The Mauryan Dynasty: Ashoka's Empire

• Ashoka was an emperor who gave up war

Roshan's Rupees

• Roshan noticed Gandhiji's face on the right and a tiny set of lions on the left of her brand new rupees
• The lions made her wonder

A Very Big Kingdom = An Empire

• The lions on notes and coins were carved in stone
• The lions were placed on top of a massive stone pillar at Sarnath
• Ashoka was one of the greatest rulers known to history
• Inscriptions were inscribed on pillars and rock surfaces on his instructions
• Ashoka's empire was founded by his grandfather, Chandragupta Maurya, more than 2300 years ago
• Chandragupta was supported by Chanakya or Kautilya, a wise man
• Chanakya's ideas were written down in the Arthashastra

Dynasty

• When members of the same family become rulers one after another, the family is often called a dynasty
• The Mauryas were a dynasty with three important rulers: Chandragupta, his son Bindusara, and Bindusara's son, Ashoka
• There were several cities in the empire marked with black dots on the map:
  • Pataliputra: The capital
  • Taxila: A gateway to the northwest, including Central Asia
  • Ujjain: Lay on the route from north to south India
• Merchants, officials, and craftspeople probably lived in these cities
• There were villages of farmers and herders in other areas
• In some areas such as central India, there were forests where people gathered forest produce and hunted animals for food
• People in different parts of the empire spoke different languages and wore different clothes, ate different food

How Are Empires Different from Kingdoms?

• Emperors need more resources than kings because empires are larger than kingdoms, and need to be protected by big armies
• They also need a larger number of officials who collect taxes

Ruling the Empire

• As the empire was so large, different parts were ruled differently
• The area around Pataliputra was under the direct control of the emperor
• Officials were appointed to collect taxes from farmers, herders, craftspeople, and traders who lived in villages and towns in the area
• Officials also punished those who disobeyed the ruler's orders and were given salaries
• Messengers went to and fro, and spies kept a watch on the officials
• The emperor supervised them all, with the help of members of the royal family and senior ministers
• Each of the other areas or provinces was ruled from a provincial capital such as Taxila or Ujjain
• Although there was some amount of control from Pataliputra, and royal princes were often sent as governors, local customs and rules were probably followed
• The Mauryas tried to control roads and rivers in vast areas between these centers
• The purpose was collect whatever resources were available as tax and tribute
• The Arthashastra says that the north-west was important for blankets, and south India for its gold and precious stones

Tribute

• Unlike taxes, which were collected regularly, tribute was collected as and when possible from people who gave a variety of things, more or less willingly
• People living in the forested regions were more or less independent, but may have been expected to provide elephants, timber, honey, and wax to Mauryan officials

The Emperor and the Capital City

• Megasthenes was an ambassador sent to Chandragupta's court by Seleucus Nicator, the Greek ruler of West Asia
• Megasthenes wrote an account of what he saw which includes:
  • Occasions on which the emperor appears in public are celebrated with grand royal processions.
  • He is carried in a golden palanquin and guarded by elephants decorated with gold and silver
  • Some guards carry trees on which live birds, including parrots, circle the emperor's head
  • He is normally surrounded by armed women and is afraid of assassination attempts
  • Special servants taste his food, and he never sleeps in the same bedroom for two nights
• Megasthenes wrote the following about Pataliputra (modern Patna):
  • It is a large and beautiful city surrounded by a massive wall
  • It has 570 towers and 64 gates
  • Houses are two and three stories high, built of wood and mud-brick
  • The king's palace is also of wood, decorated with stone carvings, and surrounded by gardens and enclosures for keeping birds

Ashoka, A Unique Ruler

• Ashoka was the most famous Mauryan ruler
• He was the first ruler who tried to take his message to the people through inscriptions
• Most of Ashoka's inscriptions were in Prakrit and were written in the Brahmi script

Ashoka's War in Kalinga

• Kalinga is the ancient name of coastal Orissa
• Ashoka fought and conquered Kalinga, but horrified by the violence decided not to fight any more wars
• He is the only king in the history of the world who gave up conquest after winning a war

Ashoka's Inscription Describing the Kalinga War

• Ashoka declared in one of his inscriptions:
  • Eight years after becoming king, he conquered Kalinga
  • About 1.5 lakh people were captured and more than 1 lakh people were killed
  • This filled him with sorrow because whenever an independent land is conquered, lakhs of people die
  • Many are taken prisoner, including Brahmins and monks
  • People who are kind to their relatives and friends, and their slaves and servants die or lose loved ones
  • Ashoka decided to observe dhamma and teach others about it
  • Winning people over through dhamma is better than conquering them through force
  • His son and grandson should not think about war, but instead spread dhamma
  • "Dhamma" is the Prakrit word for the Sanskrit term 'Dharma'

What Was Ashoka's Dhamma?

• Ashoka's dhamma did not involve worship of a god or performance of a sacrifice
• He felt he had a duty to instruct his subjects as a father teaches his children
• He was inspired by the teachings of the Buddha
• Ashoka felt it was his duty to solve the problems that troubled him which included:
  • People in the empire following different religions, sometimes leading to conflict
  • Animals being sacrificed
  • Slaves and servants being ill-treated
  • Quarrels in families and amongst neighbours
• He appointed officials, known as the dhamma mahamatta, who taught people about dhamma
• He had his messages inscribed on rocks and pillars, instructing his officials to read his message to those who could not read it themselves
• Ashoka sent messengers to spread ideas about dhamma to other lands, such as Syria, Egypt, Greece, and Sri Lanka
• He had roads built, wells dug, and rest houses built
• He arranged for medical treatment for both human beings and animals

Ashoka's Messages to His Subjects:

People perform a variety of rituals when they fall ill, when their children get married, when children are born, or embark on a journey, but these rituals are not useful

His advice instead is:

• Be gentle with slaves and servants
• Respect one's elders
• Treat all creatures with compassion
• Give gifts to brahmins and monks
• Do not praise one's own religion or criticize another's; respect each other's religion
• Criticizing another's belief does greater harm to one's own religion
• One should try to understand the main ideas of another's religion, and respect it
• Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote that Ashoka's edicts still speak to us in a language we can understand and we can still learn much from them

Elsewhere

• Somewhat before the time of the Mauryan empire, about 2400 years ago, emperors in China began building the Great Wall
• It was meant to protect the northern frontier of the empire from pastoral people
• Additions to the wall were made over about 2000 years because the frontiers of the empire kept shifting
• The wall is about 6400 km long and is made of stone and brick, with a road along the top
• Several thousand people worked to build the wall
• There are watch towers all along, at distances of about 100-200 m
• Elsewhere states that Ashoka's attitude toward neighboring people was different from that of the Chinese emperors

End of Mauryan Empire

• 2200 years ago
• Rose Indo-Greeks
• Followed by the Shakas
• Shakas defeated by Gupta kings
• Shakas replaced by the Kushanas
• Pushyamitra Shunga set up a kingdom
• Followed by Kanvas
• Gupta empire established 1700 years ago
• Shakas fought with Satavahanas
• 1700 years ago, a new ruling family, Vakatakas became established
• South: Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas ruled between 2200 and 1800 years ago
• Kingdoms of Pallavas and the Chalukyas established 1500 years ago
• Men and women played a major role
• Agriculture increased
• Growth of new towns
• Craft production and trade expanded
• Land routes within the subcontinent and outside
• Sea routes to West Asia, East Africa and South East Asia
• earliest temples and stupas
• Books were written
• Scientific discoveries were made

This lesson explores the Mauryan dynasty, focusing on Emperor Ashoka and his reign. It covers the founding of the empire by Chandragupta Maurya, the role of Chanakya, and the significance of Ashoka's inscriptions and symbols like the lions of Sarnath.