In the wake of the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, Chandragupta (or Chandragupta Maurya), founder of the Mauryan dynasty, carved out the majority of an empire that encompassed most of the Indian subcontinent, except for the Tamil-speaking south. The Mauryan empire was an efficient and highly organized autocracy with a standing army and civil service. That bureaucracy and its operation were the model for the Artha-shastra (“The Science of Material Gain”), a work of political economy similar in tone and scope to Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince.
Chandragupta
Chandragupta
Chandragupta, from an Indian postage stamp.
PHG
Much is known of the reign of the Buddhist Mauryan emperor Ashoka (reigned c. 265–238 BCE or c. 273–232 BCE) from the edicts inscribed on exquisitely executed stone pillars that he had erected throughout his realm. Those edicts constitute some of the oldest deciphered original texts of India. Ashoka campaigned little to expand the realm; rather, his conquest consisted of sending many Buddhist emissaries throughout Asia and commissioning some of the finest works of ancient Indian art.
Ashokan pillar
Ashokan pillar
Inscription on Ashokan pillar, Lauriya Nandangarh, Bihar state, India.
Frederick M. Asher
After Ashoka’s death the empire shrank because of invasions, defections by southern princes, and quarrels over ascension. The last ruler, Brihadratha, was killed in 185 BCE by his Brahman commander in chief, Pushyamitra, who then founded the Shunga dynasty, which ruled in central India for about a century.
