The Mauryan Empire of India


Book Description

The Mauryan Empire faced off against Roman invasion and became one of the most well known empires of the world. Learn about their established military prowess and the trade and influence of a culture that covered much of India and the Middle East, one of the earliest empires in the world.




The Maurya Empire


Book Description

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts describing the empire and its rulers *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading During the last centuries of the first millennium BCE, most of the Mediterranean basin and the Near East were either directly or indirectly under the influence of Hellenism. The Greeks spread their ideas to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia and attempted to unify all of the peoples of those regions under one government. Although some of the Hellenistic kingdoms proved to be powerful in their own rights - especially Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid Empire, which encompassed all of Mesopotamia, most of the Levant, and much of Persia during its height - no single kingdom ever proved to be dominant. The Hellenic kingdoms battled each other for supremacy and even attempted to claim new lands, especially to the east, past the Indus River in lands that the Greeks referred to generally as India. But as the Hellenistic Greeks turned their eyes to the riches of India, a dynasty came to power that put most of the Indian subcontinent under the rule of one king. The dynasty that came to power in the late fourth century BCE is known today as the Mauryan Dynasty, and although the ruling family was short-lived and their power was ephemeral, its influence resonated for several subsequent centuries and spread as far east as China and into the Hellenistic west. Through relentless warfare and violent machinations, the Mauryans were able to take a land that was full of disparate and often warring ethnic groups, religions, and castes and meld it into a reasonably cohesive empire. After establishing the empire, subsequent kings were able to focus their attentions on raising the living standards of their people. One particular Mauryan king, Ashoka, embarked on several ambitious public works projects and promoted the tenets of Buddhism. Due to its influence on religion and what many believe was the world's first attempt by a government to legitimately acknowledge human rights, the Maurya Empire continues to be a source of interest and inspiration today. The Maurya Empire: The History and Legacy of Ancient India's Greatest Empire looks at one of antiquity's most interesting empires. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Mauryans like never before.




Ancient India/Maurya Empire


Book Description

The Maurya Empire stretched from Afghanistan to the southern tip of India. The first emperor, Chandragupta Maurya, grew up in a village of peacock farmers. His grandson Ashoka would renounce war and strive for peace. Indians still call him Ashoka the Great and regard him as one of history’s finest rulers. The Maurya Empire was ruled by kings who allowed their ministers to disagree with them. It existed over two thousand years ago, yet it had laws familiar in the 21st century—protecting workers, buyers and sellers. Today its monuments survive while its symbols adorn the flag of India.




The Maurya Empire


Book Description




Ashoka in Ancient India


Book Description

In the third century BCE, Ashoka ruled an empire encompassing much of modern-day India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. During his reign, Buddhism proliferated across the South Asian subcontinent, and future generations of Asians came to see him as the ideal Buddhist king. Disentangling the threads of Ashoka’s life from the knot of legend that surrounds it, Nayanjot Lahiri presents a vivid biography of this extraordinary Indian emperor and deepens our understanding of a legacy that extends beyond the bounds of Ashoka’s lifetime and dominion. At the center of Lahiri’s account is the complex personality of the Maurya dynasty’s third emperor—a strikingly contemplative monarch, at once ambitious and humane, who introduced a unique style of benevolent governance. Ashoka’s edicts, carved into rock faces and stone pillars, reveal an eloquent ruler who, unusually for the time, wished to communicate directly with his people. The voice he projected was personal, speaking candidly about the watershed events in his life and expressing his regrets as well as his wishes to his subjects. Ashoka’s humanity is conveyed most powerfully in his tale of the Battle of Kalinga. Against all conventions of statecraft, he depicts his victory as a tragedy rather than a triumph—a shattering experience that led him to embrace the Buddha’s teachings. Ashoka in Ancient India breathes new life into a towering figure of the ancient world, one who, in the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, “was greater than any king or emperor.”




Kautilya's Arthashastra


Book Description

Kautilya, also known as Chanakya, is India s most illustrious political economist of all time. He regarded economic activity as the driving force behind the functioning of any political dispensation. In fact, he went to the extent of saying that revenue should take priority over the army because sustaining the army was possible out of a well-managed revenue system.Kautilya advocated limiting the taxation power of the State, having low rates of taxation, maintaining a gradual increase in taxation and most importantly devising a tax structure that ensured compliance. He strongly encouraged foreign trade, basing it on the premise that for a successful trade contract to be established, it had to be beneficial to all. He emphasised State control and investment in land, water and mining. Kautilya was a true statesman who bridged the gap between experience and vision. For Kautilya, good governance was paramount. He suggested built-in checks and balances in systems and procedures for the containment of malpractices. Many postulates of Kautilya s philosophy of political economy are applicable to contemporary times.




Mauryan Dynasty


Book Description

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 47. Chapters: Ashoka, Maurya Empire, Chandragupta Maurya, Sangamitta, Arthashastra, Ashokan Edicts in Delhi, Edicts of Ashoka, Ancestry of Chandragupta Maurya, Mauryan art, Barabar Caves, Bindusara, Mahinda, Kunala, Kumhrar, Didarganj Yakshi, Agam Kuan, Brihadratha Maurya, Ashokavadana, Dasaratha Maurya, Tishyaraksha, Kaurwaki, Mantriparishad, Devavarman. Excerpt: The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in ancient India, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty from 321 to 185 BC. Originating from the kingdom of Magadha in the Indo-Gangetic plains (modern Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bengal) in the eastern side of the Indian subcontinent, the empire had its capital city at Pataliputra (modern Patna). The Empire was founded in 322 BC by Chandragupta Maurya, who had overthrown the Nanda Dynasty and rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India taking advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal westward by Alexander the Great's Greek and Persian armies. By 320 BC the empire had fully occupied Northwestern India, defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander. With an area of 5,000,000 sq km, it was one of the world's largest empires in its time, and the largest ever in the Indian subcontinent. At its greatest extent, the empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas, and to the east stretching into what is now Assam. To the west, it conquered beyond modern Pakistan, annexing Balochistan, south eastern parts of Iran and much of what is now Afghanistan, including the modern Herat and Kandahar provinces. The Empire was expanded into India's central and southern regions by the emperors Chandragupta and Bindusara, but it excluded a small portion of unexplored tribal and forested regions near Kalinga (modern Orissa), ..




Chandragupta Maurya and His Times


Book Description

This is a comprehensive work dealing with the life and times of India's first historical emperor, and a picture of the civilization of India in the early period of the fourth century BC. The author while enlightening on the origin and early life, conquests and chronology, administration, ideals, divisions, presents the reader in the court of the first historical emperor of India, duly attended by his popular ministers and officers and acquaints the student with the rules of service and administrative departments. Land system and rural administration are surveyed along with the municipal administration of the times. Justice personified in the King appears before us along with the huge divisions of the army to maintain it. Social and economic conditions have been so elaborately discussed as to cause surprise and curiosity. As a matter of fact, the author takes the reader back to the golden times as if by magic. To render the matter easily accessible to the reader an Index of subjects, an Index of Technical Terms, three Appendices and a plate of typical Mauryan coins, have also been added. This work is meant to fill up a gap in the knowledge of Ancient India.




Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas


Book Description

First published by the Clarendon Press in 1961, this authoritative work is based largely on the edicts of Asoka, whose policies are analysed against the background of Mauryan civilization during the third and fourth centuries BC. This is a thoroughly revised edition, with a substantial new afterword by the author, a revised bibliography and index, and a map showing new archaeological sites.




A People's History of India 5


Book Description

Mauryan India, as part of the People's History of India series, covers the period from about 350 bc to about 185 bc, thereby encompassing the invasion of Alexander (327-325 bc) and the history of the Mauryan Empire (c.324-185 bc). There is a detailed account of the inscriptions of Ashoka and their significance. A picture of the economy, society and culture of the time follows, constructed out of the varied sources available, epigraphic, textual and archaeological. An effort is made throughout to keep the reader abreast of recent discoveries, and to share with him the reasons for all conclusions and inferences. There are special notes on Mauryan chronology, the date of the Arthashastra, the science of epigraphy, and the dialects of Ashokan Prakrit. As many as fifteen excerpts from Indian and Greek sources, including ten full edicts of Ashoka, are provided. There are nine maps (five of them exceptionally detailed) and twenty illustrations (black-and-white). The volume is addressed to both the general reader and the student, and attempts to cover all topics that conventional textbooks include besides much other material that a 'people's history' needs to be concerned with, such as economic life, technology, social structure, gender relations, modes of exploitation, language, varied aspects of culture, etc. It is hoped that it will be considered a readable addition to what has so far been written on the Mauryan Empire.