View source for Maurya Empire

{{Short description|Ancient Indian empire (322–185 BCE)}}
{{distinguish|Mori Kingdom}}
{{for2|the Indian surname|Maurya (surname)|the Indian 2004 film|Maurya (film)|other uses|Moriya (disambiguation)}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Maurya Empire
| common_name            = Mauryan Empire
| native_name            = 
| era                    = [[Iron Age]]
| government_type        = [[Absolute monarchy]], as described in [[Kautilya]]'s ''[[Arthashastra]]''<br /> and [[Rajamandala]]<ref name="avari-2007">Avari, Burjor (2007). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Y1e2V_4Um10C India, the Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-continent from C. 7000 BC to AD 1200] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123134054/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y1e2V_4Um10C |date=23 November 2022 }}'' Taylor & Francis. {{ISBN|0415356156}}. pp. 188-189.</ref>
| event_start            = [[Nanda-Mauryan War]]
| year_start             = 322&nbsp;BCE&nbsp;
| status                 = [[Empire]]
| year_end               = &nbsp;185&nbsp;BCE
| event_end              = Assassination of Brihadratha by [[Pushyamitra Shunga]]
| p1                     = Nanda Empire
| flag_p1                = 
| p2                     = Gedrosia
| flag_p2                = 
| p3                     = Arachosia
| flag_p3                = 
| p4                     = Aria (region)
| p5                     = Paropamisadae
| p6                     = Parada kingdom
| flag_p7                = 
| p8                     = Pundravardhana
| p9                     = Saurashtra (region)
| p10                    = Vidarbha
| p11                    = Andhras
| p12                    = Kalinga (historical region)
| flag_p4                = 
| s1                     = Shunga Empire
| flag_s1                = 
| s2                     = Vidarbha kingdom (Mauryan era)
| flag_s2                = 
| s3                     = Satavahana dynasty
| flag_s3                = 
| s4                     = Mitra dynasty (Kosambi)
| flag_s4                = 
| s5                     = Samatata
| flag_s5                = 
| s6                     = Indo-Greek Kingdom
| s7                     = Mahameghavahana dynasty
| s10                    = 
| flag_s6                = 
| today                  = [[India]]<br>[[Pakistan]]<br>[[Bangladesh]]<br>[[Nepal]]<br>[[Afghanistan]],<br>[[Iran]]
| image_map              = Maurya Empire, c.250 BCE.png
| image_map_caption      = 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]];{{sfn|Hermann Kulke|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TPVq3ykHyH4C&pg=PA69 69-70]}} [[Burton Stein]];<ref name="Stein2010">{{citation|last=Stein|first=Burton|title=A History of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC&pg=GBS.PA74|year=2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-2351-1|page=74 |quote=In the past it was not uncommon for historians to conflate the vast space thus outlined with the oppressive realm described in the Arthashastra and to posit one of the earliest and certainly one of the largest totalitarian regimes in all of history. Such a picture is no longer considered believable; at present what is taken to be the realm of Ashoka is a discontinuous set of several core regions separated by very large areas occupied by relatively autonomous peoples.}}</ref> David Ludden;<ref name="Ludden2013-lead-4"/> and [[Romila Thapar]];<ref name="ConinghamYoung2015b"/> anthropologists [[Monica L. Smith]]<ref name="ConinghamYoung2015a">{{citation|last1=Coningham|first1=Robin|last2=Young|first2=Ruth|title=The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c.6500 BCE – 200 CE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yaJrCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA453|year=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-41898-7|page=453}}</ref> and [[Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah]];<ref name="ConinghamYoung2015b"/> archaeologist [[Robin Coningham]];<ref name="ConinghamYoung2015b">{{citation|last1=Coningham|first1=Robin|last2=Young|first2=Ruth|title=The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c.6500 BCE – 200 CE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yaJrCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA451|year=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-41898-7|pages=451–466}}</ref> and historical demographer [[Tim Dyson]].<ref name="Dyson2018-16b">{{citation|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8|pages=16–17|quote=Magadha power came to extend over the main cities and communication routes of the Ganges basin. Then, under Chandragupta Maurya (c.321–297 bce), and subsequently Ashoka his grandson, Pataliputra became the centre of the loose-knit Mauryan 'Empire' which during Ashoka's reign (c.268–232 bce) briefly had a presence throughout the main urban centres and arteries of the subcontinent, except for the extreme south.}}</ref>
| image_map2             = Maurya Empire, c.250 BCE 2.png
| image_map2_caption     = Maximum extent of the Maurya Empire, as shown by the location of [[Edicts of Ashoka|Ashoka's inscriptions]], and visualized by historians: [[Vincent Arthur Smith]];<ref name="Smith1920">{{citation|last=Smith|first=Vincent Arthur|title=The Oxford History of India: From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2gxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA104|year=1920|publisher=Clarendon Press|pages=104–106}}</ref> [[R. C. Majumdar]];<ref name="India1950">{{citation|last1=Majumdar|first1=R. C.|last2=Raychaudhuri|first2=H. C.|last3=Datta|first3=Kalikinkar|title=An Advanced History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyIWMwEACAAJ|edition=Second|year=1950|publisher=Macmillan & Company|page=104}}</ref> and historical geographer [[Joseph E. Schwartzberg]].<ref name="dsal.uchicago.edu">Schwartzberg, Joseph E. [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/ ''A Historical Atlas of South Asia''], 2nd ed. (University of Minnesota, 1992), Plate III.B.4b ([https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=055 p.18]) and Plate XIV.1a-c ([https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=182 p.145]) |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/ |date=26 January 2021</ref>
| capital                = [[Pataliputra]]<br />(present-day [[Patna]])
| common_languages       = [[Sanskrit]] (literary and academic),
[[Magadhi Prakrit]] (vernacular)
| religion               = {{plainlist|
*[[Jainism]]{{sfn|Smith|1981|p=99}}{{sfn|Dalrymple|2009}}{{sfn|Keay|1981|p=85-86}}{{efn|name="Jainism"}}
*[[Buddhism]]{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2020|p=68}}{{sfn|Long|2020|p=255}}{{efn|name="Buddhism"}}
*[[Ājīvika|Ajivikism]]{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2020|p=68}}{{sfn|Long|2020|p=255}}{{efn|name="Ajivikism"}} 
*[[Brahmanism]]{{sfn|Nath Sen|1999|p= 164, (215) 217}}{{efn|name="Brahmanism"}}
*[[Greek polytheism]]<br />[[Zoroastrianism]] (northwest){{sfn|Boyce|Grenet|1991|p=149}}}}
| demonym                = Indian
| GDP_PPP                = 
| currency               = [[Karshapana]]
| title_leader           = [[List of Maurya Emperors|Emperor]]
| leader1                = [[Chandragupta Maurya|Chandragupta]]
| year_leader1           = 322–298&nbsp;BCE
| leader2                = [[Bindusara]]
| year_leader2           = 298–272&nbsp;BCE
| leader3                = [[Ashoka]]
| year_leader3           = 268–232&nbsp;BCE
| leader4                = [[Dasharatha Maurya|Dasharatha]]
| year_leader4           = 232–224&nbsp;BCE
| leader5                = [[Samprati]]
| year_leader5           = 224–215&nbsp;BCE
| leader6                = [[Shalishuka]]
| year_leader6           = 215–202&nbsp;BCE
| leader7                = [[Devavarman (Maurya)|Devavarman]]
| year_leader7           = 202–195&nbsp;BCE
| leader8                = [[Shatadhanvan]]
| year_leader8           = 195–187&nbsp;BCE
| leader9                = [[Brihadratha Maurya|Brihadratha]]
| year_leader9           = 187–185&nbsp;BCE
| stat_year1             = 261 BCE
| stat_area1             = 3400000
| ref_area1              = <ref name="Taagepera132">{{cite journal|date=1979|title=Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.|jstor=1170959|journal=[[Social Science History]]|volume=3|issue=3/4|page=132|doi=10.2307/1170959|last1=Taagepera|first1=Rein}}</ref>{{break}}(low-end estimate of peak area)
| stat_year2             = 250 BCE
| stat_area2             = 5000000
| ref_area2              = <ref name="Turchin223">{{cite journal|last2=Adams|first2=Jonathan M.|last3=Hall|first3=Thomas D|date=December 2006|title=East-West Orientation of Historical Empires|url=http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/369/381|journal=Journal of World-Systems Research|volume=12|issue=2|page=223|issn=1076-156X|last1=Turchin|first1=Peter|access-date=16 September 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520161830/http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/369/381|archive-date=20 May 2019|df=dmy-all}}</ref>{{break}}(high-end estimate of peak area)
}}
{{Maurya}}
The '''Maurya Empire'''  was a geographically extensive [[Iron Age]] [[list of ancient great powers|historical power]] in [[South Asia]] based in [[Magadha]]. Founded by [[Chandragupta Maurya]] in 322 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE.<ref name="Dyson2018-lead-maurya">
{{citation
|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8|pages=16–17}} Quote: "Magadha power came to extend over the main cities and communication routes of the Ganges basin. Then, under Chandragupta Maurya (c.321–297 bce), and subsequently Ashoka his grandson, Pataliputra became the centre of the loose-knit Mauryan 'Empire' which during Ashoka's reign (c.268–232 bce) briefly had a presence throughout the main urban centres and arteries of the subcontinent, except for the extreme south."</ref> 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.<ref name="Ludden2013-lead-maurya">
{{citation
|last=Ludden
|first=David|title=India and South Asia: A Short History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbFHAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA29|year=2013|publisher=Oneworld Publications|isbn=978-1-78074-108-6|pages=29–30 |quote=The geography of the Mauryan Empire resembled a spider with a small dense body and long spindly legs. The highest echelons of imperial society lived in the inner circle composed of the ruler, his immediate family, other relatives, and close allies, who formed a dynastic core. Outside the core, empire travelled stringy routes dotted with armed cities. Outside the palace, in the capital cities, the highest ranks in the imperial elite were held by military commanders whose active loyalty and success in war determined imperial fortunes. Wherever these men failed or rebelled, dynastic power crumbled. ... Imperial society flourished where elites mingled; they were its backbone, its strength was theirs. Kautilya's ''Arthasastra'' indicates that imperial power was concentrated in its original heartland, in old ''Magadha'', where key institutions seem to have survived for about seven hundred years, down to the age of the Guptas. Here, Mauryan officials ruled local society, but not elsewhere. In provincial towns and cities, officials formed a top layer of royalty; under them, old conquered royal families were not removed, but rather subordinated. In most ''janapadas'', the Mauryan Empire consisted of strategic urban sites connected loosely to vast hinterlands through lineages and local elites who were there when the Mauryas arrived and were still in control when they left.}}</ref>{{sfn|Hermann Kulke|2004|pp=xii, 448}}<ref>{{cite book | first1=Romila | last1=Thapar | title=A History of India, Volume 1 | publisher=Penguin Books | author-link=Romila Thapar | year=1990 | page=384 | isbn=0-14-013835-8}}</ref> During [[Ashoka]]'s rule (ca. 268–232 BCE), the empire briefly controlled the major urban hubs and arteries of the [[Indian Subcontinent|subcontinent]] excepting the deep south.<ref name="Dyson2018-lead-maurya"/> It declined for about 50&nbsp;years after Ashoka's rule, and dissolved in 185&nbsp;BCE with the assassination of Brihadratha by [[Pushyamitra Shunga]] and foundation of the [[Shunga Empire|Shunga dynasty]] in [[Magadha]].

Chandragupta Maurya raised an army, with the assistance of [[Chanakya]], author of the [[Arthashastra]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=India: A History|last=Keay|first=John|publisher=Grove Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-8021-3797-5|pages=82}}</ref> and overthrew the [[Nanda Empire]] in {{circa|322 BCE}}. Chandragupta rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India by conquering the [[satrap]]s left by [[Alexander the Great]], and by 317 BCE the empire had fully occupied northwestern India.{{sfn|R. K. Mookerji|1966|p=31}} The Mauryan Empire then defeated [[Seleucus I Nicator|Seleucus I]], a [[Diadochi|diadochus]] and founder of the [[Seleucid Empire]], during the [[Seleucid–Mauryan war]], thus acquiring territory west of the [[Indus River]].<ref>[[Seleucus I]] ceded the territories of [[Arachosia]] (modern Kandahar), [[Gedrosia]] (modern [[Balochistan]]), and [[Paropamisadae]] (or [[Gandhara]]). [[Aria (satrapy)|Aria]] (modern [[Herat]]) "has been wrongly included in the list of ceded satrapies by some scholars ... on the basis of wrong assessments of the passage of Strabo ... and a statement by Pliny" (Raychaudhuri & Mukherjee 1996, p. 594).</ref>{{sfn|John D Grainger|2014|p=109|ps=: Seleucus "must ... have held Aria", and furthermore, his "son [[Antiochus I Soter|Antiochos]] was active there fifteen years later".}}

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 Uttarapath, a precursor of the [[Grand Trunk Road]] from Patliputra to [[Taxila]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2016/dinner-on-the-grand-trunk-road/|title=Dinner on the Grand Trunk Road|last=Bhandari|first=Shirin|date=2016-01-05|publisher=Roads & Kingdoms|language=en-US|access-date=2016-07-19}}</ref> 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 [[Anuradhapura Kingdom|Sri Lanka]], northwest India, and Central Asia.{{sfn|Hermann Kulke|2004|p=67}}

The population of South Asia during the Mauryan period has been estimated to be between 15 and 30 million.<ref name="Dyson2018-lead-maurya-4">
{{citation
|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8|page=24}} Quote: "Yet Sumit Guha considers that 20 million is an upper limit. This is because the demographic growth experienced in core areas is likely to have been less than that experienced in areas that were more lightly settled in the early historic period. The position taken here is that the population in Mauryan times (320–220 BCE) was between 15 and 30 million—although it may have been a little more, or it may have been a little less."</ref> 
The empire's period of dominion was marked by exceptional creativity in art, architecture, inscriptions and produced texts,<ref name="Ludden2013-lead-4">
{{citation
|last=Ludden
|first=David|title=India and South Asia: A Short History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbFHAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|year=2013|publisher=Oneworld Publications|isbn=978-1-78074-108-6|pages=28–29}}Quote: "A creative explosion in all the arts was a most remarkable feature of this ancient transformation, a permanent cultural legacy. Mauryan territory was created in its day by awesome armies and dreadful war, but future generations would cherish its beautiful pillars, inscriptions, coins, sculptures, buildings, ceremonies, and texts, particularly later Buddhist writers."
</ref> but also by the consolidation of [[Caste in India|caste]] in the [[Gangetic plain]], and the declining rights of women in the mainstream [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan speaking]] regions of India.<ref name="Dyson2018-lead-maurya-3">
{{citation
|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8|page=19}} Quote: "Accordingly, as tribal societies were encountered by the expanding Indo-Aryan societies, so the evolving caste system provided a framework within which—invariably at a low level—tribal people could be placed. For example, by the time of the Mauryan Empire (c.320–230 bce) the caste system was quite well established and the Aranyachará (i.e. forest people) were grouped with the most despised castes. ... The evolution of Indo-Aryan society in the centuries before c.200 bce not only saw increased segregation with respect to caste, it also seems to have seen increased differentiation with respect to gender. ... Therefore, by the time of the Mauryan Empire the position of women in mainstream Indo-Aryan society seems to have deteriorated. Customs such as child marriage and dowry were becoming entrenched; and a young women's purpose in life was to provide sons for the male lineage into which she married. To quote the Arthashāstra: 'wives are there for having sons'. Practices such as female infanticide and the neglect of young girls were possibly also developing at this time, especially among higher caste people. Further, due to the increasingly hierarchical nature of the society, marriage was possibly becoming an even more crucial institution for childbearing and the formalization of relationships between groups. In turn, this may have contributed to the growth of increasingly instrumental attitudes towards women and girls (who moved home at marriage). It is important to note that, in all likelihood, these developments did not affect people living in large parts of the subcontinent—such as those in the south, and tribal communities inhabiting the forested hill and plateau areas of central and eastern India. That said, these deleterious features have continued to blight Indo-Aryan speaking areas of the subcontinent until the present day."
</ref> 
Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of [[Northern Black Polished Ware]] (NBPW). The ''Arthashastra''<ref>"It is doubtful if, in its present shape, [the ''Arthashastra''] is as old as the time of the first Maurya", as it probably contains layers of text ranging from Maurya times till as late as the 2nd century CE. Nonetheless, "though a comparatively late work, it may be used ... to confirm and supplement the information gleaned from earlier sources". (Raychaudhuri & Mukherjee 1996, pp. 246–247)</ref> 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 India|State Emblem of the Republic of India]].

== Etymology ==
{{See also|Jambudvīpa}}

The name "Maurya" does not occur in [[Edicts of Ashoka|Ashoka's inscriptions]], or the contemporary Greek accounts such as [[Megasthenes]]'s ''[[Indica (Megasthenes)|Indica]]'', but it is attested by the following sources:{{sfn|Irfan Habib|Vivekanand Jha|2004|p=14}}

*The [[Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman]] (c. 150 CE) prefixes "Maurya" to the names Chandragupta and Ashoka.{{sfn|Irfan Habib|Vivekanand Jha|2004|p=14}}
* The [[Puranas]] (c. 4th century CE or earlier) use Maurya as a dynastic appellation.{{sfn|Irfan Habib|Vivekanand Jha|2004|p=14}}
* The Buddhist texts state that Chandragupta belonged to the "[[Moriya (tribe)|Moriya]]" clan of the Shakyas, the tribe to which [[Gautama Buddha]] belonged.{{sfn|Irfan Habib|Vivekanand Jha|2004|p=14}}
* The Jain texts state that Chandragupta was the son of an imperial superintendent of peacocks (''mayura-poshaka'').{{sfn|Irfan Habib|Vivekanand Jha|2004|p=14}}
*[[Sangam literature|Tamil Sangam literature]] also designate them as '{{transliteration|ta|moriyar}}' and mention them after the [[Nanda Empire|Nandas]]<ref name="Singh 2008">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pq2iCwAAQBAJ&q=mokur+sangam+poem&pg=PA385|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|last=Singh|first=Upinder|date=2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=9788131716779|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Kuntala country|Kuntala]] inscription (from the town of Bandanikke, [[Mysore district|North Mysore]]) of 12th century AD chronologically mention Maurya as one of the dynasties which ruled the region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107941|title=Annual Report Of Mysore 1886 To 1903|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

According to some scholars, Kharavela's [[Hathigumpha inscription]] (2nd-1st century BC) mentions era of Maurya Empire as Muriya Kala (Mauryan era),<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/epigrahiaindicav014769mbp|title=Epigraphia Indica Vol.20|date=1920|publisher=Archaeological Survey of India|page=[https://archive.org/details/epigrahiaindicav014769mbp/page/n106 80]|language=en}}</ref> but this reading is disputed: other scholars—such as epigraphist [[D. C. Sircar]]—read the phrase as mukhiya-kala ("the principal art").<ref>{{cite book | chapter=The Satavahanas and the Chedis | author = [[D. C. Sircar]] | year = 1968 | title =The Age of Imperial Unity | editor = [[R. C. Majumdar]] | publisher = Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan | page = 215 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J1SgAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

According to the Buddhist tradition, the ancestors of the Maurya kings had settled in a region where peacocks (''mora'' in [[Pali language|Pali]]) were abundant. Therefore, they came to be known as "Moriyas", literally meaning, "belonging to the place of peacocks". According to another Buddhist account, these ancestors built a city called Moriya-nagara ("Peacock-city"), which was so called, because it was built with the "bricks coloured like peacocks' necks".{{sfn|R. K. Mookerji|1966|p=14}}

The dynasty's connection to the peacocks, as mentioned in the Buddhist and Jain traditions, seems to be corroborated by archaeological evidence. For example, peacock figures are found on the [[Lauria Nandangarh#Pillar of Ashoka|Ashoka pillar at Nandangarh]] and several sculptures on the Great Stupa of [[Sanchi]]. Based on this evidence, modern scholars theorize that the peacock may have been the dynasty's emblem.{{sfn|R. K. Mookerji|1966|p=15}}

Some later authors, such as [[Dhundhiraja of Svamimalai|Dhundhi-raja]] (an 18th-century commentator on the ''[[Mudrarakshasa]]'' and an annotator of the ''[[Vishnu Purana]]''), state that the word "Maurya" is derived from Mura and the mother of the first Maurya emperor. However, the Puranas themselves make no mention of Mura and do not talk of any relation between the Nanda and the Maurya dynasties.{{sfn|H. C. Raychaudhuri|1988|p=140}} Dhundiraja's derivation of the word seems to be his own invention: according to the Sanskrit rules, the derivative of the feminine name Mura ([[IAST]]: Murā) would be "Maureya"; the term "Maurya" can only be derived from the masculine "Mura".{{sfn|R. K. Mookerji|1966|p=8}}

==History==

===Founding===

Prior to the Maurya Empire, the [[Nanda Empire]] ruled over a broad swathe of the Indian subcontinent. The Nanda Empire was a large, militaristic, and economically powerful empire due to conquering the [[mahajanapadas]]. According to several legends, Chanakya travelled to [[Pataliputra]], [[Magadha]], the capital of the Nanda Empire where Chanakya worked for the Nandas as a [[Amatya|minister]]. However, Chanakya was insulted by the King [[Dhana Nanda]] when he informed them of Alexander's invasion. Chanakya swore revenge and vowed to destroy the Nanda Empire.<ref name="Namita20082">{{cite book|last1=Sugandhi|first1=Namita Sanjay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bdULPF4gNYC&pg=PA88|title=Between the Patterns of History: Rethinking Mauryan Imperial Interaction in the Southern Deccan|year=2008|isbn=9780549744412|pages=88–89}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He had to flee in order to save his life and went to [[Taxila]], a notable center of learning, to work as a teacher. On one of his travels, Chanakya witnessed some young men playing a rural game practicing a pitched battle. One of the boys was none other than Chandragupta. Chanakya was impressed by the young Chandragupta and saw imperial qualities in him as someone fit to rule.

{{Continental Asia in 200 BCE|right|The Maurya Empire and contemporary Asian polities circa 200 BCE||Gupta Empire map.png}}
Meanwhile, [[Alexander the Great]] was leading his Indian campaigns and ventured into Punjab. His army mutinied at the [[Beas River]] and refused to advance farther eastward when confronted by another army. Alexander returned to [[Babylon]] and re-deployed most of his troops west of the [[Indus River]]. Soon after Alexander died in Babylon in 323&nbsp;BCE, his empire fragmented into independent kingdoms ruled by his generals.{{sfn|Kosmin|2014|p=31}}

The Maurya Empire was established in the Magadha region under the leadership of Chandragupta Maurya and his mentor Chanakya. Chandragupta was taken to Taxila by Chanakya and was tutored about statecraft and governing. Requiring an army Chandragupta recruited and annexed local [[Gaṇasaṅgha|military republics]] such as the [[Yaudheya]]s that had resisted Alexander's Empire. The Mauryan army quickly rose to become the prominent regional power in the North West of the Indian subcontinent. The Mauryan army then conquered the satraps established by the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonians]].<ref>{{cite book|title= Ancient Indian History and Civilization|first= Sailendra |last= Nath sen |publisher= Routledge |year=1999 |page=162|isbn= 9788122411980 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&q=maurya+dynasty+sen
}}</ref> Ancient Greek historians [[Nearchus]], [[Onesictrius]], and [[Aristobulus of Cassandreia|Aristobolus]] have provided lot of information about the Mauryan empire.<ref>{{cite book|title= Ancient Indian History and Civilization|first= Sailendra |last= Nath sen |publisher= Routledge |year=1999 |page=130|isbn= 9788122411980 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&q=maurya+dynasty+sen
}}</ref> The Greek generals [[Eudemus (general)|Eudemus]] and [[Peithon, son of Agenor|Peithon]] ruled in the [[Indus Valley]] until around 317&nbsp;BCE, when Chandragupta Maurya (with the help of Chanakya, who was now his advisor) fought and drove out the Greek governors, and subsequently brought the Indus Valley under the control of his new seat of power in Magadha.{{sfn|R. K. Mookerji|1966|p=31}}

Chandragupta Maurya's ancestry is shrouded in mystery and controversy. On one hand, a number of ancient Indian accounts, such as the drama ''[[Mudrarakshasa]]'' (''Signet ring of Rakshasa'' – ''Rakshasa'' was the prime minister of Magadha) by [[Vishakhadatta]], describe his royal ancestry and even link him with the Nanda family. A kshatriya clan known as the Mauryas are referred to in the earliest [[Buddhist texts]], [[Mahāparinibbāna Sutta]]. However, any conclusions are hard to make without further historical evidence. Chandragupta first emerges in Greek accounts as "Sandrokottos". As a young man he is said to have met Alexander.<ref>:"Androcottus, when he was a stripling, saw Alexander himself, and we are told that he often said in later times that Alexander narrowly missed making himself master of the country, since its king was hated and despised on account of his baseness and low birth." [[Plutarch]]  62-3 [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0243&layout=&loc=62.1 Plutarch 62-3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081028230118/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0243&layout=&loc=62.1 |date=28 October 2008 }}</ref> Chanakya is said to have met the Nanda king, angered him, and made a narrow escape.<ref>:"He was of humble Indian to a change of rule." Justin XV.4.15 "Fuit hic humili quidem genere natus, sed ad regni potestatem maiestate numinis inpulsus. Quippe cum procacitate sua Nandrum regem offendisset, interfici a rege iussus salutem pedum ceieritate quaesierat. (Ex qua fatigatione cum somno captus iaceret, leo ingentis formae ad dormientem accessit sudoremque profluentem lingua ei detersit expergefactumque blande reliquit. Hoc prodigio primum ad spem regni inpulsus) contractis latronibus Indos ad nouitatem regni sollicitauit." {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160201051124/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/justin/texte15.html Justin XV.4.15]}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=April 2023}}

===Overthrow of the Nanda Empire===
{{Main|Nanda-Mauryan War|Chandragupta Maurya|Chanakya|Nanda Empire|Magadha}}
{{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width = 330|caption_align = center
| align     = right
| direction = horizontal
| header    = '''Territorial evolution of the Mauryan Empire'''
| image1    = Magadha Expansion 1.gif
| caption1  = <small>Territory of [[Magadha]] and the Maurya Empire between 600 and 180 BCE, including Chandragupta's overthrow of the Nanda Empire (321 BCE) and gains from the [[Seleucid Empire]] (303 BCE), the southward expansion (before 273 BCE), and Ashoka's conquest of [[Kalinga (historical region)|Kalinga]] (261 BCE).<ref name="dsal.uchicago.edu"/></small>
| image2    = Magadha Expansion 2.gif
| caption2  = <small>The same animation, modified in accordance with Kulke and Rothermund (see text). [[Hermann Kulke]] and [[Dietmar Rothermund]] believe that Ashoka's empire did not include large parts of India, which were controlled by autonomous tribes.{{sfn|Hermann Kulke|2004|p=69–70}}</small>
| footer    = 
}}

Historically reliable details of Chandragupta's campaign against [[Nanda Empire]] are unavailable and legends written centuries later are inconsistent. Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu texts claim [[Magadha]] was ruled by the [[Nanda dynasty]], which, with [[Chanakya]]'s counsel, [[Chandragupta Maurya|Chandragupta]] conquered Nanda Empire.{{sfn|Thapar|2013|pp=362–364}}{{sfn|Sen|1895|pp=26–32}}{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=272}} The army of Chandragupta and Chanakya first conquered the Nanda outer territories, and finally besieged the Nanda capital '''Pataliputra'''. In contrast to the easy victory in Buddhist sources, the Hindu and Jain texts state that the campaign was bitterly fought because the Nanda dynasty had a powerful and well-trained army.{{sfn|Mookerji|1988|pp=28–33}}{{sfn|Sen|1895|pp=26–32}}

The Buddhist ''Mahavamsa Tika'' and Jain ''Parishishtaparvan'' records Chandragupta's army unsuccessfully attacking the Nanda capital. {{sfn|Hemacandra|1998|pp=175–188}} Chandragupta and Chanakya then began a campaign at the frontier of the Nanda empire, gradually conquering various territories on their way to the Nanda capital.{{sfn|Mookerji|1988|p=33}} He then refined his strategy by establishing garrisons in the conquered territories, and finally besieged the Nanda capital Pataliputra. There [[Dhana Nanda]] accepted defeat.{{sfn|Malalasekera|2002|p=383}}{{sfn|Mookerji|1988|pp=33-34}} The conquest was fictionalised in ''Mudrarakshasa'' play, it contains narratives not found in other versions of the Chanakya-Chandragupta legend. Because of this difference, [[Thomas Trautmann]] suggests that most of it is fictional or legendary, without any historical basis.{{sfn|Trautmann|1971|p=43}} [[Radha Kumud Mukherjee]] similarly considers Mudrakshasa play without historical basis.<ref>Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, Radhakumud Mookerji, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1966, p.26-27 {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-y6ZUheQH8C&pg=PA27 |title=Chandragupta Maurya and His Times |access-date=2016-11-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127023139/https://books.google.fr/books?id=i-y6ZUheQH8C&pg=PA27 |archive-date=27 November 2016 |df=dmy-all |isbn=9788120804050 |last1=Mookerji |first1=Radhakumud |year=1966 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. }}</ref>

These legends state that the Nanda emperor was defeated, deposed and exiled by some accounts, while Buddhist accounts claim he was killed.{{sfn|Mookerji|1988|p=34}} With the defeat of Dhana Nanda, Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire.{{sfn|Roy|2012|p=62}}

===Chandragupta Maurya===
{{Main|Chandragupta Maurya}}
{{further|Seleucid–Mauryan war}}
[[File:Mauryan ruins of pillared hall at Kumrahar site of Pataliputra ASIEC 1912-13.jpg|thumb|[[Pataliputra]], capital of the Mauryas. Ruins of pillared hall at Kumrahar site.]]
[[File:Pataliputra capital, Bihar Museum, Patna, 3rd century BCE.jpg|thumb|The [[Pataliputra capital]], discovered at the [[Bulandi Bagh]] site of Pataliputra, 4th–3rd c. BCE.]]

After the [[death of Alexander the Great]] in 323 BCE, Chandragupta led a [[Seleucid–Mauryan war|series of campaigns]] in 305 BCE to take [[satrapies]] in the Indus Valley and northwest India.<ref name="greenwood">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JEvN6XwWTk8C&pg=PA252|title=From Polis to Empire, the Ancient World, C. 800 B.C.-A.D. 500|date=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing|isbn=0313309426|access-date=16 August 2019}}</ref> When Alexander's remaining forces were routed, returning westwards, Seleucus I Nicator fought to defend these territories. Not many details of the campaigns are known from ancient sources. Seleucus was defeated and retreated into the mountainous region of Afghanistan.<ref name=kistler>{{cite book |last1=Kistler |first1=John M. |title=War Elephants |date=2007 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0803260047 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5RHK4Ol15QC&pg=PA64 |access-date=16 August 2019}}</ref>

The two rulers concluded a peace treaty in 303 BCE, including a marital alliance. Under its terms, Chandragupta received the satrapies of [[Paropamisadae]] ([[Kambojas|Kamboja]] and [[Gandhara]]) and [[Arachosia]] ([[Kandahar Province]]) and [[Gedrosia]] ([[Balochistan]]). Seleucus I received the 500 [[war elephant]]s that were to have a decisive role in his victory against western [[Hellenistic]] kings at the [[Battle of Ipsus]] in 301&nbsp;BCE. Diplomatic relations were established and several Greeks, such as the historian [[Megasthenes]], [[Deimachus]] and [[Dionysius (ambassador)|Dionysius]] resided at the Mauryan court.<ref>{{Cite book|last=s|first=deepak|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5NRDQAAQBAJ&q=Megasthenes%2C+Deimakos+and+Dionysius&pg=PA89|title=Indian civilization|date=2016-10-25|publisher=deepak shinde|language=en}}</ref>

Megasthenes in particular was a notable Greek ambassador in the court of Chandragupta Maurya.{{sfn|Kosmin|2014|p=38}} His book ''Indika'' is a major literary source for information about the Mauryan Empire. According to [[Arrian]], ambassador Megasthenes (c.&nbsp;350&nbsp;– c.&nbsp;290&nbsp;BCE) lived in Arachosia and travelled to [[Pataliputra]].<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://websfor.org/alexander/arrian/book5a.asp |chapter=Book 5 |title=Anabasis |title-link=Anabasis Alexandri |author-link=Arrian |author=Arrian |quote=Megasthenes lived with [[Sibyrtius]], satrap of Arachosia, and often speaks of his visiting [[Sandracottus]], the king of the Indians.}}</ref> Megasthenes' description of Mauryan society as freedom-loving gave Seleucus a means to avoid invasion, however, underlying Seleucus' decision was the improbability of success. In later years, Seleucus' successors maintained diplomatic relations with the Empire based on similar accounts from returning travellers.<ref name=greenwood />

Chandragupta established a strong centralised state with an administration at Pataliputra, which, according to Megasthenes, was "surrounded by a wooden wall pierced by 64 gates and 570 towers". [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], although not expressly quoting Megasthenes nor mentioning Pataliputra, described Indian palaces as superior in splendor to [[Ancient Iran|Persia]]'s [[Susa]] or [[Ecbatana]].<ref>"In the royal residences in India where the greatest of the kings of that country live, there are so many objects for admiration that neither [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]]'s city of [[Susa]] with all its extravagance, nor the magnificence of [[Ectabana]] is to be compared with them. ... In the parks, tame peacocks and pheasants are kept." [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''Characteristics of animals'' [https://archive.org/details/L449AelianCharacteristicsOfAnimalsIII1217 book XIII, Chapter 18], also quoted in ''The Cambridge History of India'', Volume 1, p411</ref> The architecture of the city seems to have had many similarities with Persian cities of the period.<ref>Romila Thapar (1961), ''Aśoka and the decline of the Mauryas'', Volume 5, p.129, Oxford University Press. "The architectural closeness of certain buildings in Achaemenid Iran and Mauryan India have raised much comment. The royal palace at Pataliputra is the most striking example and has been compared with the palaces at Susa, Ecbatana, and Persepolis."</ref>

Chandragupta's son [[Bindusara]] extended the rule of the Mauryan empire towards southern India. The famous [[Tamils|Tamil]] poet [[Mamulanar]] of the [[Sangam literature]] described how areas south of the [[Deccan Plateau]] which comprised [[Tamilakam]] was invaded by the Mauryan Army using troops from Karnataka. Mamulanar states that [[Vatuka|Vadugar]] (people who resided in Andhra-Karnataka regions immediately to the north of Tamil Nadu) formed the vanguard of the Mauryan Army.<ref name="Singh 2008"/>{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=331}} He also had a Greek ambassador at his court, named [[Deimachus]].{{sfn|Kosmin|2014|p=32}} According to [[Plutarch]], Chandragupta Maurya subdued all of India, and Justin also observed that Chandragupta Maurya was "in possession of India". These accounts are corroborated by Tamil Sangam literature which mentions about Mauryan invasion with their south Indian allies and defeat of their rivals at Podiyil hill in [[Tirunelveli district]] in present-day [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KItocaxbibUC&q=nanda+empire+extension&pg=PA157|title=Indian Civilization and Culture|last=Chatterjee|first=Suhas|date=1998|publisher=M.D. Publications |isbn=9788175330832|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LA91rqvCB2EC&q=podiyil+hill+maurya&pg=PA58|title=The Mauryan Polity|last=Dikshitar|first=V. R. Ramachandra|date=1993|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=9788120810235|language=en}}</ref>

Chandragupta renounced his throne and followed Jain teacher [[Bhadrabahu]].{{sfn|R. K. Mookerji|1966|pp=39–40}}{{sfn|Geoffrey Samuel|2010|pp=60}}{{sfn|Romila Thapar|2004|p=178}} He is said to have lived as an ascetic at [[Shravanabelagola]] for several years before fasting to death, as per the Jain practice of ''[[sallekhana]]''.{{sfn|R. K. Mookerji|1966|pp=39–41}}

===Bindusara===
{{Main|Bindusara}}
[[File:I42 1karshapana Maurya Bindusara MACW4165 1ar (8486583162).jpg|thumb|A silver coin of 1 [[karshapana]] of the Maurya empire, period of [[Bindusara]] Maurya about 297–272 BC, workshop of Pataliputra. '''Obv:''' Symbols with a sun. '''Rev:''' Symbol. '''Dimensions:''' 14 × 11 mm. '''Weight:''' 3.4 g.]]
Bindusara was born to [[Chandragupta Maurya|Chandragupta]], the founder of the Mauryan Empire. This is attested by several sources, including the various [[Puranas]] and the ''[[Mahāvaṃsa]]''.{{sfn|Srinivasachariar|1974|p=lxxxvii}}{{full citation needed|date=April 2019}} He is attested by the Buddhist texts such as ''[[Dīpavaṃsa]]'' and ''[[Mahāvaṃsa]]'' ("Bindusaro"); the Jain texts such as ''Parishishta-Parvan''; as well as the Hindu texts such as ''[[Vishnu Purana]]'' ("Vindusara").<ref name="VAS_Asoka">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/asokabuddhistemp00smitiala#page/18/mode/2up |title=Asoka, the Buddhist emperor of India |author=Vincent Arthur Smith |year=1920 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9788120613034 |pages=18–19 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlQOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA10 |title= On the Early Life of Asoka |author=Rajendralal Mitra |journal=Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal |year=1878 |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bengal |page=10 |author-link= Rajendralal Mitra }}</ref> According to the 12th century Jain writer [[Hemachandra]]'s ''[[Parishishtaparvan|Parishishta-Parvan]]'', the name of Bindusara's mother was [[Durdhara]].<ref name="Rosalind_1993">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Po9tUNX0SYAC&pg=PA204 |title=The Clever Adulteress and Other Stories: A Treasury of Jaina Literature |chapter=The Minister Cāṇakya, from the Pariśiṣtaparvan of Hemacandra|translator=Rosalind Lefeber |editor=[[Phyllis Granoff]] |author=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1993 |pages=204–206 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=9788120811508 }}</ref> Some Greek sources also mention him by the name "Amitrochates" or its variations.{{sfn|Kosmin|2014|p=35}}{{sfn|Alain Daniélou|2003|p=108}}

Historian [[Upinder Singh]] estimates that Bindusara ascended the throne around 297 BCE.{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=331}} Bindusara, just 22&nbsp;years&nbsp;old, inherited a large empire that consisted of what is now, Northern, Central and Eastern parts of India along with parts of Afghanistan and [[Balochistan (region)|Baluchistan]]. Bindusara extended this empire to the southern part of India, as far as what is now known as [[Karnataka]]. He brought sixteen states under the Mauryan Empire and thus conquered almost all of the Indian peninsula (he is said to have conquered the 'land between the two seas' – the peninsular region between the [[Bay of Bengal]] and the [[Arabian Sea]]). Bindusara did not conquer the friendly [[Three Crowned Kings|Tamil kingdoms]] of the [[Chola Dynasty|Cholas]], ruled by King [[Ilamcetcenni]], the [[Pandyas]], and [[Chera Dynasty|Cheras]]. Apart from these southern states, [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]] (modern Odisha) was the only kingdom in India that did not form part of Bindusara's empire.{{sfn|Sircar|1971|p=167}} It was later conquered by his son [[Ashoka]], who served as the [[Uparaja|Viceroy]] of [[Avantirastra]] during his father's reign, which highlights the importance of the province.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HeJS3nE9cAC&pg=PA152 |title=The Greeks in Bactria and India |author=William Woodthorpe Tarn |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=9781108009416 |page=152 |author-link=William Woodthorpe Tarn }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Mookerji Radhakumud |title=Asoka |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uXyftdtE1ygC&pg=PA8 |year=1962 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0582-8 |page=8 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510200953/https://books.google.com/books?id=uXyftdtE1ygC&pg=PA8 |archive-date=10 May 2018 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

Bindusara's life has not been documented as well as that of his father Chandragupta or of his son Ashoka. Chanakya continued to serve as prime minister during his reign. According to the medieval Tibetan scholar Taranatha who visited India, Chanakya helped Bindusara "to destroy the nobles and kings of the sixteen kingdoms and thus to become absolute master of the territory between the eastern and western oceans".{{sfn|Alain Daniélou|2003|p=109}} During his rule, the citizens of [[Taxila]] revolted twice. The reason for the first revolt was the maladministration of [[Susima]], his eldest son. The reason for the second revolt is unknown, but Bindusara could not suppress it in his lifetime. It was crushed by Ashoka after Bindusara's death.<ref name="EB_legends">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/legendsofindianb00burn#page/20/mode/2up |title=Legends of Indian Buddhism |author=Eugène Burnouf |publisher=E. P. Dutton |location=New York |year=1911 |pages=59 }}</ref>

Bindusara maintained friendly diplomatic relations with the Hellenic world. [[Deimachus]] was the ambassador of [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] king [[Antiochus I]] at Bindusara's court.{{sfn|S. N. Sen|1999|p=142}} [[Diodorus Siculus|Diodorus]] states that the king of Palibothra ([[Pataliputra]], the Mauryan capital) welcomed a Greek author, [[Iambulus]]. This king is usually identified as Bindusara.{{sfn|S. N. Sen|1999|p=142}} [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] states that the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] king [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus|Philadelphus]] sent an envoy named [[Dionysius (ambassador)|Dionysius]] to India.<ref>"Three Greek ambassadors are known by name: Megasthenes, ambassador to Chandragupta; Deimachus, ambassador to [[Chandragupta Maurya|Chandragupta's]] son Bindusara; and Dyonisius, whom Ptolemy Philadelphus sent to the court of Ashoka, Bindusara's son", McEvilley, p.367</ref><ref>''India, the Ancient Past'', Burjor Avari, pp. 108–109</ref> According to Sailendra Nath Sen, this appears to have happened during Bindusara's reign.{{sfn|S. N. Sen|1999|p=142}}

Unlike his father Chandragupta (who at a later stage converted to [[Jainism]]), Bindusara believed in the [[Ajivika]] religion. Bindusara's guru Pingalavatsa (Janasana) was a Brahmin<ref>Arthur Llewellyn Basham, ''History and doctrines of the Ājīvikas: a vanished Indian religion'', pp. 138, 146</ref> of the Ajivika religion. Bindusara's wife, Empress [[Shubhadrangi|Subhadrangi]] was a [[Brahmin]]<ref>Anukul Chandra Banerjee, ''Buddhism in comparative light'', p. 24</ref> also of the Ajivika religion from [[Champapuri|Champa]] (present [[Bhagalpur district]]). Bindusara is credited with giving several grants to Brahmin monasteries (''Brahmana-bhatto'').<ref>Beni Madhab Barua, Ishwar Nath Topa, ''Ashoka and his inscriptions'', Volume 1, p. 171</ref>

Historical evidence suggests that Bindusara died in the 270s BCE. According to Upinder Singh, Bindusara died around 273 BCE.{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=331}} [[Alain Daniélou]] believes that he died around 274 BCE.{{sfn|Alain Daniélou|2003|p=109}} Sailendra Nath Sen believes that he died around 273–272 BCE, and that his death was followed by a four-year struggle of succession, after which his son [[Ashoka]] became the emperor in 269–268 BCE.{{sfn|S. N. Sen|1999|p=142}} According to the ''[[Mahāvaṃsa]]'', Bindusara reigned for 28 years.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBbznHuPrTYC&pg=PA33 |title=Early Buddhism and the Bhagavadgita |author=Kashi Nath Upadhyaya |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1997 |isbn=9788120808805 |page=33 }}</ref> The ''[[Vayu Purana]]'', which names Chandragupta's successor as "Bhadrasara", states that he ruled for 25 years.<ref name="HHW_Vishnu">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0943AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA188 |title=The Vishnu Purana |volume=IV |translator=[[Horace Hayman Wilson|H. H. Wilson]] |editor=[[Fitzedward Hall]] |publisher=Trübner & Co |year=1868 |pages=188 }}</ref>

===Ashoka===
{{Main|Ashoka}}
{{further|Kalinga War}}
[[File:Sarnath capital.jpg|right|thumb|[[Lion Capital of Ashoka]] at [[Sarnath]]. c. 250 BCE.]]
[[File:Ashoka pillar at Vaishali, Bihar, India.jpg|thumb| Ashoka pillar at [[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vaishali]].]]
[[File:6thPillarOfAshoka.JPG|thumb|Fragment of the 6th Pillar [[Edicts of Ashoka|Edict of Ashoka]] (238 BCE), in [[Brāhmī script|Brahmi]], sandstone, [[British Museum]].]]
As a young prince, Ashoka ({{reign|272|232}}&nbsp;BCE) was a brilliant commander who crushed revolts in Ujjain and Taxila. As emperor he was ambitious and aggressive, re-asserting the Empire's superiority in southern and western India. But it was his conquest of [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]] (262–261&nbsp;BCE) which proved to be the pivotal event of his life. Ashoka used Kalinga to project power over a large region by building a fortification there and securing it as a possession.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States|last1=Allchin|first1=F. R.|last2=Erdosy|first2=George|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1995|location=Cambridge|pages=306}}</ref> Although Ashoka's army succeeded in overwhelming Kalinga forces of royal soldiers and citizen militias, an estimated 100,000 soldiers and civilians were killed in the furious warfare, including over 10,000 of Imperial Mauryan soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of people were adversely affected by the destruction and fallout of war. When he personally witnessed the devastation, Ashoka began feeling remorse. Although the annexation of Kalinga was completed, Ashoka embraced the teachings of Buddhism, and renounced war and violence. He sent out missionaries to travel around Asia and spread Buddhism to other countries. He also propagated his own ''[[Ashoka's policy of Dhamma|dhamma]].''{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

Ashoka implemented principles of ''[[ahimsa]]'' by banning hunting and violent sports activity and abolishing [[Slavery in ancient India|slave trade]]. While he maintained a large and powerful army, to keep the peace and maintain authority, Ashoka expanded friendly relations with states across Asia and Europe, and he sponsored Buddhist missions. He undertook a massive public works building campaign across the country. Over 40&nbsp;years of peace, harmony and prosperity made Ashoka one of the most successful and famous monarchs in Indian history. He remains an idealized figure of inspiration in modern India.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

The [[Edicts of Ashoka]], set in stone, are found throughout the Subcontinent. Ranging from as far west as Afghanistan and as far south as Andhra ([[Nellore District]]), Ashoka's edicts state his policies and accomplishments. Although predominantly written in Prakrit, two of them were written in [[Greek language|Greek]], and one in both Greek and [[Aramaic]]. Ashoka's edicts refer to the Greeks, [[Kambojas]], and [[Gandhara]]s as peoples forming a frontier region of his empire. They also attest to Ashoka's having sent envoys to the Greek rulers in the West as far as the Mediterranean. The edicts precisely name each of the rulers of the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic world]] at the time such as ''Amtiyoko'' ([[Antiochus II Theos]]), ''Tulamaya'' ([[Ptolemy II Philadelphus|Ptolemy II]]), ''Amtikini'' ([[Antigonus II Gonatas|Antigonos II]]), ''Maka'' ([[Magas of Cyrene|Magas]]) and ''Alikasudaro'' ([[Alexander II of Epirus]]) as recipients of Ashoka's proselytism.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} The Edicts also accurately locate their territory "600 yojanas away" (1 yojana being about 7&nbsp;miles), corresponding to the distance between the center of India and Greece (roughly 4,000&nbsp;miles).<ref>[[Edicts of Ashoka]], 13th Rock Edict, translation S. Dhammika.</ref>

===Decline===
{{See also|Indian colonisation of Khotan}}
Ashoka was followed for 50&nbsp;years by a succession of weaker emperors. He was succeeded by [[Dasharatha Maurya]], who was Ashoka's grandson. None of Ashoka's sons could ascend to the throne after him. [[Mahinda (Buddhist monk)|Mahinda]], his firstborn, became a Buddhist monk. [[Kunala|Kunala Maurya]] was blinded and hence couldn't ascend to the throne; and [[Tivala]], son of [[Karuvaki]], died even earlier than Ashoka. Little is known about another son, [[Jalauka]].

The empire lost many territories under Dasharatha, which were later reconquered by [[Samprati]], Kunala's son. Post Samprati, the Mauryas slowly lost many territories. In 180 BCE, [[Brihadratha Maurya]], was killed by his [[Senapati|general]], [[Pushyamitra Shunga]] in a military parade without any heir. Hence, the great Maurya Empire finally ended, giving rise to the [[Shunga Empire]].

Reasons advanced for the decline include the succession of weak emperors after Ashoka Maurya, the partition of the empire into two, the growing independence of some areas within the empire, such as that ruled by [[Sophagasenus]], a top-heavy administration where authority was entirely in the hands of a few persons, an absence of any national consciousness,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077244.001.0001/acprof-9780198077244-chapter-7 |title=Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas |last=Thapar |first=Romila |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford Scholarship Online |isbn=9780198077244 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077244.003.0031}}</ref> the pure scale of the empire making it unwieldy, and invasion by the [[Greco-Bactrian Empire|Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]].

Some historians, such as [[Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri]], have argued that Ashoka's pacifism undermined the "military backbone" of the Maurya empire. Others, such as [[Romila Thapar]], have suggested that the extent and impact of his pacifism have been "grossly exaggerated".{{sfn|Singh|2012|p=131, 143}}

====Shunga coup (185&nbsp;BCE)====
Buddhist records such as the [[Ashokavadana]] write that the assassination of Brihadratha and the rise of the Shunga empire led to a wave of religious persecution for [[Buddhists]],<ref>According to the [[Ashokavadana]]</ref> and a resurgence of [[Hinduism]].{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} According to [[Sir John Marshall]],<ref>Sir John Marshall (1990), "A Guide to Sanchi", Eastern Book House, {{ISBN|81-85204-32-2}}, p. 38</ref> Pushyamitra may have been the main author of the persecutions, although later Shunga kings seem to have been more supportive of Buddhism. Other historians, such as [[Etienne Lamotte]]<ref>E. Lamotte, ''History of Indian Buddhism'', Institut Orientaliste, Louvain-la-Neuve 1988 (1958)</ref> and [[Romila Thapar]],<ref>Romila Thapar (1960), ''Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas'', Oxford University Press, p. 200</ref> among others, have argued that archaeological evidence in favour of the allegations of persecution of Buddhists are lacking, and that the extent and magnitude of the atrocities have been exaggerated.

====Establishment of the Indo-Greek Kingdom (180&nbsp;BCE)====
{{Main|Indo-Greek Kingdom}}
[[File:World in 200 BCE.png|thumb|300px|Map of the world in 200 BC showing the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]], the Maurya Empire and the [[Yuezhi]] (Kushans)]]

The fall of the Mauryas left the [[Khyber Pass]] unguarded, and a wave of foreign invasion followed. The [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom|Greco-Bactrian]] king [[Demetrius I of Bactria|Demetrius]] capitalized on the breakup, and he conquered southern Afghanistan and parts of northwestern India around 180&nbsp;BCE, forming the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]]. The Indo-Greeks would maintain holdings on the trans-Indus region, and make forays into central India, for about a century. Under them, Buddhism flourished, and one of their kings, [[Menander I|Menander]], became a famous figure of Buddhism; he was to establish a new capital of Sagala, the modern city of [[Sialkot]]. 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 up to the birth of Christ. Although the extent of their successes against indigenous powers such as the [[Shunga Empire|Shunga]]s, [[Satavahana]]s, and [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]] are unclear, what is clear is that Scythian tribes, named [[Indo-Scythians]], brought about the demise of the Indo-Greeks from around 70&nbsp;BCE and retained lands in the trans-Indus, the region of [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]], and Gujarat.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

== Military ==
Megasthenes mentions military command consisting of six boards of five members each, (i) [[History of the Indian Navy|Navy]] (ii) [[Military transport]] (iii) [[Infantry]] (iv) [[Cavalry]] and [[Catapults]] (v) [[Ratha|Chariot divisions]] and (vi) [[War elephant|Elephants]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kangle|first=R. P.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dzxwTS0-nbUC&q=megasthenes+navy&pg=PA66|title=A Study|date=1986|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|isbn=978-81-208-0041-0|language=en}}</ref>

==Administration==
[[File:MauryaStatuettes.jpg|thumb|Statuettes of the Mauryan era]]

The Empire was divided into four provinces, with the imperial capital at [[Pataliputra]]. From Ashokan edicts, the names 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 [[Kumar (title)|''Kumar'']] (prince), who governed the provinces as emperor's representative. The ''kumara'' was assisted by [[Amatya|''mahamatyas'']] (great ministers) and council of ministers. This organizational structure was reflected at the imperial level with the Emperor and his ''Mantriparishad'' (Council of Ministers).{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}. The Mauryans established a well developed coin minting system. Coins were mostly made of silver and copper. Certain gold coins were in circulation as well. The coins were widely used for trade and commerce<ref>{{cite book|title= Ancient Indian History and Civilization|first= Sailendra |last= Nath sen |publisher= Routledge |year=1999  |page=160|isbn= 9788122411980 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&q=maurya+dynasty+sen
}}</ref>

Historians theorise that the organisation of the Empire was in line with the extensive bureaucracy described by [[Chanakya]] in the [[Arthashastra]]: 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 have been one of the largest armies in the world during the [[Iron Age]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Gabriel A |first=Richard |title=The Ancient World :Volume 1 of Soldiers' lives through history |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HscIwvtkq2UC&pg=PA301 |date=30 November 2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |page=28 |isbn=9780313333484 }}</ref> According to Megasthenes, the empire wielded a military of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots and 9,000 war elephants besides followers and attendants.{{sfn|R. C. Majumdar|2003|p=107}} A vast [[espionage]] system collected intelligence for both internal and external security purposes. Having renounced offensive warfare and expansionism, Ashoka nevertheless continued to maintain this large army, to protect the Empire and instil stability and peace across West and South Asia.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}.Even though large parts were under the control of  Mauryan empire the spread of information and imperial messages was limited since many parts were inaccessible and were situated far away from capital of empire.<ref>{{cite book|title= History of India |first= Herman |last= Kulke |publisher= Routledge |year=2004 |page=79 |isbn= 9780415329200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RoW9GuFJ9GIC&q=india++history}}</ref>

The economy of the empire has been described as, "a socialized monarchy", "a sort of state socialism", and the world's first [[welfare state]].<ref name="Boesche2003">{{cite book|author=Roger Boesche|title=The First Great Political Realist: Kautilya and His Arthashastra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K85NA7Rg67wC&pg=PA67|year=2003|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-0607-5|pages=67–70}}</ref> Under the Mauryan system there was no private ownership of land as all land was owned by the emperor to whom tribute was paid by the laboring class. In return the emperor supplied the laborers with agricultural products, animals, seeds, tools, public infrastructure, and stored food in reserve for times of crisis.<ref name="Boesche2003" />

=== Local government ===
[[Arthashastra]] and [[Megasthenes]] accounts of [[Pataliputra]] describe the intricate municipal system formed by Maurya empire to govern its cities. A city counsel made up of thirty commissioners was divided into six committees or boards which governed the city. The first board fixed wages and looked after provided goods, second board made arrangement for foreign dignitaries, tourists and businessmen, third board made records and registrations, fourth looked after manufactured goods and sale of commodities, fifth board regulated trade, issued licenses and checked weights and measurements, sixth board collected sales taxes. Some cities such as Taxila had autonomy to issue their own coins. The city counsel had officers who looked after public welfare such as maintenance of roads, public buildings, markets, hospitals, educational institutions etc.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MazdaWXQFuQC&q=pataliputra+local+government+system&pg=SL1-PA262|title=Indian History|date=1988|publisher=Allied Publishers|isbn=9788184245684|language=en}}</ref> The official head of the village was ''Gramika'' and in towns and cities was ''Nagarika''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.172447|title=India As Described By Megasthenes|last=Narain Singh Kalota|date=1978}}</ref> The city counsel also had some magisterial powers. The taking of census was regular process in the Mauryan administration. The village heads (''Gramika'') and mayors (''Nagarika'') were responsible enumerating different classes of people in the Mauryan empire such as traders, agriculturists, smiths, potters, carpenters etc. and also cattle, mostly for taxation purposes.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/explained-the-politics-behind-the-caste-census-in-bihar/articleshow/96916420.cms|title=Explained: History and politics of caste census in Bihar &#124; India News - Times of India|website=The Times of India}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=ToI is not a reliable source for history; also see [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 287#Times of India RFC]]|date=January 2023}} These vocations consolidated as castes, a feature of Indian society that continues to influence the Indian politics till today.

==Economy==
{{see also|Economic history of India|Coinage of India}}
[[File:MauryanStatuette2ndCenturyBCE.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Maurya statuette, 2nd century BCE.]]
For the first time in [[South Asia]], political unity and military security allowed for a common economic system and enhanced trade and commerce, with increased agricultural productivity. The previous situation involving hundreds of kingdoms, many small armies, powerful regional chieftains, and internecine warfare, gave way to a disciplined central authority. Farmers were freed of tax and crop collection burdens from regional kings, paying instead to a centrally administered and strict-but-fair system of taxation as advised by the principles in the ''Arthashastra''. Chandragupta Maurya established a single currency across India, and a network of regional governors and administrators and a civil service provided justice and security for merchants, farmers and traders. The Mauryan army wiped out many gangs of bandits, regional private armies, and powerful chieftains who sought to impose their own supremacy in small areas. Although regimental in revenue collection, Mauryas also sponsored many public works and waterways to enhance productivity, while internal trade in India expanded greatly due to new-found political unity and internal peace.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

Under the Indo-Greek friendship treaty, and during Ashoka's reign, an international network of trade expanded. The [[Khyber Pass]], on the modern boundary of Pakistan and Afghanistan, became a strategically important port of trade and intercourse with the outside world. Greek states and Hellenic kingdoms in West Asia became important trade partners of India. Trade also extended through the [[Malay Peninsula]] into Southeast Asia. India's exports included silk goods and textiles, spices and exotic foods. The external world came across new scientific knowledge and technology with expanding trade with the Mauryan Empire. Ashoka also sponsored the construction of thousands of roads, waterways, canals, hospitals, rest-houses and other public works. The easing of many over-rigorous administrative practices, including those regarding taxation and crop collection, helped increase productivity and economic activity across the Empire.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

In many ways, the economic situation in the Mauryan Empire is analogous to the [[Roman Empire]] of several centuries later. Both had extensive trade connections and both had organizations similar to [[corporation]]s. While Rome had organizational entities which were largely used for public state-driven projects, Mauryan India had numerous private commercial entities. These existed purely for private commerce and developed before the Mauryan Empire itself.<ref>[https://ssrn.com/abstract=796464 ''The Economic History of the Corporate Form in Ancient India.''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204000202/https://ssrn.com/abstract=796464 |date=4 February 2016 }} [[University of Michigan]].</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0 auto;"  align="center"  colspan="1" cellpadding="3" style="font-size: 80%;"
|align=center colspan=1 style="background:#F4A460; font-size: 100%;"| '''Maurya Empire coinage'''
|-
|<gallery mode="packed" heights="100px">
Hoard of mostly Mauryan coins.jpg|Hoard of mostly Mauryan coins.
File:MauryanCoin.JPG|Silver punch mark coin of the Maurya empire, with symbols of wheel and elephant. 3rd century BCE.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}
File:Mauryan coin with arched hill symbol on reverse.jpg|Mauryan coin with arched hill symbol on reverse.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}
File:Mauryan Empire. Circa late 4th-2nd century BC.jpg|Mauryan Empire coin. Circa late 4th-2nd century BCE.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}
Mauryan Empire. temp. Salisuka or later. Circa 207-194 BC.jpg|Mauryan Empire, Emperor [[Salisuka]] or later. Circa 207-194 BCE.<ref>[https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=304898 CNG Coins] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827130159/https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=304898 |date=27 August 2017 }}</ref>
</gallery>
|}

==Religion==
While [[Brahmanism]] was an important religion throughout the period of the empire,{{sfn|Nath Sen|1999|p=164, (215) 217}}{{efn|name="Brahmanism"}} the Mauryans were rooted in the non-Vedic Magadha realm, and favored [[Jainism]],{{sfn|Smith|1981|p=99}}{{sfn|Dalrymple|2009}}{{sfn|Keay|1981|p=85-86}}{{efn|name="Jainism"}} [[Buddhism]],{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2020|p=68}}{{sfn|Long|2020|p=255}}{{efn|name="Buddhism"}} and [[Ājīvika|Ajivikism]].{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2020|p=68}}{{sfn|Long|2020|p=255}}{{efn|name="Ajivikism"}} Brahmanism, which had developed in the conquered [[Kuru kingdom|Kuru]]-[[Panchala]] realm, lost its privileges, which threatened its very existence, and pressured it to transform itself into a "socio-political ideology" which eventually became influential far beyond the confines of its original homeland,{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2011}}{{efn|name="Bronkhorst_Brahmanical_transformation"|{{harvtxt|Bronkhorst|2011}}:
* This incorporation into a larger empire, first presumably by the Nandas, then by the Mauryas, took away all the respect and privileges that Brahmins had so far enjoyed, and might have meant the disappearance of Brahmins as a distinct group of people. The reason [110] why this did not happen is that Brahmanism reinvented itself. Deprived of their earlier privileges, Brahmins made an effort to find new ways to make themselves indispensable for rulers, and to gain the respect of others."
* "It [118] was because of the Maurya empire that Brahmanism had to reinvent itself. It was because of that empire that Brahmanism transformed itself from a ritual tradition linked to local rulers in a relatively restricted part of India into a socio-political ideology that succeeded in imposing itself on vast parts of South and Southeast Asia, together covering an area larger than the Roman empire ever had."}} resulting in the [[Hindu synthesis]] in which Brahmanical ideology, local traditions, and elements from the sramana-traditions, were synthesized.

[[File:Shravanabelagola2007 - 44.jpg|thumb|Bhadrabahu Cave, [[Shravanabelagola]] where [[Chandragupta Maurya|Chandragupta]] is said to have died]]
While according to Greek traveller [[Megasthenes]], Chandragupta Maurya sponsored Brahmanical rituals and sacrifices,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lal bhargava |first=Purushottam |title=Chandragupta Maurya A Gem of Indian History |publisher=D.K Printworld |year=1996 |isbn=9788124600566 |pages=44}}</ref><ref name="India19602">{{citation |last1=Majumdar |first1=R. C. |title=An Advanced History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyIWMwEACAAJ |year=1960 |location=London |publisher=Macmillan & Company Ltd; New York: St Martin's Press |quote=If the Jaina tradition is to be believed, Chandragupta was converted to the religion of Mahavira. He is said to have abdicated his throne and passed his last days at Sravana Belgola in Mysore.  Greek evidence, however, suggests that the first Maurya did not give up the performance of Brahmanical sacrificial rites and was far from following the Jaina creed of ''Ahimsa'' or non-injury to animals. He took delight in hunting, a practice that was continued by his son and alluded to by his grandson in his eighth Rock Edict.  It is, however, possible that in his last days he showed some predilection for Jainism ... |last2=Raychauduhuri |first2=H. C. |last3=Datta |first3=Kalikinkar |author-link1=R. C. Majumdar |author-link2=H. C. Raychaudhuri}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=Madhulika |title=Fire Worship in Ancient India |publisher=Publication scheme |year=2001 |isbn=9788186782576}}</ref> according to a Jain text from the 12th century, Chandragupta Maurya followed [[Jainism]] after retiring, when he renounced his throne and material possessions to join a wandering group of [[Jain monk]]s and in his last days, he observed the rigorous but self-purifying Jain ritual of [[santhara]] (fast unto death), at [[Shravana Belgola]] in [[Karnataka]],{{sfn|R. K. Mookerji|1966|pp=39-41}}{{sfn|Romila Thapar|2004|p=178}}{{sfn|Hermann Kulke|2004|pp=64-65}}{{sfn|Geoffrey Samuel|2010|pp=60}} though it is also possible that "they are talking about his great grandson."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mookerji |first=Radhakumud |title=Chandragupta Maurya and his times |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1966 |pages=40–50 |quote=There is also no evidence to prove the fact taken for granted without the need of any argument or demonstration by all Jain writers that Chandragupta ever became a convert to their religion after abdication. It is possible they are talking about his great grandson.}}</ref> [[Samprati]], the grandson of [[Ashoka]], patronized Jainism. Samprati was influenced by the teachings of Jain monks like [[Suhastin]] and he is said to have built 125,000 [[derasar]]s across India.{{sfn|John Cort|2010|p=142}} Some of them are still found in the towns of Ahmedabad, Viramgam, Ujjain, and Palitana.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} It is also said that just like Ashoka, Samprati sent messengers and preachers to Greece, [[History of Iran|Persia]] and the [[Middle East]] for the spread of Jainism, but, to date, no evidence has been found to support this claim.{{sfn|John Cort|2010|p=199}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Tukol |first=T. K. |author-link=T. K. Tukol |title=Jainism in South India |url=http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~pluralsm/affiliates/jainism/article/south.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304191052/http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~pluralsm/affiliates/jainism/article/south.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

[[File:Sanchi2.jpg|thumb|The [[stupa]], which contained the relics of Buddha, at the center of the [[Sanchi]] complex was originally built by the Maurya Empire, but the balustrade around it is [[Sunga]], and the decorative gateways are from the later [[Satavahana]] period.]]
[[File:Taxila1.jpg|thumb|The [[Dharmarajika]] [[stupa]] in [[Taxila]], modern Pakistan, is also thought to have been established by Emperor [[Asoka]].]]

The Buddhist texts ''[[Samantapasadika]]'' and ''[[Mahāvaṃsa]]'' suggest that Bindusara followed Brahmanism, calling him a "''Brahmana bhatto''" ("devotee of the Brahmins").<ref name="SMH_2001">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOkQAQAAIAAJ |title=Buddhism in India and Sri Lanka (c. 300 BC to C. 600 AD) |author=S. M. Haldhar |publisher=Om |year=2001 |isbn=9788186867532 |page=38 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=79w9AAAAMAAJ |title=Asoka and His Inscriptions |volume=1 |author=Beni Madhab Barua |author-link=Benimadhab Barua|year=1968 |page=171 }}</ref>

[[Magadha]], the centre of the empire, was also the birthplace of Buddhism. In later life Ashoka followed Buddhism; following the [[Kalinga War]], he renounced expansionism and aggression, and the harsher injunctions of the ''[[Arthashastra]]'' on the use of force, intensive policing, and ruthless measures for tax collection and against rebels. Ashoka sent a mission led by his son [[Mahinda (buddhist monk)|Mahinda]] and daughter [[Sanghamitta]] to [[Anuradhapura Kingdom|Sri Lanka]], whose king [[Devanampiya Tissa of Anuradhapura|Tissa]] was so charmed with Buddhist ideals that he adopted them himself and made Buddhism the state religion. Ashoka sent many Buddhist missions to [[West Asia]], Greece and [[South East Asia]], and commissioned the construction of monasteries and schools, as well as the publication of Buddhist literature across the empire. He is believed to have built as many as 84,000 stupas across India, such as [[Sanchi]] and [[Mahabodhi Temple]], and he increased the popularity of Buddhism in Afghanistan and [[History of Thailand|Thailand]]. Ashoka helped convene the [[Buddhist Councils|Third Buddhist Council]] of India's and South Asia's Buddhist orders near his capital, a council that undertook much work of reform and expansion of the Buddhist religion. Indian merchants embraced Buddhism and played a large role in spreading the religion across the Mauryan Empire.<ref>Jerry Bentley, ''Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts in Pre-Modern Times'' (New York: Oxford University Press), 46</ref>

==Society==
The population of South Asia during the Mauryan period has been estimated to be between 15 and 30 million.<ref name="Dyson2018-lead-maurya-4b">{{citation|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8|page=24}} Quote: "Yet Sumit Guha considers that 20 million is an upper limit. This is because the demographic growth experienced in core areas is likely to have been less than that experienced in areas that were more lightly settled in the early historic period. The position taken here is that the population in Mauryan times (320–220 bce) was between 15 and 30 million—although it may have been a little more, or it may have been a little less."</ref> According to Tim Dyson, the period of the Mauryan Empire saw the consolidation of [[Caste system in India|caste]] among the [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan people]] who had settled in the Gangetic plain, increasingly meeting tribal people who were incorporated into their evolving caste-system, and the declining rights of women in the [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan speaking]] regions of India, though "these developments did not affect people living in large parts of the subcontinent."<ref name="Dyson2018-lead-maurya-3b">{{citation|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8|page=19}}</ref>

==Architectural remains==
{{Main|Edicts of Ashoka|Sanchi|Mauryan art}}
[[File:Barabar Caves 2.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|Mauryan architecture in the [[Barabar Caves]]. [[Lomas Rishi Cave]]. 3rd century BCE.]]

The greatest monument of this period, executed in the reign of [[Chandragupta Maurya]], was the old palace at Paliputra, modern [[Kumhrar]] in [[Patna]]. Excavations have unearthed the remains of the palace, which is thought to have been a group of several buildings, the most important of which was an immense pillared hall supported on a high substratum of timbers. The pillars were set in regular rows, thus dividing the hall into a number of smaller square bays. The number of columns is 80, each about {{formatnum:{{#expr:9.75-2.74 round 0}}}} meters high. According to the eyewitness account of [[Megasthenes]], the palace was chiefly constructed of timber, and was considered to exceed in splendour and magnificence the palaces of [[Susa]] and [[Ecbatana]], its gilded pillars being adorned with golden vines and silver birds. The buildings stood in an extensive park studded with fish ponds and furnished with a great variety of ornamental trees and shrubs.<ref>"L'age d'or de l'Inde Classique", p23</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2016}} Kauṭilya's [[Arthashastra]] also gives the method of palace construction from this period. Later fragments of stone pillars, including one nearly complete, with their round tapering shafts and smooth polish, indicate that Ashoka was responsible for the construction of the stone columns which replaced the earlier wooden ones.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

[[File:Early stupa 6 meters in diameter with fallen umbrella on side in Chakpat near Chakdara.jpg|thumb|left|An early [[stupa]], 6 meters in diameter, with fallen umbrella on side. Chakpat, near [[Chakdara]]. Probably Maurya, 3rd century BCE.]]
During the Ashokan period, stonework was of a highly diversified order and comprised lofty free-standing pillars, railings of [[stupas]], lion thrones and other colossal figures. The use of stone had reached such great perfection during this time that even small fragments of stone art were given a high lustrous polish resembling fine enamel. This period marked the beginning of [[Buddhist architecture]].  Ashoka was responsible for the construction of several [[stupas]], which were large domes and bearing symbols of Buddha. The most important ones are located at [[Sanchi]], [[Bodhgaya]], [[Bharhut]], and possibly [[Amaravati Stupa]]. The most widespread examples of Mauryan architecture are the [[Pillars of Ashoka|Ashoka pillars]] and carved edicts of Ashoka, often exquisitely decorated, with more than 40 spread throughout the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>"L'age d'or de l'Inde Classique", p22</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2016}}

The peacock was a dynastic symbol of Mauryans, as depicted by Ashoka's pillars at Nandangarh and Sanchi Stupa.{{sfn|R. K. Mookerji|1966|p=15}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0 auto;"  align="center"  colspan="2" cellpadding="3" style="font-size: 80%; width: 100%;"
|align=center colspan=2 style="background:#F4A460; font-size: 100%;"| '''Maurya structures and decorations at [[Sanchi]]<br />(3rd century BCE)'''
|-
|align="center" style="font-size: 100%; width: 1%;"|[[File:Sanchi Great Stupa Mauryan configuration.jpg|250px]]<br />Approximate reconstitution of the Great Stupa at [[Sanchi]] under the [[Mauryan Empire|Mauryas]].
|
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Ashokan Pillar - Stupa 1 - Sanchi Hill 2013-02-21 4361.JPG|Remains of the [[Pillars of Ashoka|Ashokan Pillar]] in polished stone (right of the Southern Gateway).
File:Ashoka pillar remains near Southern Gateway Stupa 1 Sanchi.jpg|Remains of the shaft of the pillar of Ashoka, under a shed near the Southern Gateway.
Sanchi Ashoka pillar with schism edit in 1913.jpg|Pillar and its inscription (the "Schism Edict") upon discovery.
File:Sanchi_capital_right_side_view.jpg|The capital nowadays.<ref>Described in Marshall [https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.532798 p.25-28 Ashoka pillar].</ref>
</gallery>
|}

==Natural history==
[[File:Patna Yakshas and inscriptions.jpg|thumb|The two [[Yaksha]]s, possibly 3rd century BCE, found in [[Pataliputra]]. The two [[Brahmi]] inscriptions starting with [[File:Gupta ashoka y.svg|14px]][[File:Gupta ashoka khe.jpg|12px]]... (''Yakhe...'' for "Yaksha...") are [[paleography|paleographically]] of a later date, circa 2nd century CE [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ramaprasad |first1=Chanda |title=Indian Antiquary A Journal Of Oriental Research Vol.48 |date=1919 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.532716/page/n296 25]-28 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.532716}}</ref>]]
The protection of animals in India was advocated by the time of the Maurya dynasty; being the first empire to provide a unified political entity in India, the attitude of the Mauryas towards forests, their denizens, and fauna in general is of interest.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor|last=Allen|first=Charles|publisher=Hachette Digital|year=2012|isbn=978-1-408-70388-5|location=London|pages=274}}</ref>

The Mauryas firstly looked at forests as resources. For them, the most important forest product was the elephant. Military might in those times depended not only upon horses and men but also [[War elephants|battle-elephants]]; these played a role in the defeat of [[Seleucus I Nicator|Seleucus]], one of [[Alexander the Great]]'s former generals. The Mauryas sought to preserve supplies of elephants since it was cheaper and took less time to catch, tame and train wild elephants than to raise them. [[Kautilya]]'s ''[[Arthashastra]]'' contains not only maxims on ancient statecraft, but also unambiguously specifies the responsibilities of officials such as the ''Protector of the Elephant Forests''.<ref name="IWH4">Rangarajan, M. (2001) India's Wildlife History, pp 7.</ref>

{{blockquote|text=On the border of the forest, he should establish a forest for elephants guarded by foresters. The Office of the Chief Elephant Forester should with the help of guards protect the elephants in any terrain. The slaying of an elephant is punishable by death.|author=[[Kautilya]] |title=[[Arthashastra]]}}

The Mauryas also designated separate forests to protect supplies of timber, as well as lions and tigers for skins. Elsewhere the ''Protector of Animals'' also worked to eliminate thieves, tigers and other predators to render the woods safe for grazing cattle.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

The Mauryas valued certain forest tracts in strategic or economic terms and instituted curbs and control measures over them. They regarded all [[Adivasi|forest tribes]] with distrust and controlled them with bribery and political subjugation. They employed some of them, the food-gatherers or ''aranyaca'' to guard borders and trap animals. The sometimes tense and conflict-ridden relationship nevertheless enabled the Mauryas to guard their vast empire.<ref name="IWH5">Rangarajan, M. (2001) India's Wildlife History, pp 8.</ref>

When [[Ashoka]] embraced Buddhism in the latter part of his reign, he brought about significant changes in his style of governance, which included providing protection to fauna, and even relinquished the royal hunt. He was the first ruler in history{{failed verification|date=September 2017}} to advocate [[Conservation (ethic)|conservation]] measures for wildlife and even had rules inscribed in stone edicts. The edicts proclaim that many followed the emperor's example in giving up the slaughter of animals; one of them proudly states:<ref name="IWH5"/>
{{blockquote|Our king killed very few animals.|[[Edicts of Ashoka|Edict on Fifth Pillar]]}}

However, the edicts of Ashoka reflect more the desire of rulers than actual events; the mention of a 100 'panas' (coins) fine for poaching deer in imperial hunting preserves shows that rule-breakers did exist. The legal restrictions conflicted with the practices freely exercised by the common people in hunting, felling, fishing and setting fires in forests.<ref name="IWH5"/>

==Contacts with the Hellenistic world==
[[File:MauryanRingstone.JPG|thumb|Mauryan ringstone, with standing goddess. Northwest Pakistan. 3rd Century BCE]]

===Foundation of the Empire===
Relations with the Hellenistic world may have started from the very beginning of the Maurya Empire. [[Plutarch]] reports that Chandragupta Maurya met with [[Alexander the Great]], probably around [[Taxila]] in the northwest:<ref name="RM16">{{cite book |last1=Mookerji |first1=Radhakumud |author-link1=Radha Kumud Mukherjee |title=Chandragupta Maurya and His Times |date=1966 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=9788120804050 |pages=16–17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-y6ZUheQH8C&pg=PA16 |language=en}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Sandrocottus, when he was a stripling, saw Alexander himself, and we are told that he often said in later times that Alexander narrowly missed making himself master of the country, since its king was hated and despised on account of his baseness and low birth.| [[Plutarch]] 62-4<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0243&redirect=true|title=Plutarch, Alexander, chapter 1, section 1|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref name="RM16"/>}}

===Reconquest of the Northwest (c. 317–316&nbsp;BCE)===
Chandragupta ultimately occupied Northwestern India, in the territories formerly ruled by the Greeks, where he fought the satraps (described as "Prefects" in Western sources) left in place after Alexander (Justin), among whom may have been [[Eudemus (general)|Eudemus]], ruler in the western Punjab until his departure in 317&nbsp;BCE or [[Peithon, son of Agenor]], ruler of the Greek colonies along the Indus until his departure for [[Babylon]] in 316&nbsp;BCE.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

{{blockquote|India, after the death of Alexander, had assassinated his prefects, as if shaking the burden of servitude. The author of this liberation was Sandracottos, but he had transformed liberation in servitude after victory, since, after taking the throne, he himself oppressed the very people he has liberated from foreign domination.| [[Justin (historian)|Justin]] XV.4.12–13<ref>"(Transitum deinde in Indiam fecit), quae post mortem Alexandri, ueluti ceruicibus iugo seruitutis excusso, praefectos eius occiderat. Auctor libertatis Sandrocottus fuerat, sed titulum libertatis post uictoriam in seruitutem uerterat; 14 siquidem occupato regno populum quem ab externa dominatione uindicauerat ipse seruitio premebat." {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170420013859/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/justin/trad15.html Justin XV.4.12–13]}}</ref>}}

{{blockquote|Later, as he was preparing war against the prefects of Alexander, a huge wild elephant went to him and took him on his back as if tame, and he became a remarkable fighter and war leader. Having thus acquired royal power, Sandracottos possessed India at the time Seleucos was preparing future glory.|Justin XV.4.19<ref>"Molienti deinde bellum aduersus praefectos Alexandri elephantus ferus infinitae magnitudinis ultro se obtulit et ueluti domita mansuetudine eum tergo excepit duxque belli et proeliator insignis fuit. Sic adquisito regno Sandrocottus ea tempestate, qua Seleucus futurae magnitudinis fundamenta iaciebat, Indiam possidebat." {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170420013859/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/justin/trad15.html Justin XV.4.19]}}</ref>}}

===Conflict and alliance with Seleucus (305&nbsp;BCE)===
{{Main|Seleucid–Mauryan war}}
[[File:Hellenistic world and Maurya Empire 281 BCE.png|thumb|right|A map showing the north western border of Maurya Empire, including its various neighboring states.]]
[[Seleucus I Nicator]], the Macedonian [[satrap]] of the Asian portion of Alexander's former empire, conquered and put under his own authority eastern territories as far as Bactria and the Indus ([[Appian]], ''History of Rome'', The Syrian Wars 55), until in 305&nbsp;BCE he entered into a confrontation with Emperor Chandragupta:

{{blockquote|Always lying in wait for the neighbouring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he [Seleucus] acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander, as far as the river Indus, so that the boundaries of his empire were the most extensive in Asia after that of Alexander. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus. |[[Appian]], ''History of Rome'', "The Syrian Wars" 55<ref name="livius.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_syriaca_11.html|title=Appian, The Syrian Wars 11|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103154609/https://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_syriaca_11.html|archive-date=3 November 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

Though no accounts of the conflict remain, it is clear that Seleucus fared poorly against the Indian Emperor as he failed to conquer any territory, and in fact was forced to surrender much that was already his. Regardless, Seleucus and Chandragupta ultimately reached a settlement and through a treaty sealed in 305&nbsp;BCE, Seleucus, according to Strabo, ceded a number of territories to Chandragupta, including eastern Afghanistan and [[Balochistan]].{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

====Marriage alliance====
[[File:Mauryan head from Sarnath.jpg|thumb|upright|Figure of a foreigner, found in [[Sarnath]], 3rd century BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bachhofer |first1=Ludwig |title=Early Indian Sculpture Vol. I |date=1929 |publisher=The Pegasus Press |location=Paris |pages=239–240 |url=https://indianculture.gov.in/rarebooks/early-indian-sculpture-vol-i |language=en}}</ref> This is a probable member of the West Asian [[Pahlava]] or [[Saka]] elite in the [[Gangetic plain]]s during the Mauryan period.<ref name="Gupta 122">Page 122: About the [[Masarh lion]]: "This particular example of a foreign model gets added support from the male heads of foreigners from Patna city and Sarnath since they also prove beyond doubt that a section of the elite in the Gangetic Basin was of foreign origin. However, as noted earlier, this is an example of the late Mauryan period since this is not the type adopted in any Ashoka pillar. We are, therefore, visualizing a historical situation in India in which the West Asian influence on Indian art was felt more in the late Mauryan than in the early Mauryan period. The term West Asia in this context stands for Iran and Afghanistan, where the Sakas and Pahlavas had their base-camps for eastward movement. The prelude to future inroads of the Indo-Bactrians in India had after all started in the second century B.C."... in {{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Swarajya Prakash |author-link=Swaraj Prakash Gupta|title=The Roots of Indian Art: A Detailed Study of the Formative Period of Indian Art and Architecture, Third and Second Centuries B.C., Mauryan and Late Mauryan |year=1980 |publisher=B.R. Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-391-02172-3 |pages=88, 122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lDqAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}.</ref><ref name="Gupta 318">According to Gupta [[:File:Mauryan head from Sarnath.jpg|this is]] a non-Indian face of a foreigner with a conical hat: "If there are a few faces which are nonIndian, such as one head from Sarnath with conical cap ( Bachhofer, Vol . I, Pl . 13 ), they are due to the presence of the foreigners their costumes, tastes and liking for portrait art and not their art styles." in {{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Swarajya Prakash |author-link=Swaraj Prakash Gupta|title=The Roots of Indian Art: A Detailed Study of the Formative Period of Indian Art and Architecture, Third and Second Centuries B.C., Mauryan and Late Mauryan |year=1980 |publisher=B.R. Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-391-02172-3 |page=318 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lDqAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Annual Report 1907-08 |date=1911 |page=55 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.35434/page/n101/mode/2up}}</ref>]]
Chandragupta and [[Seleucus I Nicator|Seleucus]] concluded a peace treaty and a marriage alliance in 303 BCE. Chandragupta received vast territories and in a return gave Seleucus 500 [[war elephant]]s,{{sfn|R. C. Majumdar|2003|p=105}}<ref>Ancient India, (Kachroo, p.196)</ref><ref>''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' (Hunter, p.167)</ref><ref>''The evolution of man and society'' (Darlington, p.223)</ref><ref>W. W. Tarn (1940). "Two Notes on Seleucid History: 1. Seleucus' 500 Elephants, 2. Tarmita", ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''60''', p. 84–94.</ref> a military asset which would play a decisive role at the [[Battle of Ipsus]] in 301&nbsp;BCE.{{sfn|Kosmin|2014|p=37}} In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched an ambassador, [[Megasthenes]], to Chandragupta, and later [[Deimakos]] to his son [[Bindusara]], at the Mauryan court at [[Pataliputra]] (modern [[Patna]] in [[Bihar state|Bihar]]). Later, [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus]], the ruler of [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] and contemporary of [[Ashoka]], is also recorded by [[Pliny the Elder]] as having sent an ambassador named [[Dionysius (ambassador)|Dionysius]] to the Mauryan court.<ref name="perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de">{{cite web|url=http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+6.21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728023626/http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.%2BNat.%2B6.21 |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 July 2013 |title=Pliny the Elder, The Natural History (eds. John Bostock, H. T. Riley) }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2016}}

Mainstream scholarship asserts that Chandragupta received vast territory west of the Indus, including the [[Hindu Kush]], modern-day Afghanistan, and the [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]] province of Pakistan.<ref>[[Vincent Arthur Smith|Vincent A. Smith]] (1998). ''Ashoka''. Asian Educational Services. {{ISBN|81-206-1303-1}}.</ref><ref>[[Walter Eugene Clark]] (1919). "The Importance of Hellenism from the Point of View of Indic-Philology", ''Classical Philology'' '''14''' (4), pp. 297–313.</ref> Archaeologically, concrete indications of Mauryan rule, such as the inscriptions of the [[Edicts of Ashoka]], are known as far as [[Kandahar]] in southern Afghanistan.

{{blockquote|He (Seleucus) crossed the Indus and waged war with Sandrocottus [Maurya], king of the Indians, who dwelt on the banks of that stream, until they came to an understanding with each other and contracted a marriage relationship. | [[Appian]]| ''History of Rome'', The Syrian Wars [https://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_syriaca_11.html 55]}}

{{blockquote|After having made a treaty with him (Sandrakotos) and put in order the Orient situation, Seleucos went to war against [[Antigonus I Monophthalmus|Antigonus]].|[[Junianus Justinus]]|''Historiarum Philippicarum, libri XLIV'', {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030902205057/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/justin/trad15.html XV.4.15]}}}}

The treaty on "[[Epigamia]]" implies lawful marriage between Greeks and Indians was recognized at the State level, although it is unclear whether it occurred among dynastic rulers or common people, or both.{{citation needed|date=July 2009}}

====Exchange of presents====
Classical sources have also recorded that following their treaty, Chandragupta and Seleucus exchanged presents, such as when Chandragupta sent various [[aphrodisiac]]s to Seleucus:{{sfn|Kosmin|2014|p=35}}

{{blockquote|And Theophrastus says that some contrivances are of wondrous efficacy in such matters [as to make people more amorous]. And Phylarchus confirms him, by reference to some of the presents which Sandrakottus, the king of the Indians, sent to Seleucus; which were to act like charms in producing a wonderful degree of affection, while some, on the contrary, were to banish love.|[[Athenaeus of Naucratis]], ''[[The deipnosophists]]'', Book I, chapter 32<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=turn&entity=Literature000701860036&isize=M&pview=hide|title=Problem while searching in The Literature Collection|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313151642/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=turn&entity=Literature000701860036&isize=M&pview=hide|archive-date=13 March 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

His son [[Bindusara]] 'Amitraghata' (Slayer of Enemies) also is recorded in Classical sources as having exchanged presents with [[Antiochus I]]:{{sfn|Kosmin|2014|p=35}}

{{blockquote|text=But dried figs were so very much sought after by all men (for really, as [[Aristophanes]] says, "There's really nothing nicer than dried figs"), that even Amitrochates, the king of the Indians, wrote to [[Antiochus I Soter|Antiochus]], entreating him (it is [[Hegesander (historian)|Hegesander]] who tells this story) to buy and send him some sweet wine, and some dried figs, and a [[sophist]]; and that Antiochus wrote to him in answer, "The dry figs and the sweet wine we will send you; but it is not lawful for a sophist to be sold in Greece. |author=[[Athenaeus]] |title=''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' XIV.67<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=goto&id=Literature.AthV3&isize=M&page=1044|title=The Literature Collection: The deipnosophists, or, Banquet of the learned of Athenæus (volume III): Book XIV|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011201316/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=goto&id=Literature.AthV3&isize=M&page=1044|archive-date=11 October 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

===Greek population in India===
[[File:AsokaKandahar.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Kandahar Edict of Ashoka]], a bilingual edict ([[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Aramaic]]) by king Ashoka, from [[Kandahar]]. [[Kabul]] Museum. (See image description page for translation.)]]

An influential and large Greek population was present in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent under Ashoka's rule, possibly remnants of Alexander's conquests in the Indus Valley region. In the [[Edicts of Ashoka|Rock Edicts of Ashoka]], some of them inscribed in Greek, Ashoka states that the Greeks within his dominion were converted to Buddhism:

{{blockquote|Here in the king's dominion among the [[Yona|Greeks]], the [[Kambojas]], the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the [[Andhras]] and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-of-the-Gods' instructions in [[Dharma]].|[[Edicts of Ashoka|(Rock Edict Number 13]])}}
{{blockquote|Now, in times past (officers) called [[Mahamatras]] of morality did not exist before. Mahdmatras of morality were appointed by me (when I had been) anointed thirteen years. These are occupied with all sects in establishing morality, in promoting morality, and for the welfare and happiness of those who are devoted to morality (even) among the [[Yona|Greeks]], [[Kambojas]] and [[Gandharas]], and whatever other western borderers (of mine there are).|([[Major Rock Edicts|Rock Edict Number 5]])}}

Fragments of Edict 13 have been found in Greek, and a full Edict, written in both Greek and Aramaic, has been discovered in [[Kandahar]]. It is said to be written in excellent Classical Greek, using sophisticated philosophical terms. In this Edict, Ashoka uses the word [[Eusebeia]] ("[[Piety]]") as the Greek translation for the ubiquitous "[[Dharma]]" of his other Edicts written in [[Prakrit]]:{{primary source inline|date=August 2016}}

{{blockquote|Ten years (of reign) having been completed, King Piodasses (Ashoka) made known (the doctrine of) Piety (''εὐσέβεια'', [[Eusebeia]]) to men; and from this moment he has made men more pious, and everything thrives throughout the whole world. And the king abstains from (killing) living beings, and other men and those who (are) huntsmen and fishermen of the king have desisted from hunting. And if some (were) intemperate, they have ceased from their intemperance as was in their power; and obedient to their father and mother and to the elders, in opposition to the past also in the future, by so acting on every occasion, they will live better and more happily. |Trans. by G.P. Carratelli {{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20051103235517/http://www.afghanan.net/afghanistan/mauryans.htm]}} {{unreliable source?|date=August 2016}}}}

===Buddhist missions to the West (c. 250&nbsp;BCE)===
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
AiKhanoumAndIndia.jpg|The distribution of the [[Edicts of Ashoka]].<ref>Reference: "India: The Ancient Past" p.113, Burjor Avari, Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415-35615-6}}</ref>
Asoka̠ Buddhist Missions.png|Map of the Buddhist missions during the reign of [[Ashoka]].
Territories conquered by the Dharma according to Ashoka.jpg|Territories "conquered by the Dharma" according to [[Major Rock Edicts|Major Rock Edict No. 13]] of Ashoka (260–218 BCE).{{sfn|Kosmin|2014|p=57}}<ref name=ME368>Thomas Mc Evilly "The shape of ancient thought", Allworth Press, New York, 2002, p.368</ref>
</gallery>
Also, in the [[Edicts of Ashoka]], Ashoka mentions the Hellenistic kings of the period as recipients of his Buddhist proselytism, although no Western historical record of this event remains:

{{blockquote|The conquest by [[Dharma]] has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred [[yojana]]s (5,400–9,600&nbsp;km) away, where the Greek king [[Antiochus II Theos|Antiochos]] rules, beyond there where the four kings named [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus|Ptolemy]], [[Antigonus Gonatas|Antigonos]], [[Magas of Cyrene|Magas]] and [[Alexander II of Epirus|Alexander]] rule, likewise in the south among the [[Chola dynasty|Cholas]], the [[Pandya]]s, and as far as [[Tamraparni]] ([[Anuradhapura Kingdom|Sri Lanka]]). |[[Edicts of Ashoka]], 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika.{{primary source inline|date=August 2016}}}}

Ashoka also encouraged the development of [[herbal medicine]], for men and animals, in their territories:

{{blockquote|Everywhere within Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi's [Ashoka's] domain, and among the people beyond the borders, the Cholas, the Pandyas, the [[Velir|Satiyaputras]], the [[Chera dynasty|Keralaputras]], as far as [[Tamraparni]] and where the Greek king [[Antiochus II Theos|Antiochos]] rules, and among the kings who are neighbors of Antiochos, everywhere has Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, made provision for two types of medical treatment: medical treatment for humans and medical treatment for animals. Wherever medical herbs suitable for humans or animals are not available, I have had them imported and grown. Wherever medical roots or fruits are not available I have had them imported and grown. Along roads I have had wells dug and trees planted for the benefit of humans and animals. |[[Edicts of Ashoka|2nd Rock Edict]]{{primary source inline|date=August 2016}}}}

The Greeks in India even seem to have played an active role in the spread of Buddhism, as some of the emissaries of Ashoka, such as [[Dharmaraksita]], are described in [[Pāli|Pali]] sources as leading Greek ("[[Yona]]") Buddhist monks, active in Buddhist proselytism (the [[Mahavamsa]], XII<ref>''Mahavamsa'' [http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chapters.html chapter XII] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905050433/http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chapters.html |date=5 September 2006 }}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=August 2016}}).

===Subhagasena and Antiochos III (206&nbsp;BCE)===
[[Sophagasenus]] was an Indian [[Mauryan]] ruler of the 3rd century BCE, described in ancient Greek sources, and named Subhagasena or Subhashasena in [[Prakrit]]. His name is mentioned in the list of Mauryan princes,{{citation needed|date=June 2007}} and also in the list of the Yadava dynasty, as a descendant of Pradyumna. He may have been a grandson of [[Ashoka]], or [[Kunala]], the son of Ashoka. He ruled an area south of the [[Hindu Kush]], possibly in [[Gandhara]]. [[Antiochos III]], the [[Seleucid]] king, after having made peace with [[Euthydemus II|Euthydemus]] in [[Bactria]], went to India in 206&nbsp;BCE and is said to have renewed his friendship with the Indian king there:

{{blockquote|text=He (Antiochus) crossed the Caucasus and descended into India; renewed his friendship with Sophagasenus the king of the Indians; received more elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty altogether; and having once more provisioned his troops, set out again personally with his army: leaving [[Androsthenes of Cyzicus|Androsthenes]] of [[Cyzicus]] the duty of taking home the treasure which this king had agreed to hand over to him.|author=[[Polybius]] |title=[[The Histories (Polybius)|The Histories]], 11.39<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/invalidquery.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0234:book=11:chapter=39|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307194743/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plb.+11.39|url-status=dead|title=No document found|archive-date=7 March 2008|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>}}

==Timeline==
{{Part of History of India}}
*322&nbsp;BCE: Chandragupta Maurya  [[Nanda-Mauryan War|conquers the Nanda Empire]], founding Maurya dynasty.<ref>{{cite book|title=Buddhism in North India and Pakistan|author=D. C. Ahir|year=1998|page=121}}</ref>
*317–316&nbsp;BCE: Chandragupta Maurya conquers the Northwest of the Indian subcontinent.
*305–303&nbsp;BCE: Chandragupta Maurya gains territory by [[Seleucid–Mauryan war|defeating the Seleucid Empire]].
*298–269&nbsp;BCE: Reign of Bindusara, Chandragupta's son. He conquers parts of [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]], southern India.
*269–232&nbsp;BCE: The Mauryan Empire reaches its height under Ashoka, Chandragupta's grandson.
*261&nbsp;BCE: Ashoka [[Kalinga War|conquers the Kingdom of Kalinga]].
*250&nbsp;BCE: Ashoka builds Buddhist stupas and erects pillars bearing inscriptions.
*184&nbsp;BCE: The empire collapses when Brihadratha, the last emperor, is killed by [[Pushyamitra Shunga]], a Mauryan general and the founder of the [[Shunga Empire]].

== Family tree and List of rulers ==
{{main|List of Maurya Emperors}}

==See also==
* [[Moriya (tribe)|Moriya Republic]]
* [[Magadha]]
*[[Pradyota dynasty]]
*[[Gupta Empire]]
*[[History of India]]
*[[List of Hindu empires and dynasties]]

==Notes==
{{notelist|35em|refs=
<!-- A -->
<!-- "Ajivikism" -->
{{efn|name="Ajivikism"|Ajivikism:
* {{harvtxt|Bronkhorst|2020|p=68}}: "The brahmanized regions of north-western India were now governed by rulers who had no sympathy for Brahmins or their sacrificial culture, and whose natural sympathies lay with the religions of Greater Magadha, primarily Jainism, Jivikism, and Buddhism."}} 
<!-- B -->
<!-- "Brahmanism" -->
{{efn|name="Brahmanism"|While {{harvtxt|Nath Sen|1999|p= 164, (215) 217}} states (p.164) "During the Mauryan period Brahmanism was an important religion" (Nath Sen distinguishes Brahmanism from Hinduism; p. (215) 217: [At the time of [[Chandragupta II]] (ca. 380-415 CE) of the [[Gupta Empire]]] [...] [i]n place of the old sacrificial Brahmanism, Hinduism had appeared"). Others strongly disagree:
* {{harvtxt|Thapar|1960}}: "...the Mauryas did not conform to the accepted religion of most royal families of the time, Brahmanism."
* {{harvtxt|Bronkhorst|2011}}: 
:* "We know that Aśoka’s personal leanings were toward Buddhism, and tradition testifies to the fact that all the other rulers of the Maurya empire had strong links with Jainism, sometimes Ajivikism, but never with Brahmanism. A persistent tradition maintains that Candragupta was a Jaina."
:* "The picture that is slowly gaining ground in modern research is that the establishment of the Maurya empire spelt disaster for traditional Brahmanism. Brahmins in earlier days performed rituals at the courts of kings in the Brahmanical heartland. This Brahmanical heartland was conquered by rulers from Pāṭaliputra, who had no respect for Brahmanical rituals and needed no Brahmins at their courts."
:* "the region of Magadha had not been brahmanized at the time of Candragupta."
* {{harvtxt|Bronkhorst|2020|p=68}}: "The brahmanized regions of north-western India were now governed by rulers who had no sympathy for Brahmins or their sacrificial culture, and whose natural sympathies lay with the religions of Greater Magadha, primarily Jainism, Jivikism, and Buddhism."
* {{harvtxt|Omvedt|2003|p=119}} "Magadha was considered by Brahmanic literature to be a ''mleccha'' (barbarian) land where Vedic sacrifices and Brahmanic rituals were not performed.}}
<!-- "Buddhism" -->
{{efn|name="Buddhism"|Buddhism:
* {{harvtxt|Bronkhorst|2020|p=68}}: "The brahmanized regions of north-western India were now governed by rulers who had no sympathy for Brahmins or their sacrificial culture, and whose natural sympathies lay with the religions of Greater Magadha, primarily Jainism, Jivikism, and Buddhism."}}
<!-- J -->
<!-- "Jainism" -->
{{efn|name="Jainism"|Jainism:
* {{harvtxt|Smith|1981|p=99}}: "the only direct evidence throwing light [...] is that of Jain tradition [...] it may be that he [Chandragupta] embraced Jainism towards the end of his reign [...] after much consideration I am inclined to accept the main facts as affirmed by tradition [...] no alternative account exists."
* {{harvtxt|Dalrymple|2009}}: "It was here, in the third century BC, that the first Emperor of India, Chandragupta Maurya, embraced the Jain religion and died through a self-imposed fast to the death."}}
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
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{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Mauryan Empire}}
*[https://www.livius.org/man-md/mauryas/mauryas.html ''Livius.org'': Maurya dynasty]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226183742/https://www.livius.org/man-md/mauryas/mauryas.html |date=26 February 2012 }}.
*[http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/ancient/maurya.htm Extent of the Empire]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140328144411/http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html Ashoka's Edicts] (archived 28 March 2014)

{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
 | title = [[Magadha]]<br />Maurya Empire
 | years =
 | before = [[Nanda dynasty]]
 | after = [[Shunga dynasty]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Middle kingdoms of India}}
{{Empires}}
{{Uttarakhand}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maurya Empire}}
[[Category:Maurya Empire| ]]
[[Category:Ancient empires and kingdoms of India]]
[[Category:Iron Age countries in Asia]]
[[Category:Iron Age cultures of South Asia]]
[[Category:Dynasties of Bengal]]
[[Category:Former empires]]
[[Category:Ancient history of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Ancient history of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Jain empires and kingdoms]]
[[Category:Buddhist dynasties of India]]
[[Category:Magadha]]
[[Category:Kingdoms of Bihar]]
[[Category:4th century BC in India]]
[[Category:3rd century BC in India]]
[[Category:2nd century BC in India]]
[[Category:320s BC establishments]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 4th century BC]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 2nd century BC]]
[[Category:4th-century BC establishments in India]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC disestablishments]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of South Asia]]
[[Category:History of Nepal]]