The Mauryan empire and Ashoka

Chandragupta and Kautilya

Around 321 BCE, a few years after Alexander’s army left India, a new dynasty took power in Magadha. Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the Nandas and made Pataliputra his capital. Stories of his origins differ, but most give credit to his mentor Kautilya, also known as Chanakya or Vishnugupta, the teacher from Takshashila whom Dhana Nanda had insulted. With Magadha’s geography, its economy and its trade behind him, and Kautilya’s strategy to guide him, Chandragupta expanded step by step. He defeated the Greek satraps whom Alexander had left in the northwest and built an empire that ran from the plains of the north to the Deccan plateau. He then kept up friendly relations with the Greeks: the Greek historian and diplomat Megasthenes lived at his court and described India in his book Indika, which survives only in quotations by later writers.

Kautilya’s idea of a kingdom

Kautilya’s Arthashastra, ‘the science of governance and economics’, gives directions on defence, the economy, administration, justice, town planning, farming and welfare. Its most famous idea is the saptanga, the seven parts of a kingdom: the king (swami), the councillors and ministers (amatya), the territory and its people (janapada), the fortified towns (durga), the treasury (kosha), the forces of defence and of law and order (danda) and the allies (mitra). Together they should make a kingdom settled, safe and prosperous, kept up by war or by alliances for peace, as the situation needed. Kautilya wanted strong administration, laws against corruption and punishments for anything that harmed the people.

At the heart of his thinking is welfare. A king grows strong by making his people prosperous, because power comes from the countryside, where all economic activity begins; he should favour those who build embankments and road bridges or protect villages. The king’s happiness lies in his subjects’ happiness, so their interests must come first, however powerful he is.

Ashoka and the Kalinga war

Chandragupta’s grandson Ashoka ruled from 268 to 232 BCE. At first he was ambitious: he enlarged the vast empire he had inherited until it covered almost the whole Subcontinent, except the far south, including today’s Bangladesh and Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan. Then, as one of his own edicts tells, he marched on Kalinga, today’s Odisha, and fought a ferocious war. The death and destruction he saw changed him. He gave up violence as far as he could and followed the Buddha’s teaching of peace and non-violence. Embracing Buddhism, he sent emissaries as far as Sri Lanka, Thailand and Central Asia to carry the Buddha’s message.

Edicts across the empire

Historians call Ashoka a great communicator. He had edicts, his messages to the people, carved on rocks and pillars all over his empire, encouraging everyone to follow dharma: duty, truth, right conduct and ethics. Most were in Prakrit, the popular language of many regions, written in the Brahmi script, the parent of all of India’s regional scripts. In them he called himself Devanampiya Piyadasi, ‘Beloved of the Gods’ who ‘regards others with kindness’.

A ruler who cared

The edicts list Ashoka’s welfare work. He said he provided medical treatment for people and animals, even in southern kingdoms outside his empire; he banned hunting and cruelty to animals, an early step towards protecting wildlife; he had wells dug and rest houses built at intervals along the main roads, with fruit and shade trees; and he urged all sects to learn the good teachings of one another. He told his officials to be fair and patient, and promised an inspector every five years to check that no one was jailed or tortured without good reason. We need not believe every claim, but like Kautilya he clearly cared about his subjects’ welfare.

After Ashoka

The empire lasted about half a century after Ashoka’s death, but his successors could not hold it together, many smaller kingdoms broke away, and around 185 BCE a new phase of Indian history began. The Mauryan legacy endured: the lion capital of Ashoka’s pillar at Sarnath is India’s national emblem today.

Why it matters

The Mauryas united almost the whole Subcontinent for the first time. How Magadha grew strong enough to make this possible is in the rise of Magadha, and how empires work, and why they break up, in what is an empire. Every question is answered in the NCERT solutions for Chapter 5; see all of the Chapter 5 notes.