Mauryan Empire

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The Mauryan Empire was India's first great unified empire. It lasted from 321 to 185 BCE, and was ruled by the Mauryan dynasty. At its height it ruled virtually all of northern and central India and parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Archaeologically, it coincides with the Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) period.

1 Formative period
2 The rise of a unified state
3 The Mauryan empire
4 Mauryan Administration
5 Decline
6 See also
7 References

Formative period

When Alexander the Great conquered the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent in 326 BCE, he allied with king Ambhi of Taxila (called Taxiles or Omphis in Greek sources), and with his support managed to subdue king Porus of Pauravas, a state of eastern Punjab, defeating him at the Battle of the Hydaspes River.

Alexander thereafter established vassal states (satrapies), headed by the previous kings Ambhi and Porus, and founded several garrison towns. A Greek satrap named Philippus controlled a Macedonian occupation force. After his assassination he was replaced by the Thracian Eudamus.

Following the refusal of his troops to go further east, Alexander returned to Babylon, and redeployed most of his troops west of the Indus. When Alexander died in Babylon soon after in 323 BCE, his empire fragmented, which opened up opportunities for the rise of new kingdoms everywhere, an opportunity seized in India by Chandragupta Maurya.

The rise of a unified state

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Chandragupta Maurya's fantastic rise to power is complemented by origins shrouded in mystery and controversy. On the one hand, a number of ancient indian accounts, such as the drama Mudrarakshasa by Visakhadatta, describe his royal ancestry and even link him with the Nanda family. On the other, his fortune is often accounted to a twist of fate wherein his preceptor, Kautilya, is said to have observed this village boy's executive character and raised him to defeat Dhana Nanda. Supposedly the son of a peacock tamer (hence the name Maurya), he was given a fitting education by the author of the Arthashastra. Regardless of his background, Chandragupta maintains his place in the annals of history as the first of the great Indian Emperors. Indeed, if his military successes are any indication, he may be ranked globally as the greatest ruler of his time.

Chandragupta first emerges in Greek accounts as "Sandrocottus". As a young man, he is said to have met Alexander, angered him, and to have made a narrow escape. Following the break-up of Alexander's empire, he raised an army in those territories and defeated the Macedonian garrisons. Chandragupta then proceeded to go east to overthrow the Nanda dynasty of the Magadha region. After subsequent attempts, through the guidance of his teacher and advisor (Kautilya), he ultimately managed to defeat and dethrone Dhana Nanda.

Chandragupta then invaded the Punjab, after one of Alexander's satraps, Peithon of Media had tried to raise a coalition against him. He managed to conquer the Punjab capital of Taxila.

The Mauryan empire

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Chandragupta

Chandragupta was again in conflict with the Greeks, when Seleucus I, ruler of the Seleucid Empire, tried to reconquer the northwestern parts of India which had been lost, during a campaign in 305 BCE.

Chandragupta defeated Seleucus and then the two rulers exchanged a peace treaty, Chandragupta received the daughter of the Seleucid king Seleucus I and the territories of Gandara and Arachosia, and Seleucus I received 500 war elephants that were to have a decisive role in his victory against western Hellenistic kings at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BCE. Diplomatic relations were established, and several Greeks, such as the historian Megasthenes, resided at the Mauryan court.

Chandragupta established a strong centralized state with a complex administration under the advisorship of Kautilya, established at the capital of Pataliputra, which, according to Magasthenes, was "surrounded by a wooden wall pierced by 64 gates and 570 towers— (and) rivaled the splendors of contemporaneous Persian sites such as Susa and Ecbatana".

Bindusara

Chandragupta's son Bindusara extended the rule of the Mauryan empire towards central and southern India. He also had a Greek ambassador at his court, named Deimachus (Strabo 1–70).

Asoka

Chandragupta's grandson Asoka (273- 232 BCE), is said to have been the greatest of the Mauryan emperors. He converted to the Buddhist faith following remorse for his bloody conquest of the kingdom of Kalinga in Orissa. He became a great proselytiser of Buddhism, insisting on non-violence to humans and animals (ahimsa), and general precepts regulating the life of lay people. He is said to have built 84,000 Buddhist stupas throughout India, as well as roads and hospitals.

According to the Edicts of Asoka, set in stone, some of them written in Greek, he sent Buddhist emissaries to the Greek lands in Asia and as far as the Mediterranean. The edicts name each of the rulers of the Hellenic world at the time..

Mauryan Administration

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The Empire was divided into four provinces with the imperial capital at Pataliputra. From Asokan edicts, the name of the four provincial capitals are Tosali(in the east), Ujjain in the west, Suvarnagiri (in the south), and Taxila (in the north). The head of the provincial administration was the kumara (royal prince) who used to govern the provinces as king's representative. The kumara was in turn assisted by Mahamatyas and council of ministers. This organizational structure was reflected at the imperial level with the Emperor and his mantriparishad (council of ministers).

Accordingly, historians theorize that the organization of the Empire was in line with the extensive bureaucracy described by Kautilya in the Arthashastra. As such, a sophisticated civil service governed everything from municipal hygiene to international trade.

The expansion and defense of the empire was made possible by what appears to be the largest standing army of its time. According to Megasthenes, the empire wielded a military of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, and 9,000 war elephants. A vast espionage system collected intelligence for both internal and external security purposes.

Decline

The reign of Asoka was followed for 50 years by a succession of weaker kings. Brhadrata, the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty, ruled territories that had shrunk considerably from the time of emperor Ashoka, but he was still upholding the Buddhist faith.

He was assassinated in 185 BCE during a military parade by the commander-in-chief of his guard, the Brahmin general Pusyamitra Sunga, who then took over the throne and established the Sunga dynasty.

The assassination of Brhadrata and the rise of the Sunga empire led to a wave of persecution for Buddhists, and a resurgence of Hinduism. The fall of the Mauryas left the Khyber unguarded, and a wave of foreign invasion followed.

TheGreco-Bactrian king, Demetrius, capitalized on the break-up of Pan-Indian power and conquered Southern Afghanistan and parts of Northwestern India around 180 BC. The Greeks would maintain holdings on the trans-indus and make forays into central india for the better part of a century. 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 upto the birth of Christ. Although the extent of their successes against indigenous powers such as the Shungas, Satavahanas, and Kalingas are unclear, what is clear is that Scythian tribes brought about the demise of the Indo-Greeks and retained lands in the trans-indus and Gujarat.

MIDDLE KINGDOMS OF INDIA Image:WesternSatrap.JPG

Timeline:

Northern empires

Southern Kingdoms

Foreign kingdoms

6th century BCE
5th century BCE
4th century BCE

3rd century BCE
2nd century BCE

1st century BCE
1st century CE

2nd century CE
3rd century CE
4th century CE
5th century CE
6th century CE
7th century CE
8th century CE
9th century CE
10th century CE
11th century CE