MAURYAN Dynasty: Chandragupta, Bindusara Ashoka GK
321 BC – 185 BC
The major source materials for the Mauryan period are –
Arthasastra – written by Kautilya or Chanakya.
Indica – Written by Meghasthenese.
Mudra Rakshasa – Written by Visakha Dutta.
Chandragupta Maurya: (321 – 297 BC)
» Chandragupta occupies Patliputra with the help of Kautilya in 322 BC by dethroning the last Nanda ruler Dhanananda.
» He also defeated Seleucus Nikator.
» He was able to unite the whole of Northern India for the first time. he also had under control the Malwa region as well.
» Chandragupta Maurya become Jain and went to Chandragiri Hill, where he died by slow starvation.
Bindusara: (298 – 273 BC)
» Chandragupta Maurya was succeeded by his son in 297 BC. He said to have conquered ‘the land between the two seas’ i.e. the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.
» Bindusara was known as ‘Amitrochates‘ ( or in Sanskrit Amitraghata‘) to the Greeks.
» Buddhist source put the death of Bindusara around 273 to 272 BC. His religious leanings are said to have been towards “Ājīvika‘.
Ashoka (273 to 232 BC):
» Ashoka is the son of Bindusara. He has crowned Bindusara’s successor in 269 BC.
» According to Buddhist tradition, Ashoka came to the throne after killing his 99 brothers.
» Ashoka was the first ruler who maintains direct contact with the people through his inspections. That’s why he is regarded as the “Ashoka, the Greatest King” of all time.
» Under Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire extended the whole of the sub-continent except the extreme south and Srilanka.
» At the Kalinga war in 261 BC changed his attitude towards life and he becomes Buddhist after that.
Important MCQs on Mauryan Empire
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