and he became a remarkable fighter and war leader. Having thus acquired royal power, Sandracottos possessed India at the time Seleucos was preparing future glory.
A map showing the north western border of Maurya Empire, including its various neighbouring states.
Seleucus I Nicator, the Macedoniansatrap of the Asian portion of Alexander's former empire, conquered and put under his own authority eastern territories as far as Bactria and the Indus{{efn-la|
Appian,History of Rome, "The Syrian Wars" 55: "Always lying in wait for the neighbouring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he [Seleucus] acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander, as far as the river Indus, so that the boundaries of his empire were the most extensive in Asia after that of Alexander. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus.[65]
In 303-302 BCE aconfrontation took place between Chandragupta andSeleucus I Nicator, when Seleucus crossed the Indus with an army.Appian|History of Rome, The Syrian Wars: "He (Seleucus) crossed the Indus and waged war with Sandrocottus [Maurya], king of the Indians, who dwelt on the banks of that stream, until they came to an understanding with each other and contracted a marriage relationship.[66]
Possibly without entering into a real battle, the two rulers concluded a dynastic marriage alliance in ca. 302 BCE. According to Kosmin, "Seleucus transferred to Chandragupta's kingdom the easternmost satrapies of his empire, certainlyGandhara,Parapamisadae, and the eastern parts ofGedrosia, and possibly alsoArachosia and Aria as far as Herat."[38][c] Seleucus I received 500war elephants, that were to have a decisive role in his victory against westernHellenistic kings at theBattle of Ipsus in 301 BCE.[67][68][69][70][71] a military asset which would play a decisive role at theBattle of Ipsus in 301 BCE:[72]
After having made a treaty with him (Sandrakotos) and put in order the Orient situation, Seleucos went to war againstAntigonus.
Megasthenes in particular was a notable Greek ambassador in the court of Chandragupta Maurya.[75] His bookIndika is a major literary source for information about the Mauryan Empire. According toArrian, ambassador Megasthenes (c. 350 – c. 290 BCE) lived in Arachosia and travelled toPataliputra.[76] Megasthenes' description of Mauryan society as freedom-loving gave Seleucus a means to avoid invasion, however, underlying Seleucus' decision was the improbability of success. In later years, Seleucus' successors maintained diplomatic relations with the Empire based on similar accounts from returning travellers.[77]
Classical sources have also recorded that following their treaty, Chandragupta and Seleucus exchanged presents, such as when Chandragupta sent variousaphrodisiacs to Seleucus:[78]
And Theophrastus says that some contrivances are of wondrous efficacy in such matters [as to make people more amorous]. And Phylarchus confirms him, by reference to some of the presents which Sandrakottus, the king of the Indians, sent to Seleucus; which were to act like charms in producing a wonderful degree of affection, while some, on the contrary, were to banish love.
Chandragupta established a decentralised state[a] with an administration at Pataliputra, which, according to Megasthenes, was "surrounded by a wooden wall pierced by 64 gates and 570 towers."[t]Aelian, although not expressly quoting Megasthenes nor mentioning Pataliputra, described Indian palaces as superior in splendor toPersia'sSusa orEcbatana.[80] The architecture of the city seems to have had many similarities with Persian cities of the period.[81]
According toPlutarch, Chandragupta Maurya subdued all of India, and Justin also observed that Chandragupta Maurya was "in possession of India". These accounts are corroborated by Tamil Sangam literature which mentions about Mauryan invasion with their south Indian allies and defeat of their rivals at Podiyil hill inTirunelveli district in present-dayTamil Nadu.[82][83]
A silver coin of 1karshapana of the Maurya empire, period ofBindusara Maurya about 297–272 BCE, workshop of Pataliputra.Obv: Symbols with a sun.Rev: Symbol.Dimensions: 14 × 11 mm.Weight: 3.4 g.
Bindusara was born toChandragupta, the founder of the Mauryan Empire. This is attested by several sources, including the variousPuranas and theMahāvaṃsa.[84][full citation needed] He is attested by the Buddhist texts such asDīpavaṃsa andMahāvaṃsa ("Bindusaro"); the Jain texts such asParishishta-Parvan; as well as the Hindu texts such asVishnu Purana ("Vindusara").[85][86] According to the 12th century Jain writerHemachandra'sParishishta-Parvan, the name of Bindusara's mother wasDurdhara.[87] Some Greek sources also mention him by the name "Amitrochates" or its variations.[78][88]
HistorianUpinder Singh estimates that Bindusara ascended the throne around 297 BCE.[89] Bindusara, just 22 years old, inherited a large empire that consisted of what is now, Northern, Central and Eastern parts of India along with parts of Afghanistan andBaluchistan. Bindusara extended this empire to the southern part of India, as far as what is now known asKarnataka. He brought sixteen states under the Mauryan Empire and thus conquered almost all of the Indian peninsula (he is said to have conquered the 'land between the two seas' – the peninsular region between theBay of Bengal and theArabian Sea). Bindusara did not conquer the friendlyTamil kingdoms of theCholas, ruled by KingIlamcetcenni, thePandyas, andCheras. Apart from these southern states,Kalinga (modern Odisha) was the only kingdom in India that did not form part of Bindusara's empire.[90] It was later conquered by his sonAshoka, who served as theViceroy ofAvantirastra during his father's reign, which highlights the importance of the province.[91][92]
Bindusara's life has not been documented as well as that of his father Chandragupta or of his son Ashoka. Chanakya continued to serve as prime minister during his reign. According to the medieval Tibetan scholar Taranatha who visited India, Chanakya helped Bindusara "to destroy the nobles and kings of the sixteen kingdoms and thus to become absolute master of the territory between the eastern and western oceans".[93] During his rule, the citizens ofTaxila revolted twice. The reason for the first revolt was the maladministration ofSusima, his eldest son. The reason for the second revolt is unknown, but Bindusara could not suppress it in his lifetime. It was crushed by Ashoka after Bindusara's death.[94]
Chandragupta's sonBindusara extended the rule of the Mauryan empire towards southern India. The famousTamil poetMamulanar of theSangam literature described how areas south of theDeccan Plateau which comprisedTamilakam was invaded by the Mauryan Army using troops from Karnataka. Mamulanar states thatVadugar (people who resided in Andhra-Karnataka regions immediately to the north of Tamil Nadu) formed the vanguard of the Mauryan Army.[27][89] He also had a Greek ambassador at his court, namedDeimachus.[95]
Bindusara maintained friendly diplomatic relations with the Hellenic world.Deimachus was the ambassador ofSeleucid kingAntiochus I at Bindusara's court.[96]Diodorus states that the king of Palibothra (Pataliputra, the Mauryan capital) welcomed a Greek author,Iambulus. This king is usually identified as Bindusara.[96]Pliny states that thePtolemaic kingPhiladelphus sent an envoy namedDionysius to India.[97][98] According to Sailendra Nath Sen, this appears to have happened during Bindusara's reign.[96]
His sonBindusara 'Amitraghata' (Slayer of Enemies) also is recorded in Classical sources as having exchanged presents withAntiochus I:[78]
But dried figs were so very much sought after by all men (for really, asAristophanes says, "There's really nothing nicer than dried figs"), that even Amitrochates, the king of the Indians, wrote toAntiochus, entreating him (it isHegesander who tells this story) to buy and send him some sweet wine, and some dried figs, and asophist; and that Antiochus wrote to him in answer, "The dry figs and the sweet wine we will send you; but it is not lawful for a sophist to be sold in Greece.
Unlike his father Chandragupta (who at a later stage converted toJainism), Bindusara believed in theAjivika religion. Bindusara's guru Pingalavatsa (Janasana) was a Brahmin[100] of the Ajivika religion. Bindusara's wife, EmpressSubhadrangi was aBrahmin[101] also of the Ajivika religion fromChampa (presentBhagalpur district). Bindusara is credited with giving several grants to Brahmin monasteries (Brahmana-bhatto).[102]
Historical evidence suggests that Bindusara died in the 270s BCE. According to Upinder Singh, Bindusara died around 273 BCE.[89]Alain Daniélou believes that he died around 274 BCE.[93] Sailendra Nath Sen believes that he died around 273–272 BCE, and that his death was followed by a four-year struggle of succession, after which his sonAshoka became the emperor in 269–268 BCE.[96] According to theMahāvaṃsa, Bindusara reigned for 28 years.[103] TheVayu Purana, which names Chandragupta's successor as "Bhadrasara", states that he ruled for 25 years.[104]
As a young prince, Ashoka (r. 272–232 BCE) was a brilliant commander who crushed revolts in Ujjain and Taxila. As emperor he was ambitious and aggressive, re-asserting the Empire's superiority in southern and western India. But it was his conquest ofKalinga (262–261 BCE) which proved to be the pivotal event of his life. Ashoka used Kalinga to project power over a large region by building a fortification there and securing it as a possession.[105] Although Ashoka's army succeeded in overwhelming Kalinga forces of royal soldiers and citizen militias, an estimated 100,000 soldiers and civilians were killed in the furious warfare, including over 10,000 of Imperial Mauryan soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of people were adversely affected by the destruction and fallout of war. When he personally witnessed the devastation, Ashoka began feeling remorse. Although the annexation of Kalinga was completed, Ashoka embraced the teachings of Buddhism, and renounced war and violence. He sent out missionaries to travel around Asia and spread Buddhism to other countries. He also propagated his owndhamma.[citation needed]
Ashoka implemented principles ofahimsa by banning hunting and violent sports activity and abolishingslave trade. While he maintained a large and powerful army, to keep the peace and maintain authority, Ashoka expanded friendly relations with states across Asia and Europe, and he sponsored Buddhist missions. He undertook a massive public works building campaign across the country. Over 40 years of peace, harmony and prosperity made Ashoka one of the most successful and famous monarchs in Indian history. He remains an idealised figure of inspiration in modern India.[citation needed]
TheEdicts of Ashoka, set in stone, are found throughout the Subcontinent. Ranging from as far west as Afghanistan and as far south as Andhra (Nellore District), Ashoka's edicts state his policies and accomplishments. Although predominantly written in Prakrit, two of them were written inGreek, and one in both Greek andAramaic. Ashoka's edicts refer to the Greeks,Kambojas, andGandharas as peoples forming a frontier region of his empire. They also attest to Ashoka's having sent envoys to the Greek rulers in the West as far as the Mediterranean. The edicts precisely name each of the rulers of theHellenistic world at the time such asAmtiyoko (Antiochus II Theos),Tulamaya (Ptolemy II),Amtikini (Antigonos II),Maka (Magas) andAlikasudaro (Alexander II of Epirus) as recipients of Ashoka's proselytism.[citation needed] The Edicts also accurately locate their territory "600 yojanas away" (1 yojana being about 7 miles), corresponding to the distance between the center of India and Greece (roughly 4,000 miles).[106]
Subhagasena (206 BCE)
Sophagasenus was an IndianMauryan ruler of the 3rd century BCE, described in ancient Greek sources, and named Subhagasena or Subhashasena inPrakrit. His name is mentioned in the list of Mauryan princes,[citation needed] and also in the list of the Yadava dynasty, as a descendant of Pradyumna. He may have been a grandson ofAshoka, orKunala, the son of Ashoka. He ruled an area south of theHindu Kush, possibly inGandhara.Antiochos III, theSeleucid king, after having made peace withEuthydemus inBactria, went to India in 206 BCE and is said to have renewed his friendship with the Indian king there:
He (Antiochus) crossed the Caucasus and descended into India; renewed his friendship with Sophagasenus the king of the Indians; received more elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty altogether; and having once more provisioned his troops, set out again personally with his army: leavingAndrosthenes ofCyzicus the duty of taking home the treasure which this king had agreed to hand over to him.
Ashoka was followed for 50 years by a succession of weaker emperors. He was succeeded byDasharatha Maurya, who was Ashoka's grandson. None of Ashoka's sons could ascend to the throne after him.Mahinda, his firstborn, became a Buddhist monk.Kunala Maurya was blinded and hence couldn't ascend to the throne; andTivala, son ofKaruvaki, died even earlier than Ashoka. Little is known about another son,Jalauka.
The empire lost many territories under Dasharatha, which were later reconquered bySamprati, Kunala's son. Post Samprati, the Mauryas slowly lost many territories. In 180 BCE,Brihadratha Maurya, was killed by hisgeneral,Pushyamitra Shunga in a military parade without any heir, giving rise to theShunga Empire.
Reasons advanced for the decline include the succession of weak emperors after Ashoka Maurya, the partition of the empire into two, the growing independence of some areas within the empire, such as that ruled bySophagasenus, a top-heavy administration where authority was entirely in the hands of a few persons, an absence of any national consciousness,[112] the pure scale of the empire making it unwieldy, and invasion by theGreco-Bactrian Kingdom.
Some historians, such asHem Chandra Raychaudhuri, have argued that Ashoka's pacifism undermined the "military backbone" of the Maurya empire. Others, such asRomila Thapar, have suggested that the extent and impact of his pacifism have been "grossly exaggerated".[113]
Persecution of Buddhists
Buddhist records such as theAshokavadana write that the assassination of Brihadratha and the rise of the Shunga empire led to a wave of religious persecution forBuddhists,[114] and a resurgence ofBrahmanism.[citation needed] According toSir John Marshall,[115] Pushyamitra may have been the main author of the persecutions, although later Shunga kings seem to have been more supportive of Buddhism. Other historians, such asEtienne Lamotte[116] andRomila Thapar,[117] among others, have argued that archaeological evidence in favour of the allegations of persecution of Buddhists are lacking, and that the extent and magnitude of the atrocities have been exaggerated.
The fall of the Mauryas left theKhyber Pass unguarded, and a wave of foreign invasion followed. TheGreco-Bactrian kingDemetrius capitalised on the break-up, and he conquered southern Afghanistan and parts of northwestern India around 180 BCE, forming theIndo-Greek Kingdom. The Indo-Greeks would maintain holdings on the trans-Indus region, and make forays into central India, for about a century. Under them, Buddhism flourished, and one of their kings,Menander, became a famous figure of Buddhism; he was to establish a new capital of Sagala, the modern city ofSialkot. However, the extent of their domains and the lengths of their rule are subject to much debate. Numismatic evidence indicates that they retained holdings in the subcontinent right up to the birth of Christ. Although the extent of their successes against indigenous powers such as theShungas,Satavahanas, andKalinga are unclear, what is clear is that Scythian tribes, namedIndo-Scythians, brought about the demise of the Indo-Greeks from around 70 BCE and retained lands in the trans-Indus, the region ofMathura, and Gujarat.[citation needed]
Ashoka's empire consisted of five parts.[119] Magadha, with the imperial capital atPataliputra, and several former mahajanapadas next to it formed the center, which was directly ruled by the emperor's administration.[119] The other territories were divided into four provinces, ruled by princes who served as governors.[119] From Ashokan edicts, the names of the four provincial capitals areTosali (in the east),Ujjain (in the west),Suvarnagiri (in the south), andTaxila (in the northwest). The head of the provincial administration was theKumar (prince), who governed the provinces as emperor's representative. Thekumara was assisted bymahamatyas (great ministers) and council of ministers. This organizational structure was reflected at the imperial level with the Emperor and hisMantriparishad (Council of Ministers).[citation needed]. The Mauryans established a well developed coin minting system. Coins were mostly made of silver and copper. Certain gold coins were in circulation as well. The coins were widely used for trade and commerce[120]
Network of core areas and trade routes
Monica Smith notes that historiography has tended to view ancient states as vast territories, whereas they are better understood as networks of centers of power, a model that also applies to the Maurya Empire.[121] Kulke and Rothermunf agree with her approach, noting that Ashoka's inscriptions reveal a regional pattern, demarcating the five parts of the empire, whereas the major rock edicts have only been found in the frontier provinces, but are absent in the centre.[122] Inscriptions and rock edicts are entirely absent in large parts of the territories supposedly under control of the empire, which means that "large parts of present Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh as well as Kerala and Tamil Nadu were not actually included in the Maurya empire."[122] Controlling the main trade routes was essential for the empire, as they were threatened by undefeated tribes inhabiting large parts of the interior.[122][a]
Monarchical ownership
Under the Mauryan system there was no private ownership of land as all land was owned by the emperor to whom tribute was paid by the labouring class. In return the emperor supplied the labourers with agricultural products, animals, seeds, tools, public infrastructure, and stored food in reserve for times of crisis.[123] The economy of the empire has also been described as "a socialized monarchy", "a sort of state socialism", and the world's firstwelfare state.[123]
Local government
Arthashastra andMegasthenes accounts ofPataliputra describe the intricate municipal system formed by Maurya empire to govern its cities. A city counsel made up of thirty commissioners was divided into six committees or boards which governed the city. The first board fixed wages and looked after provided goods, second board made arrangement for foreign dignitaries, tourists and businessmen, third board made records and registrations, fourth looked after manufactured goods and sale of commodities, fifth board regulated trade, issued licences and checked weights and measurements, sixth board collected sales taxes. Some cities such as Taxila had autonomy to issue their own coins. The city counsel had officers who looked after public welfare such as maintenance of roads, public buildings, markets, hospitals, educational institutions etc.[124] The official head of the village wasGramika and in towns and cities wasNagarika.[125] The city counsel also had some magisterial powers. The taking of census was regular process in the Mauryan administration. The village heads (Gramika) and mayors (Nagarika) were responsible enumerating different classes of people in the Mauryan empire such as traders, agriculturists, smiths, potters, carpenters etc. and also cattle, mostly for taxation purposes.[126][better source needed] These vocations consolidated as castes, a feature of Indian society that continues to influence the Indian politics till today.
Bureaucracy
Historians theorise that the organisation of the Empire was in line with the extensive bureaucracy described byChanakya in theArthashastra: a sophisticated civil service governed everything from municipal hygiene to international trade. The expansion and defence of the empire was made possible by what appears to have been one of the largest armies in the world during theIron Age.[127] According to Megasthenes, the empire wielded a military of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots and 9,000 war elephants besides followers and attendants.[128] A vastespionage system collected intelligence for both internal and external security purposes. Having renounced offensive warfare and expansionism, Ashoka nevertheless continued to maintain this large army, to protect the Empire and instil stability and peace across West and South Asia.[citation needed].Even though large parts were under the control of Mauryan empire the spread of information and imperial messages was limited since many parts were inaccessible and were situated far away from capital of empire.[129]
For the first time inSouth Asia, political unity and military security allowed for a common economic system and enhanced trade and commerce, with increased agricultural productivity. The previous situation involving hundreds of kingdoms, many small armies, powerful regional chieftains, and internecine warfare, gave way to a disciplined central authority. Farmers were freed of tax and crop collection burdens from regional kings, paying instead to a centrally administered and strict-but-fair system of taxation as advised by the principles in theArthashastra. Chandragupta Maurya established a single currency across India, and a network of regional governors and administrators and a civil service provided justice and security for merchants, farmers and traders. The Mauryan army wiped out many gangs of bandits, regional private armies, and powerful chieftains who sought to impose their own supremacy in small areas. Although regimental in revenue collection, Mauryas also sponsored many public works and waterways to enhance productivity, while internal trade in India expanded greatly due to new-found political unity and internal peace.[citation needed]
Under theIndo-Greek friendship treaty, and during Ashoka's reign, an international network of trade expanded. TheKhyber Pass, on the modern boundary of Pakistan and Afghanistan, became a strategically important port of trade and intercourse with the outside world. Greek states and Hellenic kingdoms in West Asia became important trade partners of India. Trade also extended through theMalay Peninsula into Southeast Asia. India's exports included silk goods and textiles, spices and exotic foods. The external world came across new scientific knowledge and technology with expanding trade with the Mauryan Empire. Ashoka also sponsored the construction of thousands of roads, waterways, canals, hospitals, rest-houses and other public works. The easing of many over-rigorous administrative practices, including those regarding taxation and crop collection, helped increase productivity and economic activity across the Empire.[citation needed]
In many ways, the economic situation in the Mauryan Empire is analogous to theRoman Empire of several centuries later. Both had extensive trade connections and both had organisations similar tocorporations. While Rome had organizational entities which were largely used for public state-driven projects, Mauryan India had numerous private commercial entities. These existed purely for private commerce and developed before the Mauryan Empire itself.[130]
Maurya Empire coinage
Hoard of mostly Mauryan coins.
Silver punch mark coin of the Maurya empire, with symbols of wheel and elephant. 3rd century BCE.[citation needed]
Mauryan coin with arched hill symbol on reverse.[citation needed]
Mauryan Empire coin. Circa late 4th-2nd century BCE.[citation needed]
Mauryan Empire, EmperorSalisuka or later. Circa 207-194 BCE.[131]
Religion
WhileBrahmanism was an important religion throughout the period of the empire,[1][d] the Mauryan Empire was centered in the non-Vedic Magadha realm, and favouredJainism,[2][3][4][e]Buddhism,[5][6][f] andAjivikism.[5][6][g] Brahmanism, which had developed in the conqueredKuru-Panchala realm, lost its privileges, which threatened its very existence, and pressured it to transform itself into a "socio-political ideology" which eventually became influential far beyond the confines of its original homeland,[132][u] resulting in theHindu synthesis in which Brahmanical ideology, local traditions, and elements from the sramana-traditions, were synthesised.
While according to Greek travellerMegasthenes, Chandragupta Maurya sponsored Brahmanical rituals and sacrifices,[133][134][135] according to a Jain text from the 12th century, Chandragupta Maurya followedJainism after retiring, when he renounced his throne and material possessions to join a wandering group ofJain monks and in his last days, he observed the rigorous but self-purifying Jain ritual ofsanthara (fast unto death), atShravana Belgola inKarnataka,[136][137][138][139] though it is also possible that "they are talking about his great grandson."[140]Samprati, the grandson ofAshoka, patronised Jainism. Samprati was influenced by the teachings of Jain monks likeSuhastin and he is said to have built 125,000derasars across India.[141] Some of them are still found in the towns of Ahmedabad, Viramgam, Ujjain, and Palitana.[citation needed] It is also said that just like Ashoka, Samprati sent messengers and preachers to Greece,Persia and theMiddle East for the spread of Jainism, but, to date, no evidence has been found to support this claim.[142][143]
Thestupa, which contained the relics of Buddha, at the center of theSanchi complex was originally built by the Maurya Empire, but the balustrade around it isSunga, and the decorative gateways are from the laterSatavahana period.TheDharmarajikastupa inTaxila, modern Pakistan, is also thought to have been established by EmperorAsoka.
The Buddhist textsSamantapasadika andMahāvaṃsa suggest that Bindusara followed Brahmanism, calling him a "Brahmana bhatto" ("devotee of the Brahmins").[144][145]
Magadha, the centre of the empire, was also the birthplace of Buddhism. In later life Ashoka followed Buddhism; following theKalinga War, he renounced expansionism and aggression. Ashoka sent a mission led by his sonMahinda and daughterSanghamitta toSri Lanka, whose kingTissa was so charmed with Buddhist ideals that he adopted them himself and made Buddhism the state religion. Ashoka sent many Buddhist missions toWest Asia, Greece andSouth East Asia, and commissioned the construction of monasteries and schools, as well as the publication of Buddhist literature across the empire. He is believed to have built as many as 84,000 stupas across India, such asSanchi andMahabodhi Temple, and he increased the popularity of Buddhism in Afghanistan andThailand. Ashoka helped convene theThird Buddhist Council of India's and South Asia's Buddhist orders near his capital, a council that undertook much work of reform and expansion of the Buddhist religion. Indian merchants embraced Buddhism and played a large role in spreading the religion across the Mauryan Empire.[146]
Society
The population of South Asia during the Mauryan period has been estimated to be between 15 and 30 million.[147] According to Tim Dyson, the period of the Mauryan Empire saw the consolidation ofcaste among theIndo-Aryan people who had settled in the Gangetic plain, increasingly meeting tribal people who were incorporated into their evolving caste-system, and the declining rights of women in theIndo-Aryan speaking regions of India, though "these developments did not affect people living in large parts of the subcontinent."[148]
The greatest monument of this period, executed in the reign ofChandragupta Maurya, was the old palace at Paliputra, modernKumhrar inPatna. Excavations have unearthed the remains of the palace, which is thought to have been a group of several buildings, the most important of which was an immense pillared hall supported on a high substratum of timbers. The pillars were set in regular rows, thus dividing the hall into a number of smaller square bays. The number of columns is 80, each about 7 meters high. According to the eyewitness account ofMegasthenes, the palace was chiefly constructed of timber, and was considered to exceed in splendour and magnificence the palaces ofSusa andEcbatana, its gilded pillars being adorned with golden vines and silver birds. The buildings stood in an extensive park studded with fish ponds and furnished with a great variety of ornamental trees and shrubs.[149][better source needed] Later fragments of stone pillars, including one nearly complete, with their round tapering shafts and smooth polish, indicate that Ashoka was responsible for the construction of the stone columns which replaced the earlier wooden ones.[citation needed]
An earlystupa, 6 metres in diameter, with fallen umbrella on side. Chakpat, nearChakdara. Probably Maurya, 3rd century BCE.
During the Ashokan period, stonework was of a highly diversified order and comprised lofty free-standing pillars, railings ofstupas, lion thrones and other colossal figures. The use of stone had reached such great perfection during this time that even small fragments of stone art were given a high lustrous polish resembling fine enamel. This period marked the beginning ofBuddhist architecture. Ashoka was responsible for the construction of severalstupas, which were large domes and bearing symbols of Buddha. The most important ones are located atSanchi,Bodhgaya,Bharhut, and possiblyAmaravati Stupa. The most widespread examples of Mauryan architecture are theAshoka pillars and carved edicts of Ashoka, often exquisitely decorated, with more than 40 spread throughout theIndian subcontinent.[150][better source needed]
The peacock was a dynastic symbol of Mauryans, as depicted by Ashoka's pillars at Nandangarh and Sanchi Stupa.[32]
Maurya structures and decorations atSanchi (3rd century BCE)
Approximate reconstitution of the Great Stupa atSanchi under theMauryas.
Remains of theAshokan Pillar in polished stone (right of the Southern Gateway).
Remains of the shaft of the pillar of Ashoka, under a shed near the Southern Gateway.
Pillar and its inscription (the "Schism Edict") upon discovery.
The protection of animals in India was advocated by the time of the Maurya dynasty; being the first empire to provide a unified political entity in India, the attitude of the Mauryas towards forests, their denizens, and fauna in general is of interest.[153]
The Mauryas firstly looked at forests as resources. For them, the most important forest product was the elephant. Military might in those times depended not only upon horses and men but alsobattle-elephants; these played a role in the defeat ofSeleucus, one ofAlexander the Great's former generals. The Mauryas sought to preserve supplies of elephants since it was cheaper and took less time to catch, tame and train wild elephants than to raise them.[154]
The Mauryas also designated separate forests to protect supplies of timber, as well as lions and tigers for skins. Elsewhere theProtector of Animals also worked to eliminate thieves, tigers and other predators to render the woods safe for grazing cattle.[citation needed]
The Mauryas valued certain forest tracts in strategic or economic terms and instituted curbs and control measures over them. They regarded allforest tribes with distrust and controlled them with bribery and political subjugation. They employed some of them, the food-gatherers oraranyaca to guard borders and trap animals. The sometimes tense and conflict-ridden relationship nevertheless enabled the Mauryas to guard their vast empire.[155]
WhenAshoka embraced Buddhism in the latter part of his reign, he brought about significant changes in his style of governance, which included providing protection to fauna, and even relinquished the royal hunt. He was the first ruler in history[failed verification] to advocateconservation measures for wildlife and even had rules inscribed in stone edicts. The edicts proclaim that many followed the emperor's example in giving up the slaughter of animals; one of them proudly states:[155]
However, the edicts of Ashoka reflect more the desire of rulers than actual events; the mention of a 100 'panas' (coins) fine for poaching deer in imperial hunting preserves shows that rule-breakers did exist. The legal restrictions conflicted with the practices freely exercised by the common people in hunting, felling, fishing and setting fires in forests.[155]
Contacts with the Hellenistic world
Mauryan ringstone, with standing goddess. Northwest Pakistan. 3rd century BCE
An influential and large Greek population was present in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent under Ashoka's rule, possibly remnants of Alexander's conquests in the Indus Valley region. In theRock Edicts of Ashoka, some of them inscribed in Greek, Ashoka states that the Greeks within his dominion were converted to Buddhism:
Here in the king's dominion among theGreeks, theKambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, theAndhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-of-the-Gods' instructions inDharma.
Now, in times past (officers) calledMahamatras of morality did not exist before. Mahdmatras of morality were appointed by me (when I had been) anointed thirteen years. These are occupied with all sects in establishing morality, in promoting morality, and for the welfare and happiness of those who are devoted to morality (even) among theGreeks,Kambojas andGandharas, and whatever other western borderers (of mine there are).
Fragments of Edict 13 have been found in Greek, and a full Edict, written in both Greek and Aramaic, has been discovered inKandahar. It is said to be written in excellent Classical Greek, using sophisticated philosophical terms. In this Edict, Ashoka uses the wordEusebeia ("Piety") as the Greek translation for the ubiquitous "Dharma" of his other Edicts written inPrakrit:[non-primary source needed]
Ten years (of reign) having been completed, King Piodasses (Ashoka) made known (the doctrine of) Piety (εὐσέβεια,Eusebeia) to men; and from this moment he has made men more pious, and everything thrives throughout the whole world. And the king abstains from (killing) living beings, and other men and those who (are) huntsmen and fishermen of the king have desisted from hunting. And if some (were) intemperate, they have ceased from their intemperance as was in their power; and obedient to their father and mother and to the elders, in opposition to the past also in the future, by so acting on every occasion, they will live better and more happily.
Also, in theEdicts of Ashoka, Ashoka mentions the Hellenistic kings of the period as recipients of his Buddhist proselytism, although no Western historical record of this event remains:
Ashoka also encouraged the development ofherbal medicine, for men and animals, in their territories:
Everywhere within Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi's [Ashoka's] domain, and among the people beyond the borders, the Cholas, the Pandyas, theSatiyaputras, theKeralaputras, as far asTamraparni and where the Greek kingAntiochos rules, and among the kings who are neighbors of Antiochos, everywhere has Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, made provision for two types of medical treatment: medical treatment for humans and medical treatment for animals. Wherever medical herbs suitable for humans or animals are not available, I have had them imported and grown. Wherever medical roots or fruits are not available I have had them imported and grown. Along roads I have had wells dug and trees planted for the benefit of humans and animals.
The Greeks in India even seem to have played an active role in the spread of Buddhism, as some of the emissaries of Ashoka, such asDharmaraksita, are described inPali sources as leading Greek ("Yona") Buddhist monks, active in Buddhist proselytism (theMahavamsa, XII[159][non-primary source needed]).
Timeline
317–316 BCE: Chandragupta Maurya conquers the Northwest of the Indian subcontinent.
250 BCE: Ashoka builds Buddhist stupas and erects pillars bearing inscriptions.
184 BCE: The empire collapses when Brihadratha, the last emperor, is killed byPushyamitra Shunga, a Mauryan general and the founder of theShunga Empire.
^abcdefThe "Network-model map" shows the Mauryan Empire as a network of core cities and regios, connected by communication and trade routes, surrounding areas (autonomous tribes; forests and (Thar-)desert) with little connection to this network. The network-model has been explained and used by several authors, also with regard to the mauryan Empire.
ArchaeologistSmith (2005) explains the basic difference between traditional maps and network-model maps: "With broad lines and dark shading, the cartographic depictions of ancient states and empires convey the impression of comprehensive political entities having firm boundaries and uniform territorial control. These depictions oversimplify the complexities of early state growth, as well as overstating the capacity of central governments to control large territories. Archaeological and textual evidence suggests that ancient states are better understood through network models rather than boundedterritory models."
Smith (2005, pp. 842–844) explains the network-model with regard to the Maurya Empire, including several maps with possible networks;
Kulke and Rothermund (1998),A History of India,map p.364.
Talbot (1994) states about their book: "Kulke's discussion of the Mauryan empire is noteworthy for its questioning of earlier assertions regarding the huge territorial extent and high level of centralization in this state [...]A History of India is a great advance on its similarly titled predecessor published by Penguin. It is the best single volume on Indian history currently available in paperback—let us hope that A History of India remains in print for a good long time."
ArcheologistRobin Coningham andRuth Young, following Monica Smith (2005), explicitly present the Mauryan Empire as such a network; seeConingham & Young (2015, pp. 451–466) for their explanation;
Coningham and Young refer to historianRomila Thapar for an explanation of this approach.Coningham & Young (2015, p. 452): "Romila Thapar again returned to the study of Asokan edits and noted the presence of three distinct "areas of isolation" within the empire – in the lower Indus plain, the eastern part of Central India, and the far south, but commented that, elsewhere, the Mauryans established routes between emerging centres of exchange (Thapar 1996: 287). Thapar also drew attention to the notable absence of "northern artefacts" in central Karnataka despire the "heavy cluster of inscriptions in the area", further commenting that such phenomena "requires us to view the possible divergences in the relations between the Mauryan administration and the local people of a region" (ibid: 288). Revising her earlier models, Thapar has now suggested that the empire comprised relationships of control between three very different spheres, the metropolitan state, the core areas of previously establishedJanapadas andMahajanapadas and, finally, the peripheral regions of "lineage-based societies" which "would be relatively liberated from the control of the metropolitan state" (ibid. 318)."
Coningham and Young also refer to anthropologistStanley Tambiah, who further explains this approach.Coningham & Young (2015, p. 454): "Such models are close to the model advocated by Stanley Tambiah with his concept of the 'galactic polity' (1976). Although based on later Mediaeval Thai polities, Tambiah recognised the presence of concentric ring or centre-periphery model in which the capital and arena of direct control was surrounded by a circle of provinces ruled by centrally appointed governors and princes with an outermost ring of "more or less independent 'tributary' polities" (1976: 112) Moreover, Tambiah predictied a highly fluid relationship between these units suggesting that "we have before us a galactic picture of a central planet surrounded by differentiated satellites, which are more or less 'autonomous' entities, held in orbit and within the sphere of influence of the centre. Now if we introduce at the margin other similar competing central principalities and their satellites, we shall be able to appreciate the logic of a system that is a hierarchy of central points continually subject to the dynamics of pulsation and changing spheres of influence" (ibid: 113)."
HistoriansBurton Stein andDavid Arnold also endorse the idea of "core regions."Stein & Arnold (2010, p. 74): "In the past it was not uncommon for historians to conflate the vast space thus outlined with the oppressive realm described in the Arthashastra and to posit one of the earliest and certainly one of the largest totalitarian regimes in all of history. Such a picture is no longer considered believable; at present what is taken to be the realm of Ashoka is a discontinuous set of several core regions separated by very large areas occupied by relatively autonomous peoples."
HistorianLudden (2013, pp. 29–30) compares the Mauryan Empire with a spider: "The geography of the Mauryan Empire resembled a spider with a small dense body and long spindly legs. The highest echelons of imperial society lived in the inner circle composed of the ruler, his immediate family, other relatives, and close allies, who formed a dynastic core. Outside the core, empire travelled stringy routes dotted with armed cities. Outside the palace, in the capital cities, the highest ranks in the imperial elite were held by military commanders whose active loyalty and success in war determined imperial fortunes. Wherever these men failed or rebelled, dynastic power crumbled [...] Imperial society flourished where elites mingled; they were its backbone, its strength was theirs. Kautilya’sArthasastra indicates that imperial power was concentrated in its original heartland, in oldMagadha, where key institutions seem to have survived for about seven hundred years, down to the age of the Guptas. Here, Mauryan officials ruled local society, but not elsewhere. In provincial towns and cities, officials formed a top layer of royalty; under them, old conquered royal families were not removed, but rather subordinated. In mostjanapadas, the Mauryan Empire consisted of strategic urban sites connected loosely to vast hinterlands through lineages and local elites who were there when the Mauryas arrived and were still in control when they left."
Historical demographerDyson (2018, pp. 16–17) mentions "the main urban centres and arteries of the subcontinent": "Magadha power came to extend over the main cities and communication routes of the Ganges basin. Then, under Chandragupta Maurya (c.321–297 bce), and subsequently Ashoka his grandson, Pataliputra became the centre of the loose-knit Mauryan 'Empire' which during Ashoka's reign (c.268–232 bce) briefly had a presence throughout the main urban centres and arteries of the subcontinent, except for the extreme south."
^abJoppen-map (1907) For a long time, the Maurya Empire has been conceptualised as a solid mass of territory controlled by the Mauryas; see for exampleCharles Joppen (1907), or the following authors "to illustrate the historical perspective that Mauryas controlled all of the interior land (in contrast to some scholars who are now conceptualizing an interior "holes" at the tribal/forest/desert parts)" (comment by Avantiputra7, who created a 'maximum solid-mass' map):
The western borders in these maps are based on a maximum interpretation of thePeace treary between Seleucid and Chandragupta of 303 BCE. This maximum interpretation has been disputed for over a century; see Tarn (1922),The Greeks In Bactria And India,p.100: "Extravagant ideas have been put forard as to what Seleucus did cede." Tarn, referring to Eratosthenes, states that: "Alexander [...] took away from Iran the parts of these three satrapies which lay along the Indus and made of them separate [...] governments or province; it was these which Seleucus ceded, being districts predominantly Indian in blood. In Gedrosia the boundary is known: the country ceded was that between the MedianHydaspes (probably the Purali) and the Indus."
Further note: ancient Aria was at modern-day Herat, not the Sistan basin of the Helmand River.
Other maps showing the maximum extent, including the ceded Seleucid territories, by:
Tarn (1922),The Greeks In Bactria And India,p.100, referring to Eratosthenes, who states (in Tarn words) that: "Alexander [...] took away from Iran the parts of these three satrapies which lay along the Indus and made of them separate [...] governments or province; it was these which Seleucus ceded, being districts predominantly Indian in blood. In Gedrosia the boundary is known: the country ceded was that between the MedianHydaspes (probably the Purali) and the Indus."
Kosmin (2014, p. 33): "Seleucus transferred to Chandragupta's kingdom the easternmost satrapies of his empire, certainly Gandhara, Parapamisadae, and the eastern parts of Gedrosia, and possibly also Arachosia and Aria as far as Herat."
The acquisition ofAria (modernHerat) is disputed. According to Raychaudhuri & Mukherjee (1996), p.594, it "has been wrongly included in the list of ceded satrapies by some scholars [...] on the basis of wrong assessments of the passage of Strabo [...] and a statement by Pliny." According toJohn D Grainger (2014, p. 109), "Seleucus "must [...] have held Aria", and furthermore, his "sonAntiochos was active there fifteen years later".
^abWhileNath Sen (1999, p. 164, (215) 217) states (p.164) "During the Mauryan period Brahmanism was an important religion" (Nath Sen distinguishes Brahmanism from Hinduism; p. (215) 217: [At the time ofChandragupta II (ca. 380-415 CE) of theGupta Empire] [...] [i]n place of the old sacrificial Brahmanism, Hinduism had appeared"). Others offer differing views:
Thapar (1960): "...the Mauryas did not conform to the accepted religion of most royal families of the time, Brahmanism."
"We know that Aśoka’s personal leanings were toward Buddhism, and tradition testifies to the fact that all the other rulers of the Maurya empire had strong links with Jainism, sometimes Ajivikism, but never with Brahmanism. A persistent tradition maintains that Candragupta was a Jaina."
"The picture that is slowly gaining ground in modern research is that the establishment of the Maurya empire spelt disaster for traditional Brahmanism. Brahmins in earlier days performed rituals at the courts of kings in the Brahmanical heartland. This Brahmanical heartland was conquered by rulers from Pāṭaliputra, who had no respect for Brahmanical rituals and needed no Brahmins at their courts."
"the region of Magadha had not been brahmanized at the time of Candragupta."
Bronkhorst (2020, p. 68): "The brahmanized regions of north-western India were now governed by rulers who had no sympathy for Brahmins or their sacrificial culture, and whose natural sympathies lay with the religions of Greater Magadha, primarily Jainism, Jivikism, and Buddhism."
Omvedt (2003, p. 119) "Magadha was considered by Brahmanic literature to be amleccha (barbarian) land where Vedic sacrifices and Brahmanic rituals were not performed.
Smith (1981, p. 99): "the only direct evidence throwing light [...] is that of Jain tradition [...] it may be that he [Chandragupta] embraced Jainism towards the end of his reign [...] after much consideration I am inclined to accept the main facts as affirmed by tradition [...] no alternative account exists."
Dalrymple (2009): "It was here, in the third century BC, that the first Emperor of India, Chandragupta Maurya, embraced the Jain religion and died through a self-imposed fast to the death."
Bronkhorst (2020, p. 68): "The brahmanized regions of north-western India were now governed by rulers who had no sympathy for Brahmins or their sacrificial culture, and whose natural sympathies lay with the religions of Greater Magadha, primarily Jainism, Jivikism, and Buddhism."
Bronkhorst (2020, p. 68): "The brahmanized regions of north-western India were now governed by rulers who had no sympathy for Brahmins or their sacrificial culture, and whose natural sympathies lay with the religions of Greater Magadha, primarily Jainism, Jivikism, and Buddhism."
^abDyson (2018, pp. 16–17): "Magadha power came to extend over the main cities and communication routes of the Ganges basin. Then, under Chandragupta Maurya (c.321–297 bce), and subsequently Ashoka his grandson, Pataliputra became the centre of the loose-knit Mauryan 'Empire' which during Ashoka's reign (c.268–232 bce) briefly had a presence throughout the main urban centres and arteries of the subcontinent, except for the extreme south."
Stein & Arnold (2010, p. 73): "... another source that enjoyed high standing as a description of the early Mauryan state was the Arthashastra, a treatise on power discovered in the early twentieth century."
Hansen 2012, p. 47: "in theArthashastra. This text, while it may be based on earlier texts, dates to the second to fourth centuries CE. Attributed to Kautilya, theArthashastra is a prescriptive text packed full of instructions about how to govern."
Singh 2021, p. Chapter 1: "Kautilya’s Arthashastra is a brilliant treatise on statecraft which discusses how a king can acquire, maintain, and enhance his power. At one time, it was thought to belong to the Maurya period, but recent research suggests a later period of composition, between c. 50 and 300 CE."
Singh 2017, p. 98: "Patrick Olivelle has suggested that while the prehistory of the work may go back to the mid-first century BCE, the first major redacton was composed between circa 50 and 125 CE, and the second one between circa 175 and 300 CE. In view of the continuing debate over its age, it is best to treat theArthashatra as a text whose composition ranged over several centuries, before and after the turn of the millennium. ... When I refer to "Kautilya," I use the name as a short-hand for the various authors (including, probably, one named Kautilya) who must have contributed to creating the text that has come down to us."
Olivelle 2013, p. 25: "Date: Given its compositional history outlined above, the very question regardingthe date orthe author of the Arthaśastra becomes moot. We have to instead seekdates andauthors in the plural. (p. 29) Given that the composition of the AŚ proper begins with this recension, we can conclude, with some confidence that Kautilya composed his treatise sometime between 50 and 125 C.E. (p. 30) If we allow at least a few decades for this new edition of the AŚ to reach a wider audience and to gain renown, then we can place the upper limit, theterminus ante quem, of the Śastric Redaction to around 300 C.E. or perhaps a bit earlier. This we should not be too far off the mark in dating the redaction to 175–300 C.E. (p. 31)Authorship Just as with the dates, with regard to authorship we also have to speak in the plural; the AŚ as we have it has multiple authors corresponding to the three phases of its composition. Beyond that, we should also inquire about the early history of its reception, especially the ascription of theAŚ to Canakya and to Visnugupta."
Coningham & Young 2015, p. 451: "However, there are issues with a number of the key sources recording the Mauryan world as exemplified by the work of Thomas Trautmann, who undertook a statistical analysis of the Arthashastra and concluded that it had not been written by a single author but that it comprised sections from a number of sources and authors. Stating that parts included those of "previous teachers whose works, in condensed form perhaps were bound into a single work by a compiler who divided the work into chapters, added the terminal verses, composed the first and last chapters", Trautmann concluded that "[w]e can say with confidence that Kautilya cannot have been the author of the Arthashastra as a whole" (1971: 174-175). Attributed by Trautmann to a date of the second century CE (1971: 177), Basham commented in Trautmann's preface that "No a historian the results may appear at first destructive. But the edifice which successive generations of Indian historians have built rests on very shaky foundations" (Basham 1971: xi)."
Ludden (2013, p. 47): "IMPERIAL BHARAT The Mauryas defined an ancient territory called Bharat. Marching along old trade routes, the empire acquired the geometrical shape of a tall triangle with a broad base, with its apex in Magadha. One long northern leg ran west up the Ganga, across Punjab, into the Hindu Kush; and one long leg ran south-west from Pataliputra, up the Son river valley, down the Narmada River into Berar, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. The broad base spanned Punjab, the Indus, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and western Maharashtra. The northwestern frontier revolved around Gandhara and Kashmir; the south-western frontier around Nasika, now Nasik, in Maharashtra. North of Kashmir and west of the Khyber Pass, Greek dynasties held sway. South of Nasika, the Mauryan presence consisted primarily of diplomatic missions."
Stein & Arnold (2010, p. 73): "In 305 BCE one of his successors attempted a reinvasion but was so fiercely resisted that he was forced to conclude a treaty with Chandragupta that accepted the latter’s sovereignty south of the Hindu Kush range."</ref>
^Fisher (2018, p. 72): "Chandragupta’s many military and diplomatic conquests extended his overlordship further than any previous Indian ruler: from Afghanistan to Bengal and from the Himalayas down into the northern Deccan. But his administration lacked the technology and infrastructure to penetrate very deeply into society outside of Magadha."
^Stein & Arnold (2010, p. 73): "at present what is taken to be the realm of Ashoka is a discontinuous set of several core regions separated by very large areas occupied by relatively autonomous peoples. Four core regions have been identified as belonging to Ashoka’s time, in addition to the kingdom’s heartland in the eastern Gangetic plain around Pataliputra; each of these was apparently under the authority of close kin or servants of Ashoka himself: Taxila in the foothills of the Hindu Kush; Ujjain on the Malwa plateau; Kalinga extending southward along the east coast from the Ganges delta; and Suvarnagiri, in modern Karnataka, in the centre of the lower Deccan Plateau."
^Roy (2012a, p. 28): "This period is noted for three important changes. One change was the rise of religions that advocated nonviolence, thereby reducing sacrifices and expensive rituals. The emphasis on a frugal lifestyle and peaceful neighborly relations suited the mercantile temperament. Not surprisingly, merchants were the principal sponsors of these religions. Settlement sites have been found in the middle-Ganges plains for this earliest period of known commerce that indicate the presence of long-distance trade. A second change was the introduction of coinage in the sixth century BCE, which promoted regional monetary integration. The third change was the increasing use of writing, which may have indirectly helped long-distance and complex economic transactions.5 This process of change was centered in the eastern Gangetic plains, where settled agriculture had given rise to powerful landed communities yet where access to the sea and to river-borne trade remained the principal means of procuring precious metals and consumption goods. States, therefore, chose to sponsor merchants and the religion of the merchants, Buddhism. The Mauryan Empire revealed a combination of all of these elements: commerce, religion, agriculture, and coinage."
^Iori (2023, pp. 184, 219): "At the end of the farming year when the land was free of crops (end of October–April) and the water level low, it was the time for maintenance activities (e.g., clearing of wells and water infrastructure) and the time when manpower could be invested in other production and building activities both in rural and urban contexts. But above all, this was the time for movement and trade. The uttarāpatha, that is the main road linking eastern Afghanistan to India through the cities of Kabul, Charsadda, and Taxila down to Patna, is indeed a winter road typically used when local rivers (Kabul, Indus, and the rivers of Punjab) are at their lowest levels, so that they can be easily forded (Olivieri 2020: 645–646).
^Signet ring of Rakshasa –Rakshasa was the prime minister of Magadha
^"Androcottus, when he was a stripling, saw Alexander himself, and we are told that he often said in later times that Alexander narrowly missed making himself master of the country, since its king was hated and despised on account of his baseness and low birth."[36]
^Boesche (2003), referring to Radha Kumud Mookerji,Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, 4th ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1988 [1966]), 31, 28-33: "Just after Alexander's death in 323 B.C.E., Chandragupta and Kautilya began their conquest of India by stopping the Greek invaders. In this effort they assassinated two Greek governors, Nicanor and Philip, a strategy to keep in mind when I later examine Kautilya's approval of assassination. "The assassinations of the Greek governors," wrote Radha Kumud Mookerji, "are not to be looked upon as mere accidents.""
^"He was of humble Indian to a change of rule." Justin XV.4.15 "Fuit hic humili quidem genere natus, sed ad regni potestatem maiestate numinis inpulsus. Quippe cum procacitate sua Nandrum regem offendisset, interfici a rege iussus salutem pedum ceieritate quaesierat. (Ex qua fatigatione cum somno captus iaceret, leo ingentis formae ad dormientem accessit sudoremque profluentem lingua ei detersit expergefactumque blande reliquit. Hoc prodigio primum ad spem regni inpulsus) contractis latronibus Indos ad nouitatem regni sollicitauit."Justin XV.4.15[usurped]
^In contrast to theAthashastra, which prescribes stone defences.
This incorporation into a larger empire, first presumably by the Nandas, then by the Mauryas, took away all the respect and privileges that Brahmins had so far enjoyed, and might have meant the disappearance of Brahmins as a distinct group of people. The reason [110] why this did not happen is that Brahmanism reinvented itself. Deprived of their earlier privileges, Brahmins made an effort to find new ways to make themselves indispensable for rulers, and to gain the respect of others."
"It [118] was because of the Maurya empire that Brahmanism had to reinvent itself. It was because of that empire that Brahmanism transformed itself from a ritual tradition linked to local rulers in a relatively restricted part of India into a socio-political ideology that succeeded in imposing itself on vast parts of South and Southeast Asia, together covering an area larger than the Roman empire ever had."
^abDyson 2018, p. 24 Quote: "Yet Sumit Guha considers that 20 million is an upper limit. This is because the demographic growth experienced in core areas is likely to have been less than that experienced in areas that were more lightly settled in the early historic period. The position taken here is that the population in Mauryan times (320–220 BCE) was between 15 and 30 million—although it may have been a little more, or it may have been a little less."
^abConingham & Young 2015, p. 451: "The records and descriptions of Megasthenes may be subject to similar questioning and may be dismissed as primary sources. Indeed, they are partial records which have survived in a fragmentary form through the Roman compilations many centuries later, such as that of Arrian in the third century CE (Kalota 1978)."
^abMichon, Daniel (2015).Archaeology and Religion in Early Northwest India. Archaeology and Religion in South Asia series. London, New York, and New Delhi: Routledge. p. 33.ISBN978-1-138-82252-8.Prinsep was also responsible for deciphering two ancient Indian scripts, Brahmı and Kharoshthı, the latter being essential in the unravelling of Punjab's political history in the early historic period. He also was the first to read, with a proper understanding of their import, the Asokan inscriptions of the 3rd century BCE, which opened the door to further understanding of the Mauryan Empire in the northwest.
^Stein & Arnold (2010, p. 73): "... another source that enjoyed high standing as a description of the early Mauryan state was theArthashastra, a treatise on power discovered in the early twentieth century."
^Stein & Arnold (2010, p. 73): "Knitting these regions together were important trade routes. The northern road (uttarapatha) extended from Bengal to Taxila; another branched from the Ganges near the juncture with the Yamuna, joined the Narmada basin and continued to the Arabian seaport of Bharukaccha (Broach). Yet another branched southward (dakshinapatha) from Ujjain to the regional capital of Suvarnagiri, a centre for the production of gold and iron"
^Ludden (2013, pp. 28–29): "A creative explosion in all the arts was a most remarkable feature of this ancient transformation, a permanent cultural legacy. Mauryan territory was created in its day by awesome armies and dreadful war, but future generations would cherish its beautiful pillars, inscriptions, coins, sculptures, buildings, ceremonies, and texts, particularly later Buddhist writers."
^Dyson 2018, p. 19 Quote: "Accordingly, as tribal societies were encountered by the expanding Indo-Aryan societies, so the evolving caste system provided a framework within which—invariably at a low level—tribal people could be placed. For example, by the time of the Mauryan Empire (c.320–230 bce) the caste system was quite well established and the Aranyachará (i.e. forest people) were grouped with the most despised castes. ... The evolution of Indo-Aryan society in the centuries before c.200 bce not only saw increased segregation with respect to caste, it also seems to have seen increased differentiation with respect to gender. ... Therefore, by the time of the Mauryan Empire the position of women in mainstream Indo-Aryan society seems to have deteriorated. Customs such as child marriage and dowry were becoming entrenched; and a young woman's purpose in life was to provide sons for the male lineage into which she married. To quote the Arthashāstra: 'wives are there for having sons'. Practices such as female infanticide and the neglect of young girls were possibly also developing at this time, especially among higher caste people. Further, due to the increasingly hierarchical nature of the society, marriage was possibly becoming an even more crucial institution for childbearing and the formalization of relationships between groups. In turn, this may have contributed to the growth of increasingly instrumental attitudes towards women and girls (who moved home at marriage). It is important to note that, in all likelihood, these developments did not affect people living in large parts of the subcontinent—such as those in the south, and tribal communities inhabiting the forested hill and plateau areas of central and eastern India. That said, these deleterious features have continued to blight Indo-Aryan speaking areas of the subcontinent until the present day."
^Stein & Arnold (2010, p. 73): "In the newer view, Ashoka’s edicts trace out this spacious commercial domain as a gigantic zone of Ashoka’s moral authority. Ashoka had his Buddhist-inspired moralizing edicts inscribed on distinctive pillars or upon prominent rocks where people passed or congregated. They traced a set of trade routes along which commodities passed to and from the Mauryan heartland in the eastern Gangetic plain. ... Along these same roads went Ashoka. Having become a lay Buddhist, he embarked on a year-long pilgrimage to all the sacred sites of his new faith;
^The Imperial Gazetteer of India: The Indian Empire, Volume 2, Historical. Oxford at the Clarendon Press. 1908. p. 286. "By his efforts Buddhism, which had hitherto been merely local sects in the valley of the Ganges, was transformed into one of the great religions of the world. ... This is Asoka's claim to be remembered; this is which makes his reign an epoch, not only in the history of India, but in that of the world."
^Elverskog, Johan (2020).The Buddha's Footprint: An Environmental History of Asia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 56.ISBN978-0-8122-5183-8.The imperial edicts of Asoka echo this commodity view of trees. In Pillar Edict V, Asoka decreed that "forests must not be burned without reason." The Buddhist community took this mandate further by declaring that in order to protect forests from such conflagrations monks were allowed to set counterfires
^Fisher (2018, p. 72): "Following the Buddha’s message, he banned Brahminic Vedic animal sacrifices in his capital (although he evidently lacked the administrative control to stop them outside of it). Overall, Ashoka’s edicts proclaim his compassion for animals, perhaps motivated by an environmental ethic (in addition to his revenue or administrative goals). Consequently, today many environmentalists evoke Ashoka as an ancient Indian exemplar."
^Vajpeyi, Ananya (2012).Righteous Republic: The Political Foundations of Modern India. Cambridge MA and London: Harvard University Press. pp. 188–189.ISBN978-0-674-04895-9.
^Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, Radhakumud Mookerji, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1966, p.26-27Mookerji, Radhakumud (1966).Chandragupta Maurya and His Times. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.ISBN9788120804050.Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved26 November 2016.
^"Molienti deinde bellum aduersus praefectos Alexandri elephantus ferus infinitae magnitudinis ultro se obtulit et ueluti domita mansuetudine eum tergo excepit duxque belli et proeliator insignis fuit. Sic adquisito regno Sandrocottus ea tempestate, qua Seleucus futurae magnitudinis fundamenta iaciebat, Indiam possidebat."Justin XV.4.19[usurped]
^"In the royal residences in India where the greatest of the kings of that country live, there are so many objects for admiration that neitherMemnon's city ofSusa with all its extravagance, nor the magnificence ofEctabana is to be compared with them. ... In the parks, tame peacocks and pheasants are kept."Aelian,Characteristics of animalsbook XIII, Chapter 18, also quoted inThe Cambridge History of India, Volume 1, p411
^Romila Thapar (1961),Aśoka and the decline of the Mauryas, Volume 5, p.129, Oxford University Press. "The architectural closeness of certain buildings in Achaemenid Iran and Mauryan India have raised much comment. The royal palace at Pataliputra is the most striking example and has been compared with the palaces at Susa, Ecbatana, and Persepolis."
^"Three Greek ambassadors are known by name: Megasthenes, ambassador to Chandragupta; Deimachus, ambassador toChandragupta's son Bindusara; and Dyonisius, whom Ptolemy Philadelphus sent to the court of Ashoka, Bindusara's son", McEvilley, p.367
^India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, pp. 108–109
^Allchin, F. R.; Erdosy, George (1995).The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 306.
^Page 122: About theMasarh lion: "This particular example of a foreign model gets added support from the male heads of foreigners from Patna city and Sarnath since they also prove beyond doubt that a section of the elite in the Gangetic Basin was of foreign origin. However, as noted earlier, this is an example of the late Mauryan period since this is not the type adopted in any Ashoka pillar. We are, therefore, visualizing a historical situation in India in which the West Asian influence on Indian art was felt more in the late Mauryan than in the early Mauryan period. The term West Asia in this context stands for Iran and Afghanistan, where the Sakas and Pahlavas had their base-camps for eastward movement. The prelude to future inroads of the Indo-Bactrians in India had after all started in the second century B.C."... inGupta, Swarajya Prakash (1980).The Roots of Indian Art: A Detailed Study of the Formative Period of Indian Art and Architecture, Third and Second Centuries B.C., Mauryan and Late Mauryan. B.R. Publishing Corporation. pp. 88, 122.ISBN978-0-391-02172-3..
^Lal bhargava, Purushottam (1996).Chandragupta Maurya A Gem of Indian History. D.K Printworld. p. 44.ISBN9788124600566.
^Majumdar, R. C.;Raychauduhuri, H. C.; Datta, Kalikinkar (1960),An Advanced History of India, London: Macmillan & Company Ltd; New York: St Martin's Press,If the Jaina tradition is to be believed, Chandragupta was converted to the religion of Mahavira. He is said to have abdicated his throne and passed his last days at Sravana Belgola in Mysore. Greek evidence, however, suggests that the first Maurya did not give up the performance of Brahmanical sacrificial rites and was far from following the Jaina creed ofAhimsa or non-injury to animals. He took delight in hunting, a practice that was continued by his son and alluded to by his grandson in his eighth Rock Edict. It is, however, possible that in his last days he showed some predilection for Jainism ...
^Sharma, Madhulika (2001).Fire Worship in Ancient India. Publication scheme.ISBN9788186782576.
^Mookerji, Radhakumud (1966).Chandragupta Maurya and his times. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 40–50.There is also no evidence to prove the fact taken for granted without the need of any argument or demonstration by all Jain writers that Chandragupta ever became a convert to their religion after abdication. It is possible they are talking about his great grandson.
^Jerry Bentley,Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press), 46
^Dyson 2018, p. 24 Quote: "Yet Sumit Guha considers that 20 million is an upper limit. This is because the demographic growth experienced in core areas is likely to have been less than that experienced in areas that were more lightly settled in the early historic period. The position taken here is that the population in Mauryan times (320–220 bce) was between 15 and 30 million—although it may have been a little more, or it may have been a little less."
Allchin, F. R. (1995)."The Mauryan State and Empire". In Allchin, F. R. (ed.).The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. pp. 183–221.
Fisher, Michael (2018).An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge and London: Cambridge University Press.doi:10.1017/9781316276044.ISBN9781316276044.
Olivelle, Patrick (2013).King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya's Arthaśastra. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-989182-5.
H. C. Raychaudhuri; B. N. Mukherjee (1996).Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty.Oxford University Press.
Roy, Tirthankar (2012a).India in the World Economy: From Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1-107-00910-3.
Samuel, Geoffrey (2010).The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge University Press.
Sinopoli, Carla M. (2006). "Imperial Landscapes of South Asia". In Start, Miriam T. (ed.).Archaeology of Asia. Blackwell Series in Global Archaeology. Malden, MA, USA and Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishing.ISBN978-1-4051-0212-4.
Singh, Upinder (2012). "Governing the State and the Self: Political Philosophy and Practice in the Edicts of Aśoka".South Asian Studies.28 (2). University of Delhi:131–145.doi:10.1080/02666030.2012.725581.S2CID143362618.
Singh, Upinder (2017).Political Violence in Ancient India. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.ISBN9780674975279.
![Maurya Empire, conceptualised as a network of core regions connected by networks of communication and trade, with large areas with peripheral or no Maurya control.[a]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMaurya_Empire%2c_c.250_BCE_network_model_v01.png)
![Traditional depiction of the Maurya Empire under Ashoka as a solid mass of Maurya-controlled territory.[b][c]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMaurya_Empire%2c_c.250_BCE_2.png)
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![Silver punch mark coin of the Maurya empire, with symbols of wheel and elephant. 3rd century BCE.[citation needed]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMauryanCoin.JPG)
![Mauryan coin with arched hill symbol on reverse.[citation needed]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMauryan_coin_with_arched_hill_symbol_on_reverse.jpg)
![Mauryan Empire coin. Circa late 4th-2nd century BCE.[citation needed]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMauryan_Empire._Circa_late_4th-2nd_century_BC.jpg)
![Mauryan Empire, Emperor Salisuka or later. Circa 207-194 BCE.[131]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMauryan_Empire._temp._Salisuka_or_later._Circa_207-194_BC.jpg)
![The capital nowadays.[151]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSanchi_capital_right_side_view.jpg)
![The distribution of the Edicts of Ashoka.[156]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAiKhanoumAndIndia.jpg)
![Territories "conquered by the Dharma" according to Major Rock Edict No. 13 of Ashoka (260–218 BCE).[157][158]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aTerritories_conquered_by_the_Dharma_according_to_Ashoka.jpg)
