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Maurya Empire
Ancient Indian empire (322–185 BCE) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Maurya Empire (Ashokan Prakrit: 𑀫𑀸𑀕𑀥𑁂, Māgadhe[20]) was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia based in Magadha (present day Bihar). It was the fourth ruling dynasty of Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE.[21] The empire was centralized by the conquest of the Indo-Gangetic Plain; its capital city was located at Pataliputra (modern Patna). Outside this imperial centre, the empire's geographical extent was dependent on the loyalty of military commanders who controlled the armed cities scattered within it.[22][23][24] During Ashoka's rule (ca. 268–232 BCE), the empire briefly controlled the major urban hubs and arteries of the Indian subcontinent excepting the deep south.[21] It declined for about 50 years after Ashoka's rule, and dissolved in 185 BCE with the assassination of Brihadratha by Pushyamitra Shunga and foundation of the Shunga dynasty in Magadha.
Maurya Empire 𑀫𑀸𑀕𑀥𑁂 Māgadhe | |
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322 BCE – 185 BCE | |
![]() Territories of the Maurya Empire conceptualized as core areas or linear networks separated by large autonomous regions in the works of scholars such as: historians Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund;[1] Burton Stein;[2] David Ludden;[3] and Romila Thapar;[4] anthropologists Monica L. Smith[5] and Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah;[4] archaeologist Robin Coningham;[4] and historical demographer Tim Dyson.[6] | |
![]() Maximum extent of the Maurya Empire, as shown by the location of Ashoka's inscriptions, and visualized by historians: Vincent Arthur Smith;[7] R. C. Majumdar;[8] and historical geographer Joseph E. Schwartzberg.[9] | |
Status | Empire |
Capital | Pataliputra (present-day Patna) |
Common languages | Sanskrit (literary and academic), Magadhi Prakrit (vernacular) |
Religion | |
Demonym(s) | Indian |
Government | Absolute monarchy, as described in Kautilya's Arthashastra and Rajamandala[17] |
Emperor | |
• 322–298 BCE | Chandragupta |
• 298–272 BCE | Bindusara |
• 268–232 BCE | Ashoka |
• 232–224 BCE | Dasharatha |
• 224–215 BCE | Samprati |
• 215–202 BCE | Shalishuka |
• 202–195 BCE | Devavarman |
• 195–187 BCE | Shatadhanvan |
• 187–185 BCE | Brihadratha |
Historical era | Iron Age |
322 BCE | |
• Assassination of Brihadratha by Pushyamitra Shunga | 185 BCE |
Area | |
261 BCE[18] (low-end estimate of peak area) | 3,400,000 km2 (1,300,000 sq mi) |
250 BCE[19] (high-end estimate of peak area) | 5,000,000 km2 (1,900,000 sq mi) |
Currency | Karshapana |
Today part of | India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Afghanistan |
Chandragupta Maurya raised an army, with the assistance of Chanakya, author of the Arthashastra,[25] and overthrew the Nanda Empire in c. 322 BCE. Chandragupta rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India by conquering the satraps left by Alexander the Great, and by 317 BCE the empire had fully occupied northwestern India.[26] The Mauryan Empire then defeated Seleucus I, a diadochus and founder of the Seleucid Empire, during the Seleucid–Mauryan war, thus acquiring territory west of the Indus River.[27][28]
Under the Mauryas, internal and external trade, agriculture, and economic activities thrived and expanded across South Asia due to the creation of a single and efficient system of finance, administration, and security. The Maurya dynasty built a precursor of the Grand Trunk Road from Patliputra to Taxila.[29] After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced nearly half a century of centralized rule under Ashoka. Ashoka's embrace of Buddhism and sponsorship of Buddhist missionaries allowed for the expansion of that faith into Sri Lanka, northwest India, and Central Asia.[30]
The population of South Asia during the Mauryan period has been estimated to be between 15 and 30 million.[31] The empire's period of dominion was marked by exceptional creativity in art, architecture, inscriptions and produced texts,[3] but also by the consolidation of caste in the Gangetic plain, and the declining rights of women in the mainstream Indo-Aryan speaking regions of India.[32] Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW). The Arthashastra[33] and the Edicts of Ashoka are the primary sources of written records of Mauryan times. The Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath is the State Emblem of the Republic of India.