The Mauryan Empire (325 BC -183 BC)

The Mauryan Empire (325 BC -183 BC)

Chandragupta Maurya

. In 305 BC Chandragupta defeated Seleucus Nikator, who surrendered a vast territory.

. Megasthenese was a Greek ambassador sent to the court of Chandragupta Maurya by Seleucus.

. Chandragupta became a Jain and went to Sravanbelgola with Bhadrabahu, where he died by slow starvation (Sale/than).

. Under Chandragupta Maurya, for the first time, the whole of northern India was united.

. Trade flourished, agriculture was regulated, weights and measures were standardized and money came into use.

. Taxation, sanitation and famine relief became the concerns of the State.

Bindusara

. Bindusara extended the kingdom further and conquered the south as far as Mysore.

. Bindusar asked Antiochus I of Syria to send some sweet wine, dried figs, and a Sophist. Antiocus I sent wine and figs but politely replied that Greek philosophers are not for sale.

. Bindusar patronized Ajivikus.

Asoka

 . According to the Buddhist tradition, Asoka usurped the throne alter killing his 99 brothers and spared Tissa, the youngest one. Radhagupta a Minister of Bindusar helped him in fratricidal struggle.

. Under Asoka. the Mauryan Empire reached its climax. For the first time,the whole of the subcontinent, leaving out the extreme south, was under imperial control.

. Asoka (ought the Kalinga war in 261 BC in the 9th years of his coronation.The king was moved by massacre in this war and therefore abandoned the policy of physical occupation in favour of policy of cultural conquest. In oilier words, Bherighosha was replaced by Dhammaghosha.

. Asoka was not an extreme pacifist. He did not pursue the policy of peace for sake of peace under all conditions. Thus he retained Kalinga after its conquest and incorporated it into his empire.

. Asoka sent missionaries to the kingdoms of the Cholas and the Pandyas, and five States ruled by Greek kings. We also know that he sent missionaries to Ceylon and Suvarnabhumi (Burma) and also parts of South East Asia.

Asoka’s Dhamma

. Asoka’s Dhamma cannot be regarded as sectarian faith. Its broad objective was to preserve the social order it ordained that people should obey their parents, pay respect to Brahmanas and Buddhist monks and show mercy to slave and servants.

. He held that if people behaved well they would attain Swarga (heaven). He never said that they would attain Nirvana, which was goal of Buddhist

Teaching.

The empire .

 The empire was divided into a number of provinces. Probably, five. . The northern province, called Uttarapatha had Taxila as its capital . Western province, known as Avantipatha had its capital in Ujjain. . Prachyapatha with its capital Toshali (Kalinga) formed the Eastern province while Dakshinapatha with its capital Surarnagiri was the Southernmost province.. Central province. Magdha, with its capital at Pataliputra, was the headquarters of the entire kingdom.

Arthashastra

Arthashastra, written by Chandragupta Maurya’s Prime Minister Chanakya, primarily delves into the statecraft and administration. The treatise lays down various rules that should be formulated for a ruling monarch. It laid down strategies for a well-planned state economy. The Arthashastra has 15 adhikarnas or books. Of which, the first five deal with tantra or internal administration of the state, eight deal with avapa or its relations with neighboring stales, and the last two are miscellaneous in character. The work is concerned with all the topics that deal with the internal administration and foreign relations.

Army

. The most striking feature of Mauryan administration was maintanence of a huge army.

They also maintained a Navy.

. According to Megasthenes the administration of Army was carried by a board of 30 officers divided into six committees, each committee consisting of 5 members. They are:

(i) Army

(ii) Cavalry

(iii) Elephants

(iv) Chariots

(v) Navy

(vi) Transport

. The state controlled almost all economic activities.

. Tax collected from peasants varied from ¼ to 1/6 of the Produce.

. The state also provided irrigation facilities and charged water-tax.

. Tolls were also levied on commodities brought to town for sale and they were collected at gate.

. The slate enjoyed monopoly in mining, sale of liquor, manufacture of arms etc

Facts about Mauryas

. During Mauryan rule, though there was banking system in India. yet usury was customary and the rate of interest was 15’/’ per annum on borrowing money. In less secure transactions (like sea Voyages etc) the rate of interest could be as high as 60’# per annum.

. During Mauryan period, the punch marked coins (mostly of silver) were the common units of transactions.

. Tamralipti m the Gangetic delta was the most prosperous port on the East Coast of India.

. Megasthenes in his Indies had mentioned 7 castes in Mauryan society. They were philosophers, farmers, soldiers, herdsmen, artisans, magistrates and councilors.

The Mauryan Administration

The King

The Mauryan government was a centralised bureaucracy of which the nucleus was the king.

The Mantri Parishad

The king was assisted by Mantri Parishad, whose members included -

(i) The Yuvaraj,                  the crown prince

The Purohita,                     the chief priest

The Senapati.                    the commander-in-chief of the army a few other ministers.

Important officials

Amatyas                              The Secretaries

Sannidhata                         Chief treasury officer

Samaharta                          The collector general of Revenue

Durgapala                            Governor of fort

Antapala                              Governor of the frontier

Akshapatala                       Accountant General

Vachabhumika                  Officer in charge of the rest houses, groves and wells etc.

Dhamma-                            A new post created by Asoka, empowered with the dual functions of                  mahamatras propagating Dhamma and taking care of the common folk for their material well-being.

Lipikaras                               Scribes

Prativedikas                       Reporters.

Kumaras                              The viceroys in charge of a province. Generally they were of regular though the exceptions were also there. In order to check the growing power of the viceroys the

provincial ministers were empowered sufficiently.

Pradesikas          They were the modern district magistrates and in charge of district. They were to make tours once in every 5 years to inspect the entire administration of the areas under control.

Rajukas                They were the later day Patwaris. They were responsible for surveying and assessing the land. In rural areas they were the judicial officers.

Yukra                     A subordinate revenue officer of the district level. He was responsible for the secretarial work of accounting.

Gopa                     Responsible for accounts.

Sthanika               The lax collecting officer directly under the control of the Pradesikas. The village level officers

Gramika               Head of a village. He was generally elected by the people. He was not a paid servant.

Gramvriddhas   Village elders (To assist the Gramika in his work). Every village had its own Panchayat to settle the disputes.

The municipal administration

Nagaraka                             The officer in charge of the city administration.

Sitaadhyaksha                   Supervised agriculture.

Panyaadhyaksha              Superintendent of commerce.

Samsthadhyaksha           Superintendent of market.

Pauthavadhyaksha          Superintendent of weight and measures.

Navadhyaksha                  Superintendent of Ships.

Sulkadhyaksha                  Collector of tolls.

Akaradhyaksha                                 Superintendent of mines.

Lohadhyaksha                   SuperintendentofIron.

Art & Architecture

. The Mauryas introduced stone masonry on large scale.

. Fragments of stone pillars and slumps indicating the existence of an 80-pillared hall have been discovered at Kumarhar on outskirts of Patna.

. The pillars represent the Masterpiece of Mauryan sculpture. Each pillar is made of single piece of sandstone. only their capitals which are beautiful pieces of sculpture in form of lion or bulls are joined with pillar on the top.

. Single Lion capital at Rampurva and Lauriya Nandangarh.

. Single bull capital at Rampurva.

. Four lion capital at Sarnath and Sanchi.

. A carved elephant at Dhauli and engraved elephant at Kalsi.

. The Mauryan artisans also started the practice of hewing out caves from rocks for monks to live in. the earliest example are Barabar caves in Gaya.

. Stupas were built throughout the empire to enshrine (he relics of Buddha. Of these, the most famous are at Sanchi and Bui hut

The Decline

The Mauryan Empire lasted a little over a century and broke up fitly years after the death of Asoka. Slowly, the various princes of the empire began to break away and set up independent kingdoms. In 185 BC. the Mauryan king was overthrown by Pushyamitra Shunga, an ambitious Commander-in-Chief of armed forces. He started the Shunga dynasty in Magadha. The Mauryan Empire ushered in a dream that was to survive and echo again and again in centuries to come. Some probable causes of

decline of the Mauryan Empire:

1. Brahmanical reaction

2. Financial crisis

3. Oppressive rule

4. Neglect of north-west frontier.

5. Weak successors

6. Pacific policy of Asoka

7. New knowledge in outlying areas-Dissemination of knowledge of manufacturing Iron