An outline, era by era

Maurya Empire (Ashoka)

Classical Antiquity · ~500 BCE – ~500 CE

The Maurya Empire was the first state to bring most of the Indian subcontinent under one government. It was founded around 321 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who took the Gangetic capital of Pataliputra (modern Patna) from the Nanda dynasty, and it lasted until about 185 BCE. At its height it stretched from present-day Afghanistan and Balochistan in the northwest to Bengal and far down the Deccan, leaving out only the far south.

Its best-known ruler was Ashoka, Chandragupta's grandson, who reigned from about 268 to 232 BCE. After a costly war against Kalinga on the east coast, he turned to a policy he called dhamma, a public ethic of moral conduct, tolerance and care for subjects, and he had it carved on rocks and pillars across his realm. These are among the oldest deciphered writings in India. Ashoka also supported Buddhism, which helped it spread across Asia. The empire's administration, roads and coinage shaped later Indian states.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Alexander's campaign and the Nanda kingdom

    Event

    What happened

    In 326 BCE Alexander the Great defeats the king Porus on the Hydaspes river in the Punjab. His army refuses to march further east, and he turns back, leaving garrisons and satraps in the northwest. Beyond the Punjab lies the powerful kingdom of Magadha, ruled by the Nanda dynasty.

    The rest is history

    Greek writers who accompanied or followed Alexander describe a strong eastern kingdom with a very large army. Alexander died in 323 BCE and his northwestern holdings soon fell into disorder. This left a political gap in the Punjab and Indus region. Within a few years Chandragupta Maurya had taken advantage of it and overthrown the Nandas, so the Maurya state began in the political upheaval that followed Alexander's withdrawal. Historians debate how far the two events were directly connected.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryArrian. Anabasis of Alexander, Book 5. Greek history, 2nd century CE.Account of the Hydaspes battle and the army's refusal to go on.
    2. BookThapar, Romila. Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.

  2. Chandragupta takes Pataliputra and faces Seleucus

    Event

    What happened

    Around 321 BCE Chandragupta Maurya overthrows the last Nanda king and takes Pataliputra. He then extends his rule across northern India and into the northwest. Around 305 BCE he meets Seleucus I Nicator, Alexander's successor in the east, and the two make a treaty. Seleucus gives up territory west of the Indus, and Chandragupta gives him 500 war elephants.

    The rest is history

    The treaty is reported by Greek and Roman writers, and it secured the northwest frontier of the empire. Seleucus sent Megasthenes as ambassador to Pataliputra. His account, now lost and known only from quotations by later authors, describes the capital and the court. Chandragupta ruled until about 297 BCE, and his son Bindusara extended the empire further south. Dates for these reigns are approximate and depend on Greek synchronisms and later Indian traditions.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryMegasthenes. Indica. Greek ethnographic work, c. 300 BCE, surviving in fragments quoted by Strabo, Arrian and Diodorus.
    2. BookThapar, Romila. Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.

  3. The Kalinga war and Ashoka's change of policy

    Event

    What happened

    Around 261 BCE, in the eighth year of his reign, Ashoka conquers Kalinga on the east coast of India. In his Thirteenth Rock Edict he states that about 150,000 people were deported, 100,000 killed and many more died. He says that he felt deep remorse afterwards. He then promotes dhamma, a policy of ethical conduct and non-violence.

    The rest is history

    The edict is Ashoka's own words, which makes it rare evidence for the inner view of an ancient king. After Kalinga he urged his officials and subjects to practise kindness, honesty and tolerance towards all religious groups. He appointed special officers, the dhamma-mahamattas, to spread the policy. The figures in the edict are his own claims and cannot be checked independently. Historians still discuss how far the change was personal conviction and how far it was a tool of rule over a vast, diverse empire.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryMajor Rock Edict XIII of Ashoka. Prakrit inscription in Brahmi (and Kharosthi, Greek in the northwest), c. 260 BCE, Shahbazgarhi, Girnar, Kalsi, Dhauli and other sites.
    2. BookOlivelle, Patrick. Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2023.
    3. BookThapar, Romila. Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.

  4. Deciphering the edicts of Ashoka

    Event

    What happened

    Ashoka's edicts are carved on rocks and polished sandstone pillars from Afghanistan to Karnataka. In the 1830s James Prinsep, working at the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta, deciphers the Brahmi script in which most of them are written. He shows that the king named in them, Piyadasi, 'beloved of the gods', is Ashoka.

    The rest is history

    Earlier scholars had not been able to read the script. The link between Piyadasi and Ashoka was confirmed by Sri Lankan Buddhist chronicles and by a minor rock edict that names Ashoka directly, found at Maski in 1915. The edicts also name Hellenistic kings such as Antiochus II, which lets historians fix the dates of Ashoka's reign. They are now the main primary source for the Maurya Empire and for the early history of Buddhism in India.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPillar Edicts of Ashoka. Prakrit inscriptions on sandstone pillars, c. 243 BCE, including Delhi-Topra and Lauriya Nandangarh.
    2. BookAllen, Charles. Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor. London: Little, Brown, 2012.

  5. Decline of the Mauryas and the coup of Pushyamitra

    Event

    What happened

    After Ashoka's death around 232 BCE, his successors rule a shrinking empire. Around 185 BCE the general Pushyamitra Shunga kills the last Maurya king, Brihadratha, and founds the Shunga dynasty. Outlying regions, including Bactria and the northwest, pass to other rulers.

    The rest is history

    Historians offer several reasons for the decline, among them weak successors, the cost of a large army and bureaucracy, and the pull of regional powers. Thapar and others have argued against a single cause. The northwest was soon taken by the Indo-Greek kings, and later by the Kushans. The Maurya model of empire nonetheless remained a reference point for later Indian rulers. The date of 185 BCE comes from Puranic king lists and is generally accepted.

    Sources

    1. BookThapar, Romila. Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.
    2. BookKulke, Hermann, and Dietmar Rothermund. A History of India. London: Routledge, 1986.

  6. Chandragupta and the guidance of Chanakya

    Origin story

    The legend

    The clever brahmin Chanakya, also called Kautilya, is insulted by the Nanda king. He swears revenge, finds the young Chandragupta, and trains him. Together they raise an army, overthrow the Nandas and found the Maurya dynasty. Chanakya then serves as chief minister.

    The rest is history

    The story comes from later texts, among them the Buddhist chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Puranas and Vishakhadatta's play Mudrarakshasa, written centuries after the events. Greek sources name Chandragupta (Sandrokottos) but say nothing of Chanakya. The Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft attributed to Kautilya, is probably a composite work put together over several centuries and not simply a record of Chandragupta's court. Scholars such as Thomas Trautmann and Patrick Olivelle have studied its date and authorship. It is a valuable source for ideas of governance in ancient India, but it cannot be used as straightforward evidence for the Maurya state.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryMudrarakshasa. Sanskrit play by Vishakhadatta, c. 4th to 8th century CE.
    2. BookOlivelle, Patrick. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya's Arthasastra. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
    3. BookTrautmann, Thomas R. Kautilya and the Arthasastra. Leiden: Brill, 1971.

  7. Chandragupta becomes a Jain monk

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    In his old age Chandragupta gives up his throne and follows the Jain teacher Bhadrabahu south to Shravanabelagola. There he fasts to death in the Jain manner, called sallekhana.

    The rest is history

    The story appears in Jain tradition and in inscriptions at Shravanabelagola, but these date from many centuries after Chandragupta's time. Some historians accept a core of truth, since the Mauryas had links with Jain and Ajivika circles. Others think the story may have confused Chandragupta with a later person of the same name. No contemporary evidence confirms it. It is an example of how different religious traditions claimed the emperor as their own.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryShravanabelagola inscriptions. Kannada and Sanskrit inscriptions, 7th to 12th centuries CE, Karnataka.
    2. BookDundas, Paul. The Jains. London: Routledge, 1992.

  8. Ashoka the wicked and the ninety-nine brothers

    Folk tale

    The legend

    Before he is king, Ashoka is called Chandashoka, 'Ashoka the fierce', for his cruelty. He kills his brothers to win the throne, and builds a torture house called Ashoka's Hell. After meeting a Buddhist monk he repents and becomes Dharmashoka, 'Ashoka the righteous'.

    The rest is history

    This tale comes from Buddhist texts such as the Ashokavadana (Sanskrit, c. 2nd century CE) and the Sri Lankan chronicles Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa. They were written centuries after Ashoka and aim to show the power of the Buddha's teaching. Ashoka's own edicts mention living brothers and sisters, and so contradict the massacre. The edicts also tell a different story of change, after Kalinga. Scholars treat the Buddhist accounts as pious legend that grew up around a real king.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryAshokavadana. Sanskrit Buddhist text, c. 2nd century CE.
    2. BookStrong, John S. The Legend of King Asoka: A Study and Translation of the Asokavadana. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.

  9. The 84,000 stupas

    Origin story

    The legend

    Ashoka opens seven of the eight original stupas holding relics of the Buddha and divides them into 84,000 portions. He has a stupa built over each of them, in cities across his empire, all completed at the same moment.

    The rest is history

    The tale appears in the Ashokavadana and Sri Lankan chronicles, and the number 84,000 is symbolic. Ashoka did promote Buddhism, and his own edicts record a pilgrimage to Lumbini, the Buddha's birthplace, where a pillar of his still stands. The Great Stupa at Sanchi was first built under the Mauryas, and later enlarged. Archaeology confirms that stupa building spread widely in the following centuries, but no source of his time speaks of the 84,000.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLumbini Pillar Inscription of Ashoka. Prakrit inscription in Brahmi, c. 249 BCE, Lumbini, Nepal.
    2. BookStrong, John S. The Legend of King Asoka: A Study and Translation of the Asokavadana. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.

  10. Ashoka as the pacifist who disbanded his army

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said today that after Kalinga, Ashoka gave up war altogether, disbanded his army and ruled as a gentle pacifist, so that his empire fell for lack of defence.

    The rest is history

    Ashoka's edicts show no sign that he disbanded his army. In the Thirteenth Rock Edict he warns the forest peoples that he has the power to punish them if they do not change their ways. He kept the death penalty, though he granted some respite to condemned prisoners. He gave up conquest by war and urged his sons and descendants to do the same, but he remained the ruler of a strong military state. The empire survived for about fifty years after his death, and its fall is explained by wider causes.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryMajor Rock Edict XIII of Ashoka. Prakrit inscription, c. 260 BCE.Includes the warning to forest tribes.
    2. BookThapar, Romila. Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.

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