Notes: The First Empire | Social Studies & Pedagogy Paper 2 for CTET & TET Exams - CTET & State TET PDF Download

The time period of 600 BC–600 AD, almost 1000 years, was a crucial era in the Indian history. In this time period, many changes happened that gave shape to every aspect of the Indian society. These changes not only happened in political aspect but also in social and religious aspects. In these 1000 years, many changes happened in the subcontinent. In 600 BC, we saw the emergence of Mahajanapadas. While most of the Mahajanapadas were ruled by kings/rajas, some of the Mahajanapadas ruled in a different way. To understand the emergence of empires in Indian subcontinent, let us analyse the emergence of Magadha.

Emergence of Magadha as Empire

• We all know that there are 16 Mahajanapada emerged in the 6th century BC. During the time period of the 6th century to the 4th century BC, Magadha emerged as a powerful state in the Indian subcontinent. Historians defined the emergence of Magadha for different reasons; for example, the region was productive, easy accessibility of iron ores, and use of elephants in the army. Ganga and his tributaries were helpful in cheap communication and transportation. However, knowing about Magadha is an interesting exploration. The emergence of Magadha is contemporary to the emergence of Buddhism and Jainism. The contemporary Buddhist and Jain texts provide us useful information about Magadha’s ruling kings such as Bimbisara, Ajatasatru, and Mahapadma Nanda. These rulers had played important role in the emergence of Magadha.
• Magadha was located in between the Ganga and their tributaries. Some part of the present-day Bihar is also included in Magadha. Rajagriha/Rajgir was the capital of Magadha. Rajagriha/Rajgir means the house of the king. Rajagriha was located in hills and in the 4th century BCE. The capital shifted from Rajagriha to Pataliputra, which is known as Patna in the present time. The Magadha Empire was ruled by many dynasties but some of them played the most significant role in the emergence of Magadha. Let us try to understand their contribution. 

Haryanka

• Around 542 BCE, Magadha came under the leadership of Bimbisara (542 BCE–493 BCE). Bimbisara belonged to the Haryanka dynasty. He was the first king who strengthened his position by a marriage alliance with their neighbouring states; that is, he first married the daughter of the king of Kosala and sister of Prasenajit; second, he married lichchhavi Princess Chellana from Vaishali, and third, he married the daughter of the chief of Madra clan, Punjab. These marriages to different princely families gave enormous diplomatic support to Magadha. These alliances helped Magadha to expand northward and westward.
• Bimbisara was killed by his son Ajatasatru and he became the king of Magadha. Ajatasatru ruled around 492 BCE to 444 BC for almost 50 years. Ajatasatru is known for his aggressive policies of expansion such as he conquered the republic of Vaishali and fought a war against Licchavi-ruled Vajji. Ajatasatru was contemporary of Mahavir and Buddha. Ajatasatru was succeeded by Udayin. Udayin region is important because he transferred his capital from Rajgir to Pataliputra. Later, Pataliputra became the centre of the Magadha kingdom. After Udayin, the Haryanka dynasty rule was over and it was succeeded by Shishunaga. The Shishunagas dynasty ruled almost 100 years. The greatest achievement of this dynasty was the destruction of the power of Avanti and his capital Ujjain. This dynasty was ended by Avanti. Shishunagas dynasty was succeeded by the Nandas. The dynasty of Nandas proved themselves as the strongest dynasty of Magadha. Nandas ruled the larger part of Indian subcontinent. Under the reign of Mahapadma Nanda, they conquered the Kalinga. Mahapadma Nanda claimed Ekarat, which means the sole sovereign. The Nandas were the first non-Kshatriya rulers in the Indian history. The last Nanda ruler was defeated by Chandragupta Maurya who found the Mauryan Empire.

Mauryan Empire: The Earliest Empire of Indian History

How We Know About Mauryan Empire

• In 1830, James Prinsep, an officer of the East India Company was deciphered the earliest inscriptions, which used two scripts Brahmi and Kharosthi on coins. He found that most of these inscriptions and coins mentioned a king that they referred as ‘Piyadassi’. Piyadassi means ‘pleasant to behold.’ Some of inscriptions were referred to the king Ashoka. According to the contemporary Buddhist writings, Ashoka was referred as the most famous king. This helped Indian and European scholars to investigate the early Indian political history in a new direction. Scholars used these inscriptions and texts to reconstruct the lineage of major dynasties ruled in Indian subcontinent. 
• The historians used a variety of sources such as archaeological finds, contemporary Buddhist, Jain, and Puranic text, writings of Megasthenes, which is known as Indica, and Kautilya or Chanakya’s Arthashastra to reconstruct the history of the Mauryan Empire. Mauryan king Ashoka’s inscription on rocks and pillars are the most valuable sources to understand the regime of king Ashoka. Probably, Ashoka was the king in the Indian history who inscribed his messages for public on the polished pillars as well as on the surfaces of the natural rocks. 

Mauryan Kings

• King Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of the Mauryan Empire. He ruled around 324 BCE– 300 BCE. The early life and ancestry of Chandragupta was not much known. There are some contradictions about the early life and ancestry of Chandragupta; for example, Buddhist texts, Mahavamsa and Dipavamsa, described Chandragupta as Kshatriya of Mauriya’s branch of Sakyas who lived in Pipphalivana (eastern Utter Pradesh). In Vishakhadatta’s play Mudrarakshasa, he used terms Vrishala and Kulhina for Chandragupta. These terms mean that a person is of humble origin. A Greek writer Justin also says same thing about Chandragupta. Therefore, there is no clarity about early life of the Mauryan king Chandragupta.
• There are different stories about the Chandragupta’s conquests and empire building process. However, the reality is that the details of Chandragupta’ conquests and empire building process are not available to us to describe them. According to the Greek and Jain sources, Chandragupta took advantage of the death of Alexander’s sudden death in 323 BCE in Babylon. The sudden death of Alexander became a cause of disturbance in northwestern India. Chandragupta with the help Kautilya raised a large army and launched campaigns against the Greek Kshatrapas. Sandrocottus of the Greek writers identified as Chandragupta Maurya. Greek Kshatrapa Seleucus sent his ambassador to the court of the Chandragupta Maurya. His name was Megasthenes who had written Indica, which is not available. Chandragupta Maurya ruled from 324 BCE to 300 BCE.
• Chandragupta Maurya was succeeded by Bindusara. There is little knowledge about this Mauryan king among historians. Some of the texts mentioned about him; for example, Tibetan historian Taranath and Jain scholar Hemachandra says that Chanakya was continued as a minister of Bindusara. In Divyavadana, it was mentioned that Bindusara appointed his eldest son Sumana/ Susima as his representative at Taxila and Ashoka at Ujjain. This text also mentions about one incident where a revolt broke out in Taxila and Susima was not able to control it; then, Ashoka was sent to restore peace. The conquest of south India under Mauryas was not cleared. Some scholars gave credit to Bindusara but most of the scholars believed that it was done by Chandragupta Maurya. Bindusara continued his father’s policy of friendly relationship with Hellenic Kshatrapas.
• Pliny mentioned that Dionysius was appointed as an ambassador in Bindusara court. Dionysius was the ambassador of the Greek Kshatrapa Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt. Bindusara died in 273 BCE and he ruled from 300 BCE to 273 BCE. There was mystery about his successor.
• In 273 BCE, after the death of Bindusara, Ashoka became the king of Mauryan Empire. We do not know about the earliest life of king Ashoka but there are some sources claiming that he killed his 99 brothers for the kingship. However, there is some contradiction; this is because in his edicts, he shows his affection about his brothers, sisters, and other relatives. Probably, Ashoka was the first king in the Indian history that excavated his records on rocks. His inscriptions were most valuable source to reconstruct the ancient Indian history; especially they reconstructed the history of Mauryan dynasty. The Ashokan inscriptions are found all over Indian subcontinents especially in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. There are two types of inscription found: one on rock, which is called Rock Edicts and another on pillars, which is called Pillar Edicts. These inscriptions were discovered almost at 47 different sites. The Minor Rock Edict was found at one place of Madhya Pradesh and three places in Karnataka, in which they mention the name of Ashoka. All other inscriptions referred king as Devanampiya, which means beloved of the God and Piyadassi. Most of these inscriptions found in ancient highway routes and these were written in four different scripts; for example, inscriptions found in Afghanistan are written in Greek and Aramaic script is used, while those found in Pakistan are written in Prakrit language and Kharosthi script is used. In all other areas, these inscriptions are in Prakrit language and written in Brahmi script.
  
  Figure 4.1 Principal cities and inscriptions of the Mauryan Empire

Kalinga War and Ashoka’s Dhamma

• Kalinga was the ancient name of coastal Orissa. Kalinga was independent neighbouring state of the Mauryan Empire. We do not know why Ashoka fought a war against them. However, some evidences show that Ashoka fought a war to conquer Kalinga. This war involved high-level violence and massacre. After this war, Ashoka was very horrified and he decided not to fight wars anymore. Ashoka was the only king in the known history who returned back the areas he won in war. After the war of Kalinga, there was a major change in Ashoka ruling policies. These changes are known as dhamma. Ashoka’s dhamma was not a religious practice. His dhamma did not involve worshiping of a God or other religious rituals. It was totally based on the moral aspect of everyday life. In his inscriptions, Ashoka defined him as father and his people as his children. It is his duty to teach them these moral lessons for their better life. 
• The Ashoka faced many problems in his regime, such as religious and ideological conflicts of different groups, animals were sacrificed at mass level, servants and slaves were ill-treated, and quarrels in families and amongst neighbours. According to Ashoka’s inscriptions, the head of the state should bear the responsibility to solve the problem. Therefore, he appointed officers who are known as dhamma mahamatta. Dhamma mahamatta went to every part of Mauryan Empire and taught dhamma to people. Ashoka inscribed his messages on rocks and pillars and sent the officials to read his messages for those could not read it. Ashoka sent mission to other lands such as Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Sri Lanka. He built roads, rest houses, and dug wells on highways. He arranged medical facilities for human beings as well as for animals. Ashoka ruled from 273 BCE to 232 BCE. After Ashoka, the Mauryan empire sustained almost 100 years.

Administration of the Mauryan Empire

• Some sources such as Buddhist, Jain, and Greek writings, Arthashastra gave some important information about Mauryan administration. The whole empire divided into five major political centres—the capital Pataliputra and the four provincial centres of Suvarnagiri, Tosali, Ujjain, and Taxila. All these provincial divisions were mentioned in Ashokan inscriptions. One important question is that could this vast empire have had a uniformed administrative system?
• If we analyse the expansion of the empire, it was too diverse and vast. The geographical conditions of the empire were different; for example, hilly terrain of Afghanistan and the coastal area of Orissa. Historians assume that the strongest administrative control was around the capital area and the provincial centres. The provincial centres were chosen carefully; for example, both Ujjain and Taxila were situated on the long distance trade routes. Suvarnagiri, which literally means Golden Mountain, was probably the gold mines of Karnataka. The transportation system in both the land and river was vital for the existence of the empire. The arrangements of transportation were good, and hence, the journey from centre to provinces could have taken weeks and not months. The army was important for the stable state. Megasthenes mentions about a committee with six subcommittees, which was coordinating the military activities in empire. Table will explain the working of subcommittees.
  

Army Committee of the Mauryan Empire: Their Subcommittees and Responsibilities 
With the strong military base, king Ashoka also tried to hold his empire by propagating dhamma. The principles of dhamma were simple and virtually universally applicable. The special officers were appointed for dhamma, which was known as dhamma mahamatta.