Mauryan Empire: Difference between revisions
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| image_map = Ashoka Maurya Empire.png | | image_map = Ashoka Maurya Empire.png | ||
| image_map_caption = Maximum extent of the Maurya Empire, as shown by the location of [[Edicts of Ashoka|Ashoka's inscriptions]], and visualized by ASI ([[Archeological Survey Of India]]) based on ancient inscriptions, ancient Greecian , ancient Indian texts,<ref>{{Cite book|page=412|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.06445|title=Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol-13, Issue no.-1-4}}</ref> modern archaeologist :[[Nayanjot Lahiri]]<ref name="NAVJOT>" | | image_map_caption = Maximum extent of the Maurya Empire, as shown by the location of [[Edicts of Ashoka|Ashoka's inscriptions]], and visualized by ASI ([[Archeological Survey Of India]]) based on ancient inscriptions, ancient Greecian , ancient Indian texts,<ref>{{Cite book|page=412|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.06445|title=Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol-13, Issue no.-1-4}}</ref> modern archaeologist :[[Nayanjot Lahiri]]<ref name="NAVJOT>" | ||
Pg.5 : In relation to his predecessors, he was the first Indian king to rule over an empire embracing much of India and its western borderlands, from Afghanistan to Orissa and towards the south as far as Karnataka. In relation to the rulers who followed him, it was his example which influenced thought-philosophical, religious, cultural-in Asia more profoundly than that of any other political figure of antiquity." {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=bJ_XCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|page=5|title=Ashoka in Ancient India|last=Lahiri|first=Nayanjot|date=2015-08-05|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-05777-7|language=en}}</ref>,[[Dougald J. W. O'Reilly]],<ref name="DOUGLE">" {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.nl/books?id=eyHTschgg50C&pg=PA178&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=maurya&f=false|title=Early Civilizations of Southeast Asia|last=O'Reilly|first=Dougald J. W.|date=2007|publisher=Rowman Altamira|page=178|isbn=978-0-7591-0279-8|language=en}}</ref> | Pg.5 : In relation to his predecessors, he was the first Indian king to rule over an empire embracing much of India and its western borderlands, from Afghanistan to Orissa and towards the south as far as Karnataka. In relation to the rulers who followed him, it was his example which influenced thought-philosophical, religious, cultural-in Asia more profoundly than that of any other political figure of antiquity." {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=bJ_XCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|page=5|title=Ashoka in Ancient India|last=Lahiri|first=Nayanjot|date=2015-08-05|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-05777-7|language=en}}</ref>,[[Dougald J. W. O'Reilly]],<ref name="DOUGLE">" {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.nl/books?id=eyHTschgg50C&pg=PA178&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=maurya&f=false|title=Early Civilizations of Southeast Asia|last=O'Reilly|first=Dougald J. W.|date=2007|publisher=Rowman Altamira|page=178|isbn=978-0-7591-0279-8|language=en}}</ref>old archeologist :[[D.R. Bhandarkar]]<ref name="BHANDARKAR">" Pg.42-43 : We thus obtain a fairly accurate idea of the extent of Asoka's dominions. They included the whole of India except the southern extremity of the peninsula held by the Choda, Pandya, Satiya- putra and Keralaputra kings. This southern boundary is marked roughly by a line drawn from Pulicat near Madras in the east, to Gooty and Chitaldrug in the north where the four copies of Aśoka's Minor Rock Edicts have been discovered right up to the northern point of the South Canara District on the west. Let us now see what Greek princes have been mentioned by Aśoka as his contemporaries, and try to identify them. They have all been named in Rock Edict XIII. Of course, Amtiyoka is the first to be named as he was a neighbour of Asoka. Beyond his kingdom, we are told, were ruling the four princes Turamaya, Amtekina or Amtikini, Maga and Alikasumdra. Amtiyoka is, of course, Antiochus II. Theos (B.C. 261-246), king of Syria, and Turamaya, Ptolemy II. Philadelphos of Egypt (285-247). Amtekina or Amtikini, as Bühler has remarked, corresponds to the Greek Antigenes rather than to Antigonus."{{Cite book|page=42-43|url=http://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.35379|title=Asoka|last=Bhandarkar|first=D. R.|publisher=Central Archelogical Library|isbn=978-93-837-2346-1}}</ref>, [[Myra Shackley]]:<ref name="SHACKLEY">" Pg.67 - After Alexanderâs retreat from the Indus the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya established the first indigenous empire to exercise control over much of the subcontinent, and eventually, under his successors, this covered all but the tip of the peninsula. Asoka, the greatest of the Mauryan emperors, took power in 272 BC and extended the empire from Afghanistan to Assam and from the Himalayas to Mysore, leaving behind a series of inscriptions recording his edicts on pillars and rocks across the continent." {{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/atlasoftraveltou0000shac|title=Atlas of travel and tourism development|last=Shackley|first=Myra L.|date=2006|publisher=Amsterdam ; Boston : Elsevier|others=Internet Archive|page=67|isbn=978-0-7506-6348-9}}</ref> modern historian : [[Robert W. Strayer]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/waysofworld0000robe|page=121|title=Ways of the World|last=Robert W. Strayer : Eric W. Nelson|date=2016|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-1-319-05448-9}}</ref>,[[Eric Nelson]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/waysofworld0000robe|page=121|title=Ways of the World|last=Robert W. Strayer : Eric W. Nelson|date=2016|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-1-319-05448-9}}</ref>, [[Upinder Singh]]<ref name="UPINDER"> Pg.740 : "Chandragupta and Seleucus Nikator, who had inherited the eastern provinces of Alexander empire. This may have occurred in about 301 BCE and was resolved by an agreement. Chandragupta obtained the territories of Arachosia (the Kandahar area of south-east Afghanistan), Gedrosia (south Baluchistan), and Paropomisadai (the area between Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent) and handed over 500 elephants in return. " | ||
old archeologist :[[D.R. Bhandarkar]]<ref name="BHANDARKAR">" Pg.42-43 : We thus obtain a fairly accurate idea of the extent of Asoka's dominions. They included the whole of India except the southern extremity of the peninsula held by the Choda, Pandya, Satiya- putra and Keralaputra kings. This southern boundary is marked roughly by a line drawn from Pulicat near Madras in the east, to Gooty and Chitaldrug in the north where the four copies of Aśoka's Minor Rock Edicts have been discovered right up to the northern point of the South Canara District on the west. Let us now see what Greek princes have been mentioned by Aśoka as his contemporaries, and try to identify them. They have all been named in Rock Edict XIII. Of course, Amtiyoka is the first to be named as he was a neighbour of Asoka. Beyond his kingdom, we are told, were ruling the four princes Turamaya, Amtekina or Amtikini, Maga and Alikasumdra. Amtiyoka is, of course, Antiochus II. Theos (B.C. 261-246), king of Syria, and Turamaya, Ptolemy II. Philadelphos of Egypt (285-247). Amtekina or Amtikini, as Bühler has remarked, corresponds to the Greek Antigenes rather than to Antigonus."{{Cite book|page=42-43|url=http://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.35379|title=Asoka|last=Bhandarkar|first=D. R.|publisher=Central Archelogical Library|isbn=978-93-837-2346-1}}</ref>, [[Myra Shackley]]:<ref name="SHACKLEY">" Pg.67 - After Alexanderâs retreat from the Indus the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya established the first indigenous empire to exercise control over much of the subcontinent, and eventually, under his successors, this covered all but the tip of the peninsula. Asoka, the greatest of the Mauryan emperors, took power in 272 BC and extended the empire from Afghanistan to Assam and from the Himalayas to Mysore, leaving behind a series of inscriptions recording his edicts on pillars and rocks across the continent." {{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/atlasoftraveltou0000shac|title=Atlas of travel and tourism development|last=Shackley|first=Myra L.|date=2006|publisher=Amsterdam ; Boston : Elsevier|others=Internet Archive|page=67|isbn=978-0-7506-6348-9}}</ref> modern historian : [[Robert W. Strayer]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/waysofworld0000robe|page=121|title=Ways of the World|last=Robert W. Strayer : Eric W. Nelson|date=2016|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-1-319-05448-9}}</ref>,[[Eric Nelson]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/waysofworld0000robe|page=121|title=Ways of the World|last=Robert W. Strayer : Eric W. Nelson|date=2016|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-1-319-05448-9}}</ref>, [[Upinder Singh]]<ref name="UPINDER"> Pg.740 : "Chandragupta and Seleucus Nikator, who had inherited the eastern provinces of Alexander empire. This may have occurred in about 301 BCE and was resolved by an agreement. Chandragupta obtained the territories of Arachosia (the Kandahar area of south-east Afghanistan), Gedrosia (south Baluchistan), and Paropomisadai (the area between Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent) and handed over 500 elephants in return. " | |||
Pg.748 : "The distribution of Ashoka's inscriptions suggests the extent of the Maurya empire. In the north-west, it extended up to Kandahar in Afghanistan, with the kingdom of Antiochus II of Syria lying to the west. Its eastern frontier extended to Orissa. It included almost the entire subcontinent, except the southernmost parts, which, according to rock edict 13, were inhabited by the Cholas and Pandyas, and according to rock edict 2, by the Keralaputras and Satiyaputras." | Pg.748 : "The distribution of Ashoka's inscriptions suggests the extent of the Maurya empire. In the north-west, it extended up to Kandahar in Afghanistan, with the kingdom of Antiochus II of Syria lying to the west. Its eastern frontier extended to Orissa. It included almost the entire subcontinent, except the southernmost parts, which, according to rock edict 13, were inhabited by the Cholas and Pandyas, and according to rock edict 2, by the Keralaputras and Satiyaputras." | ||
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English Translation of his statement - "The biggest fact of Maurya political history was the establishment of the Magadha Empire, which included the whole of India except the far south. This empire was established with the strength of the sword and it could be protected only with the strength of the sword. Strong military power was necessary for both external security and internal peace..The tribal people living inside the empire and on its borders were equally a cause of trouble. So for this, there was a huge permanent army and tight judicial system."{{Cite book|page=355|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.401527|title=Prachin Bharat Me Rajneetik Vichar Avam Sansthae|last=Sharma|first=Ramsharan|date=1990}}</ref>, [[Charles Allen]]<ref name="CHARLES"> " Pg.1 : Ashoka Maurya—or Ashoka the Great as he was later known—holds a special place in the history of Buddhism and India. At its height in around 250 BCE, his empire stretched across the Indian subcontinent to Kandahar in the east, and as far north as the Himalayas. Through his quest to govern by moral force alone, Ashoka transformed Buddhism from a minor sect into a major world religion, while simultaneously setting a new yardstick for government that had lasting implications for all of Asia. His bold experiment ended in tragedy, however, and in the tumult that followed the historical record was cleansed so effectively that his name was largely forgotten for almost two thousand years. Yet, a few mysterious stone monuments and inscriptions miraculously survived the purge. | English Translation of his statement - "The biggest fact of Maurya political history was the establishment of the Magadha Empire, which included the whole of India except the far south. This empire was established with the strength of the sword and it could be protected only with the strength of the sword. Strong military power was necessary for both external security and internal peace..The tribal people living inside the empire and on its borders were equally a cause of trouble. So for this, there was a huge permanent army and tight judicial system."{{Cite book|page=355|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.401527|title=Prachin Bharat Me Rajneetik Vichar Avam Sansthae|last=Sharma|first=Ramsharan|date=1990}}</ref>, [[Charles Allen]]<ref name="CHARLES"> " Pg.1 : Ashoka Maurya—or Ashoka the Great as he was later known—holds a special place in the history of Buddhism and India. At its height in around 250 BCE, his empire stretched across the Indian subcontinent to Kandahar in the east, and as far north as the Himalayas. Through his quest to govern by moral force alone, Ashoka transformed Buddhism from a minor sect into a major world religion, while simultaneously setting a new yardstick for government that had lasting implications for all of Asia. His bold experiment ended in tragedy, however, and in the tumult that followed the historical record was cleansed so effectively that his name was largely forgotten for almost two thousand years. Yet, a few mysterious stone monuments and inscriptions miraculously survived the purge. | ||
" Pg. 60 : Pliny admits to the loss of Greek territory: "The Indians afterwards held a large part of Ariane [a satrapy of the Persian Empire encompassing what is now eastern Iran, south-western Afghanistan and Baluchistan] which they had received from the Macedonians, entering into marriage relations with him, and giving in return five hundred elephants, of which Sandrakottos had nine thousand." "{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ashokasearchfori0000alle/page/n1/mode/1up?q=Ashoka+Maurya%E2%80%94or|title=Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor|last=Allen|page=1 ,60 and his created map on pg. 12|first=Charles|date=2012-02-21|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=978-1-4087-0388-5|language=en}}</ref>, [[Neil MacGregor]]<ref name="GREGOR">" Pg.205 : Chandragupta, who had risen to the throne following a military campaign that created a huge empire reaching from Kandahar in modern Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. This included the great majority of modern India, and was the largest empire in Indian history. In 268 BC Ashoka took his place on the throne but not without considerable struggle. Buddhist writings tell us that in order to do so he killed ‘ninety-nine of his brothers’ presumably metaphorical as well as actual brothers. The same writings create a legend of Ashoka’s pre-Buddhist days as filled with self-indulgent frivolity and cruelty. When he became emperor he set out to complete the occupation of the whole subcontinent and attacked the independent state of Kalinga modern-day Orissa on the east coast. " {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofworldin0000macg/page/205/mode/2up|title=A history of the world in 100 objects|last=MacGregor|first=Neil|date=2011|page=205|publisher=New York : Viking|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-670-02270-0}}</ref> old historians:[[Radha Kumud Mukherjee]]<ref name="MUKHERJEE">" Pg.12 : Asoka had the singular good fortune of being spared the ifficult task of founding and organising an inpare That ask was effectively executed by his grandfather, Chandragupta Maurya, who bequeathed to his successors an empire extending approximately from Afghanistan to Mysore Territories which are even now outside the Government of India were parts of the Indian Empire under Chandragupta, the four satrapies of Aria, Arochosia, Gedrosia, and the Paropanisadai, which Chanaragupta wrested in about 304 B C from the empire of Selukos as the penalty for his ill-advised aggression." | " Pg. 60 : Pliny admits to the loss of Greek territory: "The Indians afterwards held a large part of Ariane [a satrapy of the Persian Empire encompassing what is now eastern Iran, south-western Afghanistan and Baluchistan] which they had received from the Macedonians, entering into marriage relations with him, and giving in return five hundred elephants, of which Sandrakottos had nine thousand." "{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ashokasearchfori0000alle/page/n1/mode/1up?q=Ashoka+Maurya%E2%80%94or|title=Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor|last=Allen|page=1 ,60 and his created map on pg. 12|first=Charles|date=2012-02-21|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=978-1-4087-0388-5|language=en}}</ref>, [[Neil MacGregor]]<ref name="GREGOR">" Pg.205 : Chandragupta, who had risen to the throne following a military campaign that created a huge empire reaching from Kandahar in modern Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. This included the great majority of modern India, and was the largest empire in Indian history. In 268 BC Ashoka took his place on the throne but not without considerable struggle. Buddhist writings tell us that in order to do so he killed ‘ninety-nine of his brothers’ presumably metaphorical as well as actual brothers. The same writings create a legend of Ashoka’s pre-Buddhist days as filled with self-indulgent frivolity and cruelty. When he became emperor he set out to complete the occupation of the whole subcontinent and attacked the independent state of Kalinga modern-day Orissa on the east coast. " {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofworldin0000macg/page/205/mode/2up|title=A history of the world in 100 objects|last=MacGregor|first=Neil|date=2011|page=205|publisher=New York : Viking|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-670-02270-0}}</ref> old historians:[[Mark F. Whitters]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/e | ||
ncyclopedia-of-world-history-7-volumes-set-facts-on-file-2008|page=33,262,270,590 |title=Encyclopedia Of World History 7 Volumes Set Facts On File 2008}}</ref>, [[Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur ]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/e | |||
ncyclopedia-of-world-history-7-volumes-set-facts-on-file-2008|page=33,262,270,590 |title=Encyclopedia Of World History 7 Volumes Set Facts On File 2008}}</ref>, [[Janice J. Terry]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/e | |||
ncyclopedia-of-world-history-7-volumes-set-facts-on-file-2008|page=33,262,270,590 |title=Encyclopedia Of World History 7 Volumes Set Facts On File 2008}}</ref>, [[Michael J. Schroeder ]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/e | |||
ncyclopedia-of-world-history-7-volumes-set-facts-on-file-2008|page=33,262,270,590 |title=Encyclopedia Of World History 7 Volumes Set Facts On File 2008}}</ref>, [[Marsha E. Ackermann ]]<ref name="WORLDHISTO">“ Pg.33 : Ashoka (Asoka) was the third ruler of the MAURYAN Empire. Under his long rule the empire that he inherited reached its zenith territorially and culturally. Soon after his death the Mauryan Empire split up and ended. He is remembered as a great ruler in world history and the greatest ruler in India. Chandragupta Maurya founded the Mauryan dynasty in 326 B.C.E. Both he and his son Bindusara were successful warriors, unifying northern India and part of modern Afghanistan for the first time in history. Ashoka was not Bindusara's eldest son, and there is a gap of time between his father's death and his succession, due perhaps to war with his brothers. Ashoka continued to expand the empire by conquering southward. One war against Kalinga in the southeast was particularly bloody and filled him with remorse. As a result he converted to Buddhism (from Vedic Hinduism) and renounced war as an instrument of policy.” | |||
“Pg.262 : Chandragupta Maurya founded the Mauryan Empire in 326 B.C.E. in northern India. His son Bindusara and grandson AsHOKA (Asoka) continued his conquest that unified the entire subcontinent, with the exception of the southern tip, and part of Afghanistan into India's first great empire. “ | |||
“Pg.270 :In 324 B.C.E. Chandragupta Maurya unified northern India by defeating his rivals. He went on to war against the successor of ALEXANDER THE GREAT in Asia, Seleucus Nicator, expelling his forces from the borderlands of India. In 305 B.C.E. the two men concluded a treaty in which the Greeks withdrew from the Punjab in northwestern India and which fixed the western boundary of the MAURYAN EMPIRE to the crest of the Hindu Kush. There was also exchange of ambassadors, gifts, and a vague mention of a marriage alliance. Megasthenes was Seleucus’s representative at Chandragupta’s court. “ | |||
& | |||
“Check Mauryan Empire Map , Pg:590. “{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/e | |||
ncyclopedia-of-world-history-7-volumes-set-facts-on-file-2008|page=33,262,270,590 |title=Encyclopedia Of World History 7 Volumes Set Facts On File 2008}}</ref>, [[Radha Kumud Mukherjee]]<ref name="MUKHERJEE">" Pg.12 : Asoka had the singular good fortune of being spared the ifficult task of founding and organising an inpare That ask was effectively executed by his grandfather, Chandragupta Maurya, who bequeathed to his successors an empire extending approximately from Afghanistan to Mysore Territories which are even now outside the Government of India were parts of the Indian Empire under Chandragupta, the four satrapies of Aria, Arochosia, Gedrosia, and the Paropanisadai, which Chanaragupta wrested in about 304 B C from the empire of Selukos as the penalty for his ill-advised aggression." | |||
" Pg.13 :Yuan Chwang saw Asokan topes in Kapis (Kafiris- tan), Nagar (Jelalabad), and Udyana in the north-west. In Bengal, the authority of Asoka is proved by his stūpa at Tamralipti, the capital of Suhma, and the famous port of embarkation for voyages towards the south. According to Yuan Chwang, there was also a stupa of Asoka in the capital of Samatata or the Brahmaputra Delta, and others in different parts of Bengal and Bihar, viz., Punyavardhana (northern Bengal) and Karnasuvarna (modern Burdwan, Birbhum and Murshidabad districts) [Watters, ii 184 f]. Yuan Chwang refers to Asokan topes being erected at various places in the south, in Chola and Dravida, of which the capital, Kanchipura, has been sought to be identified with the Satiyaputra country of the Edict Indeed, the distribu- tion of the Asokan topes as mentioned by Yuan Chwang is almost co-terminous with that of the inscriptions, and is equally significant of the vastness of his empire.Lastly, the extent of his empire is also indicated by his own mention in the Edicts (R.E. II, V, and XIII] of the peoples on its borders In the south, these are mentioned as the Cholas, Pandyas, the Satiyaputra and Keralaputra, who were all within his sphere of influence Towards the north-west, his empire marched with that of the Synan monarch, Antiochos [R.E. II], and hence extended up to Persia and Syria which were held by Antiochos, while it is also known how Asoka's grandfather, Chandragupta, had wrested from Selukos the provinces of Aria, Arachosia, Paropanisadai and Gedrosia, which descended to Asoka as his inheritance. | " Pg.13 :Yuan Chwang saw Asokan topes in Kapis (Kafiris- tan), Nagar (Jelalabad), and Udyana in the north-west. In Bengal, the authority of Asoka is proved by his stūpa at Tamralipti, the capital of Suhma, and the famous port of embarkation for voyages towards the south. According to Yuan Chwang, there was also a stupa of Asoka in the capital of Samatata or the Brahmaputra Delta, and others in different parts of Bengal and Bihar, viz., Punyavardhana (northern Bengal) and Karnasuvarna (modern Burdwan, Birbhum and Murshidabad districts) [Watters, ii 184 f]. Yuan Chwang refers to Asokan topes being erected at various places in the south, in Chola and Dravida, of which the capital, Kanchipura, has been sought to be identified with the Satiyaputra country of the Edict Indeed, the distribu- tion of the Asokan topes as mentioned by Yuan Chwang is almost co-terminous with that of the inscriptions, and is equally significant of the vastness of his empire.Lastly, the extent of his empire is also indicated by his own mention in the Edicts (R.E. II, V, and XIII] of the peoples on its borders In the south, these are mentioned as the Cholas, Pandyas, the Satiyaputra and Keralaputra, who were all within his sphere of influence Towards the north-west, his empire marched with that of the Synan monarch, Antiochos [R.E. II], and hence extended up to Persia and Syria which were held by Antiochos, while it is also known how Asoka's grandfather, Chandragupta, had wrested from Selukos the provinces of Aria, Arachosia, Paropanisadai and Gedrosia, which descended to Asoka as his inheritance. | ||
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"Pg.81 : Asoka's empire, therefore, comprised the countries now known as Afghanistan, as far as the Hindu Kush, Baluchistan, Makran, Sind, Kachh (Cutch), the Swat valley, with the adjoining regions, Kashmir, Nepal, and the whole of India proper, except the extreme south, Tamilakam or Tamil Land. His dominions were far more extensive than British India of to-day, excluding Burma. "{{citation|last=Smith|first=Vincent Arthur|title=The Oxford History of India: From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2gxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA104%7Cyear=1920%7C|publisher=Clarendon Press|pages=75,81}}</ref> [[Robert Roswell Palmer]],<ref name="PALMER">" Pg.116 - Based on Magadha in the Ganges valley, the Mauryan empire flourished from 322 B.C., when its founder Chandragupta seized the capital city of Pataliputra to 185 B.C., when the last ruler of the dynasty died. Chandragupta united north India from the mouths of the Ganges to the watershed west of the Indus. He then took over, from a satrap of the Alexandrian empire, the regions of Arachosia and Gandhara up to the Hindu Kush mountains. His son Bindusara extended the empire to about the fifteenth parallel of latitude, except for Kalinga on the east coast, which was later annexed by Asoka. The reign of Asoka (273-232 B.C.) -saw the height of the Mauryan empire, and is one of the great periods of Indian history. Shortly after the conquest of Kahnga Asoka was converted to Buddhism, whereupon, forswearing mihtarism. he devoted himself to the welfare of his people and the propagation of Buddhism. His missionaries brought Buddhism and Indian civilization to Ceylon and elsewhere." {{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/randmcnallyatla00rand|title=Rand McNally atlas of world history|last=Rand McNally and Company|page=106|last2=Palmer|first2=R. R. (Robert Roswell)|date=1965|publisher=Chicago|others=Internet Archive}}</ref>[[Geoffrey Parker]],<ref name="GEOFFREY">" Pg.28 - A further turning point came in 320 BC when Chandragupta Maurya seized the state of Magadha on the lower Ganges, and occupied large parts of central India, and in 305 BC annexed the province of Trans-Indus from the successors of Alexander the Great (see page 32). Chandragupta’s grandson Ashoka (273-232 BC) expanded this Mauryan empire southwards, bringing the greater part of the sub-continent under his rule and inscribing edicts on pillars and rock-faces all over India as a permanent reminder of his power (map 2). Ashoka’s death introduced a troubled period, punctuated by invasions of both Greeks and nomads who founded states in the north-west, such as the Kushan empire, where Hellenistic and Indian influences mingled. Further south, the Satavahanas of the Deccan ruled a state that straddled the peninsula by AD 150." {{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/timescompacthist0000unse_g4l2|page=28|title=The Times compact history of the world|date=2008|publisher=London : Times Books|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-00-726731-6}}</ref>[[R. C. Majumdar]];<ref name="MAJUMDAR"> | "Pg.81 : Asoka's empire, therefore, comprised the countries now known as Afghanistan, as far as the Hindu Kush, Baluchistan, Makran, Sind, Kachh (Cutch), the Swat valley, with the adjoining regions, Kashmir, Nepal, and the whole of India proper, except the extreme south, Tamilakam or Tamil Land. His dominions were far more extensive than British India of to-day, excluding Burma. "{{citation|last=Smith|first=Vincent Arthur|title=The Oxford History of India: From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2gxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA104%7Cyear=1920%7C|publisher=Clarendon Press|pages=75,81}}</ref> [[Robert Roswell Palmer]],<ref name="PALMER">" Pg.116 - Based on Magadha in the Ganges valley, the Mauryan empire flourished from 322 B.C., when its founder Chandragupta seized the capital city of Pataliputra to 185 B.C., when the last ruler of the dynasty died. Chandragupta united north India from the mouths of the Ganges to the watershed west of the Indus. He then took over, from a satrap of the Alexandrian empire, the regions of Arachosia and Gandhara up to the Hindu Kush mountains. His son Bindusara extended the empire to about the fifteenth parallel of latitude, except for Kalinga on the east coast, which was later annexed by Asoka. The reign of Asoka (273-232 B.C.) -saw the height of the Mauryan empire, and is one of the great periods of Indian history. Shortly after the conquest of Kahnga Asoka was converted to Buddhism, whereupon, forswearing mihtarism. he devoted himself to the welfare of his people and the propagation of Buddhism. His missionaries brought Buddhism and Indian civilization to Ceylon and elsewhere." {{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/randmcnallyatla00rand|title=Rand McNally atlas of world history|last=Rand McNally and Company|page=106|last2=Palmer|first2=R. R. (Robert Roswell)|date=1965|publisher=Chicago|others=Internet Archive}}</ref>[[Geoffrey Parker]],<ref name="GEOFFREY">" Pg.28 - A further turning point came in 320 BC when Chandragupta Maurya seized the state of Magadha on the lower Ganges, and occupied large parts of central India, and in 305 BC annexed the province of Trans-Indus from the successors of Alexander the Great (see page 32). Chandragupta’s grandson Ashoka (273-232 BC) expanded this Mauryan empire southwards, bringing the greater part of the sub-continent under his rule and inscribing edicts on pillars and rock-faces all over India as a permanent reminder of his power (map 2). Ashoka’s death introduced a troubled period, punctuated by invasions of both Greeks and nomads who founded states in the north-west, such as the Kushan empire, where Hellenistic and Indian influences mingled. Further south, the Satavahanas of the Deccan ruled a state that straddled the peninsula by AD 150." {{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/timescompacthist0000unse_g4l2|page=28|title=The Times compact history of the world|date=2008|publisher=London : Times Books|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-00-726731-6}}</ref>[[R. C. Majumdar]];<ref name="MAJUMDAR"> | ||
"Pg.101 : Towards the close of the reign of Chandrgupta, the Maurya empire received a further extension in the north-west Seleucus the general of Alexander, who had made himself master of Babylon, gradually extended his empire from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus and even tried to regain the provinces to the east of that river. He failed and had to conclude a treaty with Chandragupta by which he surrendered a large territory including, in the opinion of certain writers, the satrapies of Paropanisadai {Kabul), Aria (Herat), Arachosia (Qandahar), and Gedrosia (Baluchistan), in return for 500 elephant. | "Pg.101 : Towards the close of the reign of Chandrgupta, the Maurya empire received a further extension in the north-west Seleucus the general of Alexander, who had made himself master of Babylon, gradually extended his empire from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus and even tried to regain the provinces to the east of that river. He failed and had to conclude a treaty with Chandragupta by which he surrendered a large territory including, in the opinion of certain writers, the satrapies of Paropanisadai {Kabul), Aria (Herat), Arachosia (Qandahar), and Gedrosia (Baluchistan), in return for 500 elephant. | ||
"Pg.104 : The conquest of this province rounded off the Maurya empire, which now embraced almost the whole of nonTamil India and a considerable portion of Afganistan. It stretched from the land of the Yonas, Kambojaa and Gandharas in the Kabul valley and some adjoining mountain territory to the country of the Andhra in the Godavari-Krishna basin and the district(Ahara) of Isila in the north of Mysore* and from Sopara and Girnar in the west to Dhauli and Jaugada in the east. In the north-west the empire touched the realm of Antiochos II the Greek king of Syria and Western Asia, and in the south it extended as far as the Kingdom of tho Chodas, Pandyas, Satiyaputra and Keralaputras in the Tamil country. If tradition is to be believed, the dominions of Ashoka included the secluded vales of Kashmir and Nepal as well as the riparian plins of Pundravardhana (North Bengal) and Samatata [East Bengal), The inclusion of the Himalayan valleys is rendered probably by the discovery of inscriptions at Mansera in the Hazara district, at Kalsi in the Dehradun district at Nigali Sagar and Rummindei in the Nepaleso Tarai and at Rampurva in the Champaran district of North Bihar. "{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.4263|title=Advanced history of India|last=Majumdar|first=R. C.|date=1953|publisher=Macmillan & Company|page=101,104}}</ref>and historical geographer:[[Joseph E. Schwartzberg]].<ref name="dsal.uchicago.edu">Schwartzberg, Joseph E. [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/ ''A Historical Atlas of South Asia''] , 2nd ed. (University of Minnesota, 1992), Plate III.B.4b ([https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=055 p.18]) and Plate XIV.1a-c ([https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=182 p.145]) {{!}}url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/ {{!}}date=26 January 2021</ref> | "Pg.104 : The conquest of this province rounded off the Maurya empire, which now embraced almost the whole of nonTamil India and a considerable portion of Afganistan. It stretched from the land of the Yonas, Kambojaa and Gandharas in the Kabul valley and some adjoining mountain territory to the country of the Andhra in the Godavari-Krishna basin and the district(Ahara) of Isila in the north of Mysore* and from Sopara and Girnar in the west to Dhauli and Jaugada in the east. In the north-west the empire touched the realm of Antiochos II the Greek king of Syria and Western Asia, and in the south it extended as far as the Kingdom of tho Chodas, Pandyas, Satiyaputra and Keralaputras in the Tamil country. If tradition is to be believed, the dominions of Ashoka included the secluded vales of Kashmir and Nepal as well as the riparian plins of Pundravardhana (North Bengal) and Samatata [East Bengal), The inclusion of the Himalayan valleys is rendered probably by the discovery of inscriptions at Mansera in the Hazara district, at Kalsi in the Dehradun district at Nigali Sagar and Rummindei in the Nepaleso Tarai and at Rampurva in the Champaran district of North Bihar. "{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.4263|title=Advanced history of India|last=Majumdar|first=R. C.|date=1953|publisher=Macmillan & Company|page=101,104}}</ref>and historical geographer:[[Joseph E. Schwartzberg]].<ref name="dsal.uchicago.edu">Schwartzberg, Joseph E. [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/ ''A Historical Atlas of South Asia''] , 2nd ed. (University of Minnesota, 1992), Plate III.B.4b ([https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=055 p.18]) and Plate XIV.1a-c ([https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=182 p.145]) {{!}}url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/ {{!}}date=26 January 2021</ref> , Anthropologist and Bioarcheologist : [[Ian Barnes]]<ref name="IANBARNES">“ Pg.42 : Threatened by Chandragupta’s growing power, Seleucis of Syria, Alexander’s successor, challenged him by invading northern India in 305 BC but suffered a devastating defeat. A treaty ending the conflict gave Chandragupta all lands north to the Hindu Kush, including Baluchistan and Afghanistan. Chandragupta used an extensive and elaborate civil service, an army, and a secret service to rule. A virtual dictatorship coincided with widespread public works, building roads and developing irrigation systems……The Mauryan dynasty’s greatest ruler was Asoka, Chandragupta’s grandson. He came to the throne after fighting his brothers for the succession. His policy was to continue enlarging the empire, and in 251 BC, he invaded and conquered Kalinga, part of modern Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, and Madhya Pradesh. The Kalinga campaign caused such extensive misery and destruction to the local population that Asoka renounced armed conquest and adopted a policy of “conquest by dharma,” by spiritual rectitude and law. | ||
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Check Mauryan Empire on Page 43 “{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/historyatlasofas00ianb|title=The history atlas of Asia|page=42|last=Barnes|first=Ian|last2=Hudson|first2=Robert|last3=Parekh|first3=Bhikhu C.|date=1998|publisher=New York : Macmillan|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-02-862581-2}}</ref> | |||
| capital = [[Pataliputra]]<br />(present-day [[Patna]]) | | capital = [[Pataliputra]]<br />(present-day [[Patna]]) |