The Mauryan Empire | History for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Introduction

The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power based in Magadha and founded by Chandragupta Maurya, which dominated the Indian subcontinent between 322 and 185 BCE. Comprising the majority of South Asia, the Maurya Empire was centralized by the conquest of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, and its capital city was located at Pataliputra (modern Patna). The empire was the largest political entity that has existed in the Indian subcontinent, extending over 5 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) at its zenith under Ashoka.

Mauryan Empire

Mauryan Empire – Rise of the Mauryas

• Before the Maurya Empire, the Nanda Empire ruled over most of the Indian Subcontinent. The Nanda Empire was a large, militaristic, and economically powerful empire due to conquering the Mahajanapadas.
• According to several legends, Chanakya travelled to Pataliputra, Magadha, the capital of the Nanda Empire where Chanakya worked for the Nandas as a minister.
• However, Chanakya was insulted by Emperor Dhana Nanda, of the Nanda dynasty and Chanakya swore revenge and vowed to destroy the Nanda Empire.
• He had to flee to save his life and went to Taxila, a notable centre 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. He was impressed by the young Chandragupta and saw royal qualities in him as someone fit to rule.
• The last of the Nanda rulers, Dhana Nanda was highly unpopular due to his oppressive tax regime.
• Also, post-Alexander’s invasion of North-Western India, that region faced a lot of unrest from foreign powers. They were ruled by Indo-Greek rulers.
• Chandragupta, with the help of an intelligent and politically astute Brahmin, Kautilya usurped the throne by defeating Dhana Nanda in 321 BC.

Mauryan Empire – Genealogy

Important Rulers of the Mauryan Empire

Though the Mauryan Dynasty had several rulers only 3 among them are famous and important in a point of view. They are;

• Chandragupta Maurya (322-298 BCE)
• Bindusara (298-272 BCE)
• Ashoka (268-232 BCE)

Founder of the Mauryan Empire

• The beginnings of Chandragupta are shrouded in mystery.
• The Greek texts (the earliest) identify him as being of non-warrior ancestry.
• According to Hindu texts, he was a Kautilya disciple of lowly origin (probably born to a Shudra woman). According to most Buddhist texts, he was a Kshatriya.
• It is often assumed that he was an orphaned youngster from a poor home who was tutored by Kautilya.
• Sandrokottos is the name given to him in Greek records.
• Alexander abandoned his invasion of India in 324 BC, and within a year, Chandragupta had beaten several of the Greek-ruled towns in the country's northwestern region.
• Kautilya devised the approach, which Chandragupta carried out. They had formed their mercenary army.
• They then proceeded eastward towards Magadha.
• In around 321 BC, he destroyed Dhana Nanda in a series of conflicts, laying the groundwork for the Maurya Empire.
• In 305 BC, he signed a deal with Seleucus Nicator in which he obtained Balochistan, eastern Afghanistan, and the land west of the Indus. He also married the daughter of Seleucus Nicator.
• Except for a few locations like Kalinga and the far south, Chandragupta spearheaded an expansionist programme that brought practically the whole of present-day India under his rule.
• From 321 BC until 297 BC, he ruled.
• He abdicated in favour of his son, Bindusara, and travelled to Karnataka with the Jain monk Bhadrabahu.
• He had converted to Jainism and is claimed to have starved himself to death in Shravanabelagola according to Jain legend.

Chandragupta Maurya 

Second Ruler of the Mauryan Empire – Bindusara

• Bindusara was the son of Chandragupta, the Mauryan Empire's founder. Several texts, including the Puranas and the Mahavamsa, attest to this.
• Throughout his term, Chanakya served as Prime Minister.
• Bindusara maintains cordial diplomatic relations with Greece. Deimachus was the Seleucid emperor Antiochus I's envoy to Bindusara's court.
• Bindusara, unlike his father Chandragupta (who eventually converted to Jainism), belonged to the Ajivika sect. Bindusara's master, Pingalavatsa (Janasana), was an Ajivika Brahmin.
• Bindusara died around the 270s BCE, according to historical sources.
• Bindusara is credited for extending the Mauryan Empire to Mysore.
• He united sixteen nations into the Mauryan Empire, conquering nearly the whole Indian peninsula.

Chanakya (Kautilya)

Kautilya

• Chandragupta Maurya's teacher and Chief Minister.
• He was a Taxila teacher and scholar. Vishnugupta and Chanakya are two more names.
• He was also a minister in Bindusara's palace.
• He is recognised as being the main planner behind the Nanda throne usurpation and the development of the Mauryan Empire via his disciple, Chandragupta.
• Arthashastra is a book on statecraft, economics, and military strategy that he composed.
• The work is divided into 15 volumes and 180 chapters. The major concept is divided into three sections:
• King, Ministerial Council, and Government Departments.
• Criminal and civil law.
• War diplomacy
• It also includes information on commerce and markets, a mechanism for screening ministers and spies, royal responsibilities, ethics, social welfare, agriculture, mining, metallurgy, medicine, and forests, among other things.
• Chanakya is often known as the "Indian Machiavelli."

Third Ruler – Ashoka the Great

• Son of Mauryan Emperor Bindusara and Subhadrangi. Chandragupta Maurya's grandson.
• His other names were Devanampiya (Sanskrit Devanampriya, which means Beloved of the Gods) and Piyadasi.
• One of India's greatest monarchs.
• He was born in 304 BC.
• His rule lasted from 268 BC until 232 BC, when he died.
• As a young prince, Ashoka was a superb commander who suppressed revolts in Ujjain and Takshashila.
• As emperor, he was ambitious and aggressive, re-establishing the Empire's supremacy in southern and western India. But it was his conquest of Kalinga (262–261 BCE) that proved to be the defining event of his life.
• He became a Buddhist. A Buddhist monk named Moggaliputta Tissa became his guru.
• In 247 BC, Ashoka presided over the third Buddhist Council in Pataliputra, which was presided over by Moggaliputta Tissa.

Literary Sources of the Mauryan Empire

Arthashastra

• Arthashastra was written by Kautilya in Sanskrit.
• Kautilya was the contemporary of Chandragupta Maurya
• Arthashastra deals with the entire legal and bureaucratic framework required for the administration of the kingdom
• It was compiled a few centuries after the Maurya rule, yet this book contains authentic information about the Mauryan administration.
• It serves to be the most important source of the Mauryan empire.
• It contains 15 books and 180 chapters and they are divided into three broad divisions.

Mudrarakshasa

• Mudrarakshasa is a drama written by Visakadata in Sanskrit.
• Though this piece of work belongs to the Gupta era, it gives an image of the socio-economic conditions under the Mauryas.
• The victory of Chandragupta Maurya over Nandas under the guidance of Kautilya is elaborated in this.

Indica

• Indica was written by Megasthenes, a Greek ambassador who was sent by Selecus to Chandragupta Maurya’s court.
• He wrote an account of the administration of the capital city, Pataliputra and the Mauryan empire as well.
• His works were not available in full and the fragments of his works were collected and compiled by the Greek writers. This compilation was published under the name Indika.

Apart from these three major sources, some of the Buddhist literature and Puranas draw an account of the Mauryan empire.

Rise to power

• Ashoka was not the eldest son of Bindusara and so was not the heir presumptive.
• Bindusara wanted his elder son Susima to be crowned the next king.
• But was trained in the military and weapons and showed great skills as an administrator when he was made the governor of Ujjain.
• In the war of succession that followed Bindusara’s death in 272 BC, Ashoka emerged victorious aided by his father’s ministers.
• When he became the king, he was said to be bad-tempered, ruthless and very cruel.
• He even built a torture chamber to torture his prisoners to death. This earned him the moniker Chandashoka (cruel Ashoka).
• Once he became the king, he started expanding his empire by conquest. In the ninth year of his reign, he waged a war with Kalinga (in present-day Odisha).

Conversion to Buddhism

• The battle with Kalinga fought in 265 BC was personally led by Ashoka and he was able to vanquish the Kalingas.
• Whole cities were destroyed and more than a hundred thousand people were killed in the war.
• The horrors of war disturbed him so much that he decided to shun violence for the rest of his life and turned to Buddhism.
• Ashoka’s 13th Rock Edict describes the Kalinga War vividly.
• He now became Dharmashoka (the pious Ashoka) from Chandashoka.
• In about 263 BC Ashoka converted to Buddhism. Moggaliputta Tissa, a Buddhist monk became his mentor.
• Ashoka even conducted the third Buddhist Council at Pataliputra in 250 BC under Moggaliputta Tissa’s presidency.

Ashoka’s Dhamma (or Dharma in Sanskrit)

• Ashoka established the idea of paternal kinship.
• He regarded all his subjects as his children and believed it was the king’s duty to look after the welfare of the subjects.
• Through his edicts, he said everybody should serve parents, revere teachers, and practice ahimsa and truthfulness.
• He asked everyone to animal slaughter and sacrifice.
• He expounded on the humane treatment of animals, servants, and prisoners.
• He advocated tolerance towards all religions.
• He sought conquest through Dhamma and not war.
• He sent missions abroad to spread the word of the Buddha. Notably, he sent his son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitra to Sri Lanka.
• Most of his edicts are written in Pali and Prakrit in Brahmi script. Some are written in the Kharoshti and Aramaic scripts. There are some edicts written in Greek as well. The language depends on the location of the pillar.
• Sources of information about Ashoka
  • There are two main sources: Buddhist sources and Ashoka’s edicts.
  • James Prinsep, a British antiquary and colonial administrator was the first person to decipher Ashoka’s edicts.
  • Ashokavadana (Sanskrit) written in the second century AD, Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa (Sri Lankan Pali chronicles) give most of the information about Ashoka.

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