Accomplishments Of The Mauryan Empire

Learning Objective

Understand the expansion of the Maurya Empire

Key Points

The Seleucid Empire tried and failed to reconquer the northwestern part of the Maurya Empire during the Seleucid-Mauryan war, from 305-303 BCE.
As part of the peace offering, the Maurya Empire gained five territories in exchange for 500 war elephants.
Several Greeks remained at the Mauryan courtroom as ambassadors to the Hellenistic world.
Chandragupta Maurya was succeed past his son, Bindusara, in 298 BCE, and so by Bindusara'southward son, Ashoka the Dandy, in 272 BCE.
Under Ashoka the Great, the Maurya Empire expanded into the southern part of the Indian subcontinent.
Ashoka erected the Edicts of Ashoka, which land his policies and accomplishments, and which were written in both Greek and Sanskrit.

Terms

satrapies

The governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid (Persian) Empires, and several of their successors, such every bit the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.

Edicts of Ashoka

Rock edicts that depicted the policies and accomplishments of Ashoka the Dandy, and were written in both Greek and Sanskrit.

Ashoka the Great

Lived 304-232 BCE. As the king of the Maurya Empire, he conquered the Indian subcontinent.

Seleucus

The king of the Seleucid Empire who tried to reconquer northwestern Indian, but lost the Selecucid-Mauryan State of war.

The Seleucid-Mauryan State of war

In 305 BCE, Emperor Chandragupta Maurya led a series of campaigns to retake the satrapies left behind by Alexander the Smashing when he returned westward. Seleucus I fought to defend these territories, but both sides made peace in 303 BCE.

Seleucus, i of Alexander's generals, received Babylonia and, from there, expanded his dominions to include much of Alexander's nigh eastern territories. Seleucus established himself in Babylon in 312 BC, the year used equally the foundation date of the Seleucid Empire. He ruled non but Babylonia, but the entire enormous eastern part of Alexander's empire. The Seleucid Empire was a major middle of Hellenistic civilisation. In the areas where a Greek-Macedonian political elite dominated (mostly urban), information technology maintained the preeminence of Greek customs.

In 305 BCE, Seleucus I tried to reconquer the northwestern parts of India in society to claim them for the growing Seleucid Empire. Trivial is known of the campaign in which Chandragupta fought with Seleucus over the Indus Valley and the region of Gandhara—a very wealthy kingdom that had submitted decades earlier to Alexander the Bully.

Seleucus lost the Seleucid-Mauryan War, and the two rulers reconciled with a peace treaty. The Greeks offered a Macedonian princess for wedlock to Chandragupta, and several territories, including the satrapies of Paropamisade (modern-twenty-four hour period Kamboja and Gandhara), Arachosia (modern-twenty-four hour period Kandhahar), and Gedrosia (mod-day Balochistan). In return, Chandragupta sent 500 war elephants, a military asset which would play a decisive role in Seleucus' victory against western Hellenistic kings at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BCE.

In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched ii Greek ambassadors, Megasthenes and, afterward, Deimakos, to the Mauryan court at Pataliputra. Subsequently, Ptolemy Two Philadelphus, the ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, sent an administrator named Dionysius to the Mauryan courtroom. Thus, standing ties between the Hellenistic globe and the Mauryan Empire.

Expansion Nether Bindusara

Chandragupta Maurya ruled from 322 BCE until his voluntary retirement and abdication, in favor of his son, Bindusara, in 298 BCE. Bindusara (320-272 BCE) was the son of Maurya and his queen, Durdhara. During his reign, Bindusara expanded the Maurya Empire south, with Chanakya equally his advisor. He brought sixteen states nether the Maurya Empire and thus conquered virtually all of the Indian peninsula. Bindusara ignored the friendly Dravidian kingdoms of the Cholas, ruled by King Ilamcetcenni, the Pandyas, and Cheras. Apart from these southern states, Kalinga (modern-day Odisha) was the merely kingdom in India independent from Bindusara'southward empire.

Ashoka the Great

Bindusara died in 272 BCE, and was succeeded past his son, Ashoka the Corking (304-232 BCE). Equally a immature prince, Ashoka (r. 272-232 BCE) was a brilliant commander who crushed revolts in Ujjain and Taxila. Every bit monarch, he was ambitious and aggressive, reasserting the Empire's superiority in southern and western India. Merely it was his conquest of Kalinga (262-261 BCE) that proved to exist the pivotal event of his life. Although Ashoka's army succeeded in overwhelming Kalinga forces of purple soldiers and civilian units, an estimated 100,000 soldiers and civilians were killed in the furious warfare, including over ten,000 of Ashoka's ain men. Hundreds of thousands of people were adversely afflicted by the devastation and fallout of war. When he personally witnessed the devastation, Ashoka began feeling remorse. Although the annexation of Kalinga was completed, Ashoka embraced the teachings of Buddhism, and renounced war and violence. He sent out missionaries to travel around Asia and spread Buddhism to other countries.

Every bit ruler, Ashoka implemented principles of ahimsa (the principle of "to not hurt") by banning hunting and tearing sports activities, and ending indentured and forced labor (many thousands of people in state of war-ravaged Kalinga had been forced into hard labor and servitude). While he maintained a large and powerful army to keep the peace, Ashoka expanded friendly relations with states across Asia and Europe, and sponsored Buddhist missions. He undertook a massive public works edifice campaign beyond the country. Among these works were the construction of stupas, or Buddhist religious structures, containing relics. I notable stupas created during the reign of Ashoka was The Bang-up Stupa, which stands in Sanchi, India. Over twoscore years of peace, harmony, and prosperity fabricated Ashoka one of the most successful and famous monarchs in Indian history. He remains an arcadian figure of inspiration in modern India.

The Edicts of Ashoka

Perhaps i of the greatest-known accomplishments of Ashoka was his creation of his edicts, which were erected between 269 BCE and 232 BCE. The Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, are found throughout the Subcontinent. Ranging from every bit far due west as Afghanistan, and as far south as Andhra (Nellore Commune), Ashoka's edicts country his policies and accomplishments. Although predominantly written in Prakrit, 2 of them were written in Greek, and one in both Greek and Aramaic. Ashoka's edicts refer to the Greeks, Kambojas, and Gandharas as peoples forming a frontier region of his empire. They also attest to Ashoka'due south envoys' travels to the Greek rulers in the west every bit far as the Mediterranean. Ashoka'south edicts also mentioned social and cultural attributes of his empire, emphasizing Buddhism, though not condemning other religions. For this, the Edicts of Ashoka are known as an early certificate that promoted religious tolerance.