Mauryas

The Mauryas were an ancient Indian dynasty that founded the Maurya Empire, ruling much of the Indian subcontinent from the 4th to the 2nd centuries BCE. They rose after the decline of the Nanda Dynasty and, around 322 BCE, Chandragupta Maurya, with the guidance of his adviser Kautilya (Chanakya), toppled Nanda rule and made Pataliputra (modern Patna) the capital of Magadha.

Under Chandragupta and his successors Bindusara and Ashoka, the empire expanded north, west, and south, eventually including large parts of present-day India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The administration centralized power in the hands of the king and a bureaucratic apparatus, with provinces governed by officers, a standardized revenue system, and extensive public works. The Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft attributed to Kautilya, is associated with Mauryan governance, though its authorship is debated. The empire relied on a large standing army and a network of roads and coinage to secure unity.

Ashoka the Great (reign c. 268–232 BCE) became a defining ruler, expanding the empire after the Kalinga War and then embracing Buddhism and a policy of dhamma, promoting welfare, religious toleration, and inscriptions on rocks and pillars in Prakrit and Brahmi scripts. After his death, central authority weakened, and by about 185 BCE the Maurya dynasty declined, yielding to the Shunga dynasty and later regional powers. The Maurya era left a lasting legacy in administration, law, Buddhist art, and early Indian political thought through sources such as the Edicts and Megasthenes’ Indica.