The Mauryan Empire (From 323 B.C. to 185 B.C.):
1. In 323 B.C. Chandra Gupta Maurya form The Mauryan Empire with the help of him Brahaman minister called Chanakya (Kautiyala, Vishnu Gupta) overthrew Nanda or Ghanananda the ruler of Magadha.
2. The Punjab had been invaded by the Greek King Alexander in 326 B. C. Alexander had invaded India to become the winner of the whole world and to win the great Persian empire of the Achamenid.
3. But Alexander himself died in Babylon in 323 B.C. suffering from fever but his Greek governor Seleucus Nicator ruled the Punjab after his departure from India. But in 305 B.C. Chandragupta Maurya defeated Seleucus in the war and acquired the territory across the Indus, part of what is now in modern Afganistan.
4. Chandragupta Maurya was ‘The First Emperor of India, of the first great empire in India.
5. Bindusar:- In his old age Chandragupta Maurya left his throne to his son Bindusara and became a Jaina ascetic. He went to Shravanabelgola in Karnataka (Mysore) along with a Jaina ascetic Bhadrabahu,
6. Ashoka:- In 273 B.C. Ashoka, the son of Bindusar, became the most famous king, He defeated kalinga and included it within his empire. Ashoka was saddened by the wounded and the dying soldiers, He then gave up war. He adopted Buddhism. His capital was Patliputra (Patna).
7. The edicts of Ahoka were, written in Brahmi scripts. Brahmi is the earliest known Indian script and mother of most Indian scripts. The language used was Prakrit.
8. Kautilya and Megasthenes:- We know a great deal about the Mauryan period through two literary sources. One is Arthashastra. Arthashastra was written by the prime minister of Chandragupta Maurya, Kautilya. In Arthashastra, Kautilya explains how a good government could be organised. The other source is a very interesting account ‘Indica’, written by Megasthenes in Greek. Megasthenes was the ambassador of Seleucus Nicator.
9. He sent his son Mahendra and daughter Sangha Mitra to Sri Lanka to spread Buddhism. Thus, the king of Sri Lanka became a Buddhist.
10. Ruman Dai pillar was made by Ashoka, which is related to the birth of Lord Buddha. This land (Lumbinigram) was exempted from tax by Ashoka.
11. Lion capitol from the Ashokan Pillar at Samath became India’s national emblem after India became free in 1947.
12. Bull capitol is there on the Ashokan Pillar at Rampurva.
13. In 185 B.C. the last Mauryan King ‘Vridarath’ was killed by Pushyamitra Shunga, who started the Shunga dynasty in Magadha:
