NAME: DISHA SHARMA

SUBJECT: HISTORY OF INDIA II

ROLL NO: 210487

Q. DISCUSS THE NATURE OF THE

MAURYAN EMPIRE.
The Mauryan Empire { c. 324-187 BCE} was founded by Chandragupta Maurya ,
who succeeded the Nanda throne in c, 321 BC.
The first three and one of the most important rulers were
 Chandragupta Maurya {324/321- 297 BCE}
 Bindusara {297-273 BCE}
 Ashoka {268- 232 BCE}
These rulers were responsible for the unification of a large part of the country
under their political hegemony.
The Buddhist texts such as the Digha Nikaya, Mahavamsa, Divyavandana
display that the Maurya’s belonged to the Moriyas, which was a kshatriya clan.
On the other hand, various other texts such as the Paristaparvan talk about
Chandragupta being the son of a peacock tamer. It is said that Chandragupta
established himself in Punjab first. He then moved on towards Magadha to
gain control over it. We get direct evidence about Chandragupta in the
Junagarh inscription of Rudra Daman, which talks about the construction of
Sudarshan lake during his rule. According to the evidences gathered from the
epigraphy and the Ceylonese chronicles we know that Chandragupta was the
one who bought all of northern India under the Mauryan control.
Chandragupta was succeeded by Bindusara , who was his son. He ruled
between 297- 273 BCE. There is a lack of sources on information related to his
reign but according to DN JHA{ Ancient India} some indirect evidence indicates
that a major portion of the south Indian peninsula was captured under his rule.
The Tibetan history of buddhism attributes him to the conquest of “the land
between the two seas” that is the arabian sea and the bay of Bengal. A large
part of the subcontinent was already under the control of the Maurya’s at the
time of his death in C. 272 BC.
Ashoka, was often referred to as the chakravartin, an absolute monarch, in the
Buddhist texts. In a script deciphered by James princep in 1837, Ashoka also
referred to himself as the Devanampiya Piyadassi which means the beloved of
god. He was considered as one of the greatest rulers and an ideal king as
mentioned in the Buddhist tradition. However, the Maurya empire rapidly
declined after Ashoka’s death.
To have more of an insight in the Maurya empire, we have a variety of sources.
 Kautilya's Megasthene's Ashokan
Arthashastra Indica inscriptions

Buddhist text Jaina text

KAUTILYA’S ARTHASHASTRA
Kautilya’s Arthashastra is a very detailed and sophisticated text which talks
about state craft. It was written as Chandragupta’s handbook by kautilya. It
revolves around means of acquisition and protection of the earth. It is also
known to be the science of statecraft. Kautilya’s work has been divided into a
set of 15 books called the Adhikarans. The first five of them deal with internal
administration, next eight deal with inter state relations, and the last two cover
a wide range of miscellaneous topics . It gives us some insight about the daily
life of the Mauryan empire, for example the distribution and measurement of
water for irrigation and also about the collection of water tax by the state
where ever it provided assistance for irrigation in the fields.
CONS ASSOCIATED WITH USING ARTHASHASTRA AS A MEDIUM OF
INFORMATION
The arthashastra can not be considered as a completely reliable source due to
a conflict of opinion on it’s date and authorship. Another thing to bring to
notice is that the arthashastra does not bring to light any references to the
mauryas, their empire, Chandragupta or patliputra. The reason for this could
be that it is a theoretical and not a descriptive source.
 MEGASTHENES’ INDICA
Megasthenes was the representative of Seleucus Nikator at the court of
Sibyrtios. He was sent to Chandragupta’s court as an ambassador as a part of a
treaty that was signed between seleucus and Chandragupta. He wrote a book
named INDICA which elaborated upon his travel and experiences in India.
Although this book survives only in fragments and has been paraphrased by
various authors, making this as a not so reliable source. The statements they
made were not necessarily based on Indica alone. It is doubtful if they had
direct access to indica or they relied on some secondary sources for further
information. Magesthenes’ work inspired a lot of authors like Pliny, diodorus
and Strabo. These authors belonged to the older Greek traditions and their
target audience was the literate Greek folk. They used bits and pieces from
indica in order to entertain, but also to inform their audience. They added
parts that they found were similar in india and in Greece. INDICA gave vivid
descriptions about india, it’s shape, size, rivers, soil, climate,plants, animals
etc.
Magesthenes’ work talks about the Mauryan empire having seven divisions
that were;
 Philosophers
 Farmers
 Soldiers
 Herdsmen
 Artisians
 Magistrates
 Councilors
These 7 divisions give us an insight of the societal practices and rules
that were practiced by the Mauryan. It reveals that these divisions were
interpreted as CASTE since no person could marry outside his or her
division or change their profession.
Hence megasthenes Indica represents india through two perspectives or
from a double filter- one of magasthenes and the other of the graeco
roman writers or authors who interpreted Indica.
 ASHOKA’S INSCRIPTIONS
James prince was successful in deciphering the bhrami scripts. He came
across Ashoka being referred as Devanampiya{beloved of the gods} and
Piyadasi { he who looks on auspiciousness}.these inscriptions were
generallu in local script. They were mainly composed in prakrit, Greek
and Aramaic. The scripts that were found in India were usually in prakrit
language which depicted an element of cultural uniformity in the
empireShort inscriptions were found at Anuradhapura in the 4 th century
gave evidence upon the use of Bhrami script in the pre-maurya period.
Some examples of the pre- Maurya and early Maurya inscriptions may
be the piprahawa casket inscription and the sohgaura and mahastan
inscription. Some historians also believed that these inscriptions could
belong the rule of Bindusara, however the practice of inscribing imperial
proclamations on stone is a feature of the Ashokan rule. Versions of
minor rock edict 1 containing the name of the ruker – Ashoka were
found in places like Maski, nittur, gujjara etc.
His inscriptions were divided into various categories.
1. 6 pillar edicts
2. 14 major rock edicts
The rock and pillar inscriptions are sets of inscriptions that occur with
minor variations and in different places. The minor rock edicts are
considered to be one of the earliest inscriptions.
These inscriptions widely talk about Ashoka’s Dhamma, it’s spread, and his
closeness to buddhism and sangha. They give us an insight to his
administrative practices, his role as a ruler as well as the socio economic
policies. One of the most interesting and important information that has been
provided to us is the construction of a water reservoir known as the
Sudarshana lake that began during the rule of Chandragupta Maurya and was
completed during Ashoka’s rule.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE.
Even though the archaeological evidence is inadequate and unreliable it has
been a key source to gather information about the empire. Archaeological
remains that have been found at kamrahar and bulandibagh are associated
with patliputra. A large amount of artefacts have been found at various sites
such as Taxila, Mathura, bhita etc. artefacts include the Ashokan inscriptions,
stone sculptures, terracotta images and even punch mark coins made of silver.
Symbols such as the crescent on arches, tree and railing etc have been found
that is said to be associated with the Maurya empire.

We get information about the social life of the people from arthashastra,
Indica and the Greek sources as well. we slightly touched upon some aspects of
social life like the people being divided into classes on the basis of the
occupation they did. The “philosophoi” [ philosophers ] were highly respected.
Strabo divided then into two groups that were brachmanes and garmanes.
There were mentions about nomadic herdsmen and shepherds. Artisans were
exempted from paying taxes. Arthashastra highlights wage labour, bonded
labour as well as slave labour.

POLITY AND ADMINISTRATION

The arthashastra provides a blueprint about the governance of the Mauryan
empire. Some believed that the Maurya empire was highly centralized. This
was kind of inspired by arthashastra itself. However, some scholars like Gerard
fussman argued that the empire was to big to be centralized due to poor
communication networks. Scholars like romila Thapar too supported the idea
of a centralized empire but soon changed her opinion. She later suggested that
the empire considered of
 Metropolitan [ MAGADHA]
 Core [ STATES AND TRADE CENTRES]
 Peripheral areas [ PRE- STATE SOCIETIES]
The Maurya empire was governed incredibly and introduced a number
of administrative innovations which helped with a smooth functioning
and the flourishing of the empire.
 Arthashastra reveals monarchial rule with the king at the Centre of the
political system. He was referred as “swami”. This information is also
backed by the Ashokan inscriptions as well. Arthashastra also highkights
the hardships faced by the kings in their day to day lives and the kind of
protection they were kept in. it is a treatise on how to acquire, enhance
and maintain political power and also obliged the moral obligations of
the ruler. The king was considered good if he did what pleased his
subjects.

Ashoka’s ideas of governance are very widely described in his edicts. He

believed that a king, being the nucleus of the political system should
treat his subjects as a father treated his son.

There was a special body which were his advisors/councilors known as the
“mantrim”
There was a set of two consultative bodies.
MANTRA PARISHAD MANTRI PARISHAD
 Smaller  Larger
 Small body of mantris  Included executive heads of
the department

An officer known as the Yukta was given the duty to maintain peace in case of
any disputes that arose in the parishads.
There was a number of some high rank officials as well, each of whom were
given a set of duties. For example, a samahartri was in charge of maintaining
accounts etc. there was also a palace priest called the “ purohita”. There were
certain qualifications required for this post like he should belong to a highly
reputed family, be familiar with the vedas and vedanganas etc.
Ashoka’s inscriptions also refer to some “mahamatas”. For example the
dhamma mahamatas were appointed by Ashoka to help him propogate and
spread his message of dhamma.
RURAL ADMINISTRATION
While the metropolitan states were directly governed the empire was divided
into small provinces, each province was under a prince or other members of
the royal family. These centres of provincial administration were located at
Taxila, Ujjain, dhauli etc. governors administering these smaller units were
chosen from the general public. They were kept in check by senior officers
called the pradeshikas who checked upon these smaller provinces every 5
years. Provinces were sub divided into districts, then into smaller groups of
villages, the final unit of administration was the village. The village was
functioned with the help of an accountant, who maintained boundries, he also
kept in check the population and the livestock etc. the village also had a tax
collector who handled the revenue of the village. Talking about law and order,
special officers called the Rajukas were appointed as judicial officers in both
the rural and urban areas.
According to arthashastra, the officials were paid in cash. Salaries of the official
and the public expenses drained a lot of the revenue. Public expenses covered
a wide range of things like building and maintaining roads, making guest
houses, the creation of the sudarshana lake , building of roads etc.
This intricate and complex political is what had led the Mauryan empire to be
so successful. The Maurya emperors were not insular, they looked beyond the
limits of the subcontinent. Hence, they were triumphant in governing such a
large empire.

ECONOMY OF THE MAURYA EMPIRE

Arthashastra lists three main occupations that were followed.
1. Agriculture
2. Animal husbandry
3. Trade
Land was an important resource and most of the revenue was generated from
the soil itself. Regular assessments of the land has ensured an increased
revenue. The administrative system largely depended on the collection of
taxes. There were various kinds of taxes introduced for a wide variety of
people. According to arrian the farmers paid “phoros” to the king and the self
governing cities. Such a tax was also paid by herdsmen, artisans and traders as
well. taxes for irrigation water were also imposed. They were called as kara,
bali and udaka-bhaga.we get the evidence of this from Ashoka’s inscriptions at
lumbini Arthashastra also talks about an additional tax that was imposed if the
treasury got depleted. These include a tax on the farmers. It ranged from 1/3 rd
to 1/4th of their produce. Taxes were also levied on actors, singers and
prostitues.
In the urban areas, taxes known as the shulka were imposed on imported and
exported goods and excise duty on the urban traders. Taxes were accepted
both in cash and kind. Kautilya suggested that the tax gathered in the form of
tax should be kept as buffer stock that would help at the time of crises. The
taxation system was very strict as those who failed to pay taxed were severely
Punished. Kautilya also describes the forests, pastures and mines to be as state
property. He also talks about granting tax free and hereditary grants of lands to
brahmans and priests.
Agriculture was the main occupation and it helped in building of the empire.
Even though megasthenes mentioned about the absence of slavery in india, it
is contradicted by a variety of sources. Domestic slaves were a very common
feature and they usually belonged to the lower castes. Not only this, slaves
were used in a wide variety of forms. Slave labour was a recognized institution
and there was a legal relationship between the master and slave. There was a
strict control over trade and goods. There were a number of officials who were
assigned duties like.
1. PANYADHYAKSHA
He was the in charge of trade, his duties included price fixation and
selling of goods produced by state-run manufacturing units.
2. SANSTHADHYAKSHA
He was the superintendent of markets
3. RUDARSHAKA
He was the inspector of coins
4. PAUTAVADHYAKSHA
He was the in charge of the use of standardized weights and measures.
The Mauryan economy was flourishing and was very prosperous.
Excavations at urban centres prove that the Maurya people had a good
standard of living.
MILITARY AND PROTECTION
The main for was built in the capital city. Kautilya gave various
suggestions for example he recommends mud rampart and troops to be
stationed outside the fort at all times. The fort walls should be
surrounded by water channels filled with crocodiles and lotus. There
should be plenty of escape routes within the fort. He laid emphasis on
strict training of the army.
Magesthenes mentions 6 committees of 5 members each. These were
 i. Navy
ii. Supervision of equipment and transport
iii. Infantry
iv. Cavalry
v. Chariots
vi. elephants
Chandragupta Maurya was probably responsible for most of the military
successions whereas Ashoka left warfare and kalinga war was the only
war he had known to be fought. He later followed the policy of dhamma
Vijaya.

LAW AND ORDER

According to arthashastra, danda was understood as force or justice. The
arthashastra talks about justice in great detail. The judges were called
dharmasthas . The officers responsible for the suppression of criminals
were known as the pradeshtris. The punishments were known to be very
brutal ranging from mutilation of limbs to death. The nature of the
punishments depended upon the nature, gravity and the circumstances
of the crimes committed. We see a bias towards the upper caste in cases
of crimes committed by them as the upper castes were given lighter
forms of the punishments than the lower castes.

Such a systematic and elaborate structure of administration helped in

the smooth governance of the Maurya empire. However, the empire
quickly started to decline after the death of Ashoka in 232 BC . The
misconception was clarified that the Mauryan period which describes
itself as one which was politically decentralised and individually
democratic; whereas in reality it was the beginning of political
centralisation and it also saw the triumph of a social order which did not
permit of much individual liberty.