Mauryan Period

Soham Kumthekar
Class VI, Riverdale High School

Chandragupta:

321 BCE-298 BCE

Unified northern India.

Defeated the Persian
general Seleucus.
Divided his empire into
provinces, then districts
for tax assessments and law
enforcement.
He feared assassination [like Saddam
Hussein] food tasters, slept in different
rooms, etc.
301 BCE gave up his throne & became
a Jain.

The Maurya Empire

321 BCE 185 BCE

Kautilya
Chandraguptas advisor.
Brahmin caste.

Wrote The Treatise on

Material Gain or the
Arthashastra.
A guide for the king and his ministers:

Supports royal power.

The great evil in society is anarchy.

Therefore, a single authority is

needed to employ force when
necessary!

Ashoka (304 232 BCE)

Religious conversion
after the gruesome
battle of Kalinga in
262 BCE.
Dedicated his life to
Buddhism.
Built extensive roads.
Conflict how to balance Kautilyas
methods of keeping power
and Buddhas demands to
become a selfless person?

Ashokas
Empire

Ashokas law code

Edicts scattered in
more than 30 places
in India, Nepal,
Pakistan, & Afghanistan.
Written mostly in
Sanskrit, but one was in
Greek and Aramaic.
10 rock edicts.
Each pillar [stupa] is 40-50 high.

Buddhist principles dominate his laws.

One of
Ashokas

Stupas

The KALINGA war

The place where the kalinga war was
fought is
The Dhauli Hill (Dhaulgiri) in Orrisa

In the 12th year of Ashokas

reign he sent a letter
To Kalingraj asking its
submission but Kalingraj refused
to submit
This was the reason why Ashoka
attacked Kalinga .
In this war , many people were killed
and 1,50,000 were injured

Timeline
322 BC : Chandragupta Maurya founds the Maurya Empire.
301-269 BC : Reign of Bindusara, Chandragupta's son. He
conquers parts of Deccan, southern India.
269-232 BC : The Maurya Empire reaches its height under
Ashoka, Chandragupta's grandson.
261 BC : Ashoka conquers the kingdom of Kalinga.
250 BC : Ashoka builds Buddhist stupas and erects pillars
bering inscriptions.
184 BC :The empire collapses when Brihadnatha, the last
emperor, is killed by a rival dynasty.

This was all about the Mauryan

period

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