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Mauryan Empire

Shishunaga Dynasty

• Shisunaga was possibly the viceroy at Varanasi before becoming King.

• Shisunaga's most suggesting accomplishment was the weakening of the power of the
Avanti Pradyota dynasty.
• The successor of Shishunaga, Kalashoka or Kakavarna, permanently moved his royal
residence from Girivraja to Pataliputra, often even served as a capital via Vaishali.
• It was at Vaishali where it is said that the second great council of Buddhists was held in
the tenth year of the King's reign when a century had passed after the Buddha's death.
• Banabhatta has described that Shishunagi Kakavarna's throat was dagged near his town.
Greek evidence supports this legend.
• Around the middle of the fourth century BC, a person named Mahapadma who
established a new line of kings known as Nandas had overthrown the Shishunaga dynasty.
Pali's texts cite him as Ugrasena.
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• Maybe the name Mahapadma means that his army was as large as the lotus fashion
(Padmavyuha) could organize.
• He is also known as the Mahapadmapati i.e., having a Padma-like property.
• The Puranas identify him as being the son of the last Kshatrabandhu King (a shudra
mother's preceding line).
• A Jain text represents Nanda as the son of a courtesan by a barber.
• The Greek writer Curtius says that his (Agrammes) father was a barber who had won the
heart of the queen and subsequently assassinated the reigning King and subsequently
usurped the throne under the pretense of serving as protector of the royal princes.

Nanda Dynasty

• According to the Puranas, Mahapadma the destroyer of all the kshatriyas and the sole
monarch (ekrata).
• He overthrew almost all the dynasties who ruled at the time of the Shishunagas, viz., the
Ikshvaku, Panchal, Kashi, Haihayas, Kalinga, Ashmak, Kuru, Mithila, Shursen, Vitihotras
etc.
• A reference to the excavation of a canal by Nandaraja in the Hathigumpha inscription
shows that the Kalinga had also come under his domination.
• We know from this very instance that Mahapadma was probably a Jain.
• The kings of Nanda had Jain ministers like Kalapaka and Shakatala.
• Several Mysore ins state that the Nandas ruled Kuntala (North of Mysore).
• The presence of a town called Nau Nanda Dehra (Nander) on the Godavari also indicates
a substantial portion of the Deccan may have been adopted by the Nanda dominions.
• The Matsya Purana assigns 88 yrs to the reign of the first Nanda, whereas Vayu Purana
assigns only 28 yrs to it.
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• His eight Sons succeeded this King.

• These were Panduka, Bhutapala, Pandugati, Rashtrapala, Govishanaka, Dashasiddhaka,
Kaivarta, and Dhana.
• The last king Dhana is possibly identical with the Agrammes or Xandrames of the classical
writers.
• The King, A2 Curtius, owned a vast fortune and commanded a large army of 20,000
cavalries, 200,000 infantry, 2000 chariots, and 3,000 elephants.
• A general of his is known as Baddasala.
• He is also credited to the invention of a specific measure known to Panini as
Nandopakramani.
• About 322-21 BC, this dynasty came to an end and was succeeded by another dynasty
known as Mauryas, with Chandragupta Maurya as the founder.
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Magadha

• Bimbisara and the Ajatashatru (Magadhan militant), who brought Magadha on the
imperial path, manipulated the situation to the full.

Mauryan Empire started from Magadha. It had been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 321
BC. Mudrarakshasha beautifully describes the rise of Chandragupta Maurya with the help of
Chanakya. It was written by Vishakadatta. Chandragupta Maurya became a patron of Jainism.
Modern-day Patna, Pataliputra was the capital of the Mauryan Empire.
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Expansion of the Mauryan Empire

Mauryan Empire was one of the largest states in the world at the period and grew to occupy an
area at 5,000,000 km2. The Mauryans ruled over the rest of the Indian subcontinent except the
portions of NE India, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

Imperial Organization

1. Megasthenes, in his book Indika and the Arthashastra (written by Kautilya), describes
the elaborate arrangements made in the administration, society and economy of
Mauryan.
2. The empire was divided into provinces, under the leadership of Princes. A dozen
departments and the six-winged armed forces were also maintained alongside this.
Chandragupta built a well-organized administrative structure and provided a strong
financial base for it.

Major Ruler of Mauryan Empire

Chandragupta Maurya (321-297 BC)

• The Mauryan Empire was founded in Magadha in 321 BC by Chandragupta Maurya.

• Maurya dynasty was found by replacing the Nanda Dynasty.
• Chanakya was instrumental in the rise of Chandragupta Maurya to the throne. The
entire sequence of events was outlined in Vishakadatta's Mudrarakshasha.
• Pataliputra (modern-day Patna) was used as the capital city of the Mauryan Empire.
• Chandragupta Maurya was a patronizer of Jainism, and a lot of Jain literature is based
on him.
• Chandragupta went with Bhadrabahu to the hills of Chandragiri, Sravanbelgola, where
he died of slow starvation.
• He was the first king in the Indian history who extended his empire beyond the barriers
of the Vindhyas and united north and south India.
• He was succeeded by his son Bindusara. By continuing his father's conquest, he annexed
all 16 states between the Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea except Kalinga.
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Historians' beliefs regarding the origin of Chandra Gupta:

• He was born in Nandas court to the Shudra woman named Mura, according to the
Brahmanical tradition.
• The ruling clan of the republican state of Pipphalivana, which probably lay between
Rummindei in the Nepalese Tarai and Kasia in the Gorakhpur district, was Maurya
according to the Buddhist tradition.
• The widely accepted story was that Chandragupta was orphaned at an early age and was
raised by a shudra family. His adoptive family was the peacocks' framer and keeper, so he
attributed his name to 'Maurya.'
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• He built a large and powerful army and conquered nearly every part of the Indian
subcontinent, except for the southernmost regions (now Tamil Nadu, Kerala) and Kalinga
(now Odisha).
• This was the first time in the history of India that most of the Indian subcontinent came
under the same royal umbrella.
• After ally Pravataka's death, Chandragupta became the undisputed ruler of Northern
India with a large army standing.
• He annexed the territory of his ally to the north and gained more kingdom to the south
of the Vindhya mountain range.
• Chandragupta was not just a great conqueror and solider but also a great administrator.
• Around 312 BC, Seleucus I Nicator became Babylon's new emperor, and Persia began to
reconquer the lost territories of Alexander, east of the Indus.
• Chandragupta launched a counterattack and drove Seleucus back across the Indus and
deep into his own territory.
• The unequal peace treaty forced Seleucus to abandon Gandhara south of the Hindukush
Mountain Range, including what is now modern-day Kabul, Ghazi, Kandahar, Herat, and
Baluchistan.
• In return, Chandragupta gave him 500 war elephants and also got married to the daughter
of Seleucus.

Mauryan Administration
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Bindusara (298-273 BC)

• Bindusara, also known by the name Amitrochates/Amitraghta, was the son of Chandra
Gupta Maurya and his queen Durdhara.
• Bindusara expanded his empire towards southward with the help of Chanakya as his
advisor.
• He brought 16 states of Indian peninsula under his control except for the Kalinga
kingdom.
• He had good relations with King Antiochus I of Syria and received from him a Greek
ambassador Daimachos.
• He asked Antiochus I of Syria to send some sweet wine, dried figs and a sophist.
Antiochus-I sent wine and figs but politely replied that sophists are not for sale.
• Bindusara patronized Ajivikas.
• Very little is known about Bindusara's rule other than that he maintained links with his
western neighbour.
• He died in 272 BCE.

Ashoka (273-232 BC)

• Ashoka, known as 'Devanampriya Piyadasi' (means beloved of Gods), ascended the

throne in 273 BC and ruled upto 232 BC.
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• Ashoka was the greatest King on the Indian subcontinent.

• Maurya ruler Ashoka fought the Kalinga (modern Orissa) war in 261 BC.
• He became the lay discipline of Buddhism after the bloody Kalinga war and played a major
role in spreading Buddhism in India. He replaced Bherighosha by Dhammaghosha.
• Ashoka was initiated by Buddhist disciple Upagupta or Nigrodha to Buddhism and
started the institution of Dharmamahamatras to propagate Buddhism.
• Ashoka's Dhamma cannot be regarded as a sectarian faith. Its main objective was to
preserve the social order; it ordained that people should obey their parents, pay respect
to Brahmanas and Buddhist monks, and show mercy to slaves and servants.
• He ruled over most of India, South Asia and beyond that extending from Afghanistan
today, parts of Persia in the west to Bengal and Assam in the east and Mysore in the south.
• Ashokan inscriptions were deciphered by James Princep.

Ashokan Inscriptions

• Ashokan inscriptions bore royal orders from which he could communicate directly with
the people. There were rock edicts and pillar edicts again split into major and minor.
• 14 Ashoka Main Rock Edicts tell of the values & principles of Dharma.
• Only in the Maski Minor rock edict, the word 'Ashoka' is mentioned.
• Ashoka's Major Rock Edict XIII describes the conquest of Kalinga.
• After the Kalinga War, the rock edict describes the concepts of administration. He
mentions "all men are my children"' in his Kalinga edict.
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Ashoka's Administration

The empire was divided into 5 provinces to allow the effective administration of a large empire.

Provinces Capital
1. Uttarapatha Taxila
2. Avantirattha Ujjayini
3. Dakshinapatha Suvarnagiri
4. Kalinga Tosali
5. Prachya, Prachina Pataliputra

Ashoka and Buddhism

• Ashoka held the third Buddhist council at his capital Pataliputra in 250 BC under the
presidentship of Moggaliputa Tissa.
• He sent his son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra to Sri Lanka for the spread of
Buddhism. Ashoka spread Buddhism to Sri Lanka and Nepal. He is known as the
Constantine of Buddhism.
• Ceylon's ruler, Devanmpriya Tissa, was Ashoka's first convert to Buddhism.
• The broad objective of Ashoka's Dhamma policy was to preserve the social order.
• Ashoka ruled for 40 years and died in 232 BC.

Maurya Dynasty after Ashoka

• Dasaratha, Ashoka 's grandson, succeeded him and then the throne of Maurya passed
over to the Samprati.
• He is also famous as Jain Ashoka because of his efforts towards spreading Jainism in India.
• There was no major ruler in the Maurya dynasty after Dasaratha and Magadha started to
lose its territories and began to decline.
• Ultimately, Pushyamitra Shunga (General of the Mauryan army), rebelled against the last
Maurya king Brihadratha and killed him.
• Thus, he ended the Maurya dynasty and founded the Shunga dynasty.

Mauryan Art and Architecture

Pillar Edicts and Inscriptions

Ashoka's 7 pillar edicts:

These were found at Topra (Delhi), Meerut, Kausambhi, Rampurva, Champaran, Mehrauli:

➢ Pillar Edict I: Asoka's principle of protection to people.

➢ Pillar Edict II: Defines Dhamma as the minimum of sins; many virtues viz. compassion,
liberality, truthfulness, and purity.
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➢ Pillar Edict III: Abolishes sins of harshness, cruelty, anger, pride, etc.
➢ Pillar Edict IV: Deals with duties of Rajukas.
➢ Pillar Edict V: List of animals and birds not to be killed on a few particular days, and a
further list of animals not to be killed at all.
➢ Pillar Edict VI: Dhamma policy
➢ Pillar Edict VII: Works done by Ashoka for Dhamma policy.

Minor Pillar Inscriptions

• Rummindei Pillar Inscription: Asokha's visit to Lumbini & exemption of Lumbini from tax.
• Nigalisagar Pillar Inscription, Nepal: It mentions that Ashoka increased the height of
stupa of Buddha Konakamana to its double size.

Major Pillar Inscriptions

• Sarnath Lion Capital: Near Varanasi; was built by Ashoka in commemoration of

Dhammachakrapravartana(the first sermon of Buddha).
• Vaishali Pillar: Bihar; single lion, with no inscription.
• Sankissa Pillar: Uttar Pradesh
• Lauriya-Nandangarh: Champaran, Bihar.
• Lauriya-Araraj: Champaran, Bihar.
• Allahabad Pillar: Uttar Pradesh.

Stupa

Stupas from the Vedic period were burial mounds prevalent in India.

Major Stupa in India

• Sanchi Stupa: Located in Madhya Pradesh, the most famous of the Ashokan stupas.
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• Piprahwa Stupa: Located in Uttar Pradesh, the oldest one.

• Stupas built after the death of Buddha: Rajagriha, Vaishali, Kapilavastu, Allakappa,
Ramagrama, Vethapida, Pava, Kushinagar and Pippalivana.
• Stupa at Bairat, Rajasthan: Grand stupa with a circular mound and a circumambulatory
path.

Seven Caves (Satgarva):

The seven caves in Jehanabad district's Makhdumpur area, Bihar, were built for the Ajivika sect
by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka.

• Barabar Caves (4 caves):

1. Karna Chaupar, 2. Sudama Cave, 3. Lamarshi (Lomas Rishi) Cave, 4. Vishwamitra (Vishva
Zopri) Cave.

• Nagaragunja Caves (3 caves):

During Dasharath (grandson of Ashoka) period, Gopi Cave, Bahayak Cave, and Vedantika
Cave were built in Bihar.

Rock-cut Caves:

As in the Mauryan period, the construction of rock caves continued. However, two types of rock
caves-Chaitya and Viharas-formed during this time.

Chaitya was a rectangular prayer hall with a stupa in the middle for prayer purposes, whereas
Viharas were used as the monks' residences.

• Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves: Located in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, they were patronized
by the Kalinga king Kharavela and are also known for the Hathigumpha inscription (in
Brahmi script).
• Ranigumpha cave: Located in Udayagiri, it is double-storied and has some beautiful
sculptures.

Gandhara school was established on Punjab's western frontiers. Rulers of both, Shaka and
Kushan patronized this academy.
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Major centres of Gandhara School of Art:

• Jalalabad (Eastern Afghanistan)

• Hadda (an ancient region of Gandhara)
• Begram (Parwan province of Afghanistan)
• Taxila (Pakistan)