By B. Much of his success is attributed to his prime minister and mentor, Kautilya also known as Chanakya , author of the Arthashastra , a cold-blooded treatise on the acquisition and maintenance of power. His son, Bindusara, extended the empire into central and parts of southern India. The third Mauryan emperor, Ashoka r. Beginning in B. One records his sending of religious envoys—with no apparent results—to the Greek rulers of Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, Cyrene, and Epirus. Thirteen years later, he issued seven additional edicts carved into strategically placed polished sandstone pillars.
One of the best preserved, at Lauriya Nandagarh in Bihar, stands 32 feet high and is capped by a seated lion. It spanned across central and northern India as well as over parts of modern-day Iran. After crowning himself king, Chandragupta took additional lands through force and by forming alliances. In addition to being a political strategist, Kautilya is also known for writing the Arthashastra, a treatise about leadership and government.
The Arthashastra describes how a state should organize its economy and maintain power. One notable aspect of the Arthashastra was its focus on spies. Kautilya recommended the king have large networks of informants to work as a surveillance force for the ruler. The focus on deception reveals a pragmatic, and borderline cynical, view of human nature. He kept the empire running smoothly while maintaining its lands. Ashoka left his mark on history by erecting large stone pillars inscribed with edict s that he issued.
After leading a bloody campaign against Kalinga a region on the central-eastern coast of India , Ashoka reevaluated his commitment to expanding the empire and instead turned to Buddhism and its tenet of nonviolence.
Many of his edicts encouraged people to give up violence and live in peace with each other—two important Buddhist principals. The last of the Mauryas, Brihadratha, was assassinated by his commander in chief—a man named Pushyamrita who went on to found the Shunga Dynasty —in B.
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Like his father and grandfather, Ashoka sponsored the construction of thousands of roads, waterways, canals, rest houses, hospitals, and other types of infrastructure. Under continued Mauryan rule, political unity and military security encouraged a common economic system, increased agricultural productivity, and enhanced widespread trade and commerce for the first time in West and South Asia.
Coins of the Maurya Empire: Chandragupta Maurya established a single currency across India, including these silver punch mark coins with symbols of wheel and elephant, 3rd century BCE. The Khyber Pass, on the modern boundary of Pakistan and Afghanistan, became a strategically important point of trade and interaction with the outside world.
Greek states and Hellenic kingdoms in West Asia became trading partners. Trade also extended through the Malay Peninsula into Southeast Asia. The outside world gained new scientific knowledge and technology through expanded trade with the Mauryan Empire.
Mauryan emperor Ashoka embraced Buddhism after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest. Kalinga was a state that prided itself on its sovereignty and democracy. With its monarchical parliamentary democracy, it was quite an exception in ancient Bharata where there existed the concept of Rajdharma.
Rajdharma means the duty of the rulers, which was intrinsically entwined with the concept of bravery and dharma. The Kalinga War happened eight years after his coronation.
When he was walking through the grounds of Kalinga after his conquest, rejoicing in his victory, he was moved by the number of bodies strewn there and the wails of the bereaved.
Edict 13 on the Edicts of Ashoka Rock Inscriptions reflect the great remorse the king felt after observing the destruction of Kalinga:. His Majesty felt remorse on account of the conquest of Kalinga because, during the subjugation of a previously unconquered country, slaughter, death, and taking away captive of the people necessarily occur, whereas His Majesty feels profound sorrow and regret. Legend says that one day after the war was over, Ashoka ventured out to roam the city and all he could see were burnt houses and scattered corpses.
The lethal war with Kalinga transformed the vengeful Emperor Ashoka into a stable and peaceful emperor, and he became a patron of Buddhism. According to the prominent Indologist, A. However, according to Basham, the Dharma officially propagated by Ashoka was not Buddhism at all. Nevertheless, his patronage led to the expansion of Buddhism in the Mauryan empire and other kingdoms during his rule, and worldwide from about BCE.
Mauryan India also enjoyed an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of the sciences and of knowledge. One of the more enduring legacies of Ashoka Maurya was the model that he provided for the relationship between Buddhism and the state.
Throughout Theravada Southeastern Asia, the model of rulership embodied by Ashoka replaced the notion of divine kingship that had previously dominated in the Angkor kingdom, for instance. Many rulers also took an active role in resolving disputes over the status and regulation of the sangha, as Ashoka had by calling a conclave to settle a number of contentious issues during his reign.
This development ultimately led to a close association in many Southeast Asian countries between the monarchy and the religious hierarchy, an association that can still be seen today in the state-supported Buddhism of Thailand, and the traditional role of the Thai king as both a religious and secular leader. Ashoka also said that his courtiers always governed the people in a moral manner. As a Buddhist emperor, Ashoka believed that Buddhism is beneficial for all human beings, as well as animals and plants, so he built a number of stupas, Sangharama, viharas, chaitya, and residences for Buddhist monks all over South Asia and Central Asia.
According to the Ashokavadana, he ordered the construction of 84, stupas to house the Buddhas relics. In the Aryamanjusrimulakalpa, Ashoka takes offerings to each of these stupas, traveling in a chariot adorned with precious metals. He gave donations to viharas and mathas. Ashoka ordered the construction of 84, stupas to house the Buddhas relics. The use of Buddhist sources in reconstructing the life of Ashoka has had a strong influence on perceptions of Ashoka, as well as the interpretations of his Edicts.
Building on traditional accounts, early scholars regarded Ashoka as a primarily Buddhist monarch who underwent a conversion to Buddhism and was actively engaged in sponsoring and supporting the Buddhist monastic institution. Some scholars have tended to question this assessment. The only source of information not attributable to Buddhist sources are the Ashokan Edicts, and these do not explicitly state that Ashoka was a Buddhist.
In his edicts, Ashoka expresses support for all the major religions of his time: Buddhism, Brahmanism, Jainism, and Ajivikaism. His edicts addressed to the population at large there are some addressed specifically to Buddhists, which is not the case for the other religions generally focus on moral themes that members of all the religions would accept. However, the edicts alone strongly indicate that he was a Buddhist.
In one edict he belittles rituals, and he banned Vedic animal sacrifices; these strongly suggest that he at least did not look to the Vedic tradition for guidance. He erected rock pillars at Buddhist holy sites, but did not do so for the sites of other religions.
Interestingly, the Ashokavadana, presents an alternate view of the familiar Ashoka. In this source, his conversion has nothing to do with the Kalinga War or his descent from the Maurya dynasty. It thereby illuminates Ashoka as more humanly ambitious and passionate, with both greatness and flaws. The different cultures and economies began to break apart, although the kings maintained Buddhism as the state religion.
The commander-in-chief of his guard, Brahmin General Pusyamitra Sunga, killed Brihadratha during a military parade and ascended the throne. Pusyamitra was succeeded after 36 years by his son, Agnimitra, beginning the dynasty of ten Sunga rulers overall. They conducted wars with both foreign and indigenous powers, including the Kalinga, the Satavahana Dynasty, and the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
Sunga rulers helped establish the tradition of royal sponsorship of education and the arts at a time when some of the most important developments in Hindu thought were taking place. The Mathura art style took hold during this time, and many small terracotta images, larger stone sculptures, and architectural monuments from the Sunga period are still in existence. Sunga Royal Family, c. The Sungas favored Hinduism over Buddhism. Buddhist sources, such as the Ashokavadana, an Indian Sanskrit text describing the birth and reign of Ashoka the Great, mention that Pusyamitra was hostile towards Buddhists and allegedly persecuted members of the Buddhist faith.
A large number of Buddhist monasteries, called viharas, were allegedly converted to Hindu temples in such places as Nalanda, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, or Mathura. Some historians argue, however, that Buddhist accounts of Sunga persecution are largely exaggerated.
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