DEPARTMNET OF HISTORY

I M A HISTORY I SEMESTERCORE – I : SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF

INDIA UPTO 1206 A. D(18MHI11C)

DR.SEETHALAKSHMI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY- GAC (AUTO)- 18

Cell: 9487087335

Ashoka

The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of more than thirty inscriptions on the pillars, as

well as boulders and cave walls, attributed to Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire who

reigned from 268 BCE to 232 BCE.[1] Ashoka used the expression Dhaṃma Lipi (Prakrit in

the Brahmi script: 𑀥𑀁𑀫𑀮𑀺𑀧𑀺, "Inscriptions of the Dharma") to describe his own Edicts.[2] These

inscriptions were dispersed throughout the areas of modern-

day Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and provide the first tangible evidence

of Buddhism. The edicts describe in detail Ashoka's view about dhamma, an earnest attempt to

solve some of the problems that a complex society faced.[3] According to the edicts, the extent of

Buddhist proselytism during this period reached as far as the Mediterranean, and many Buddhist

monuments were created.

These inscriptions proclaim Ashoka's adherence to the Buddhist philosophy which, as

in Hinduism, is called dharma, "Law". The inscriptions show his efforts to develop the Buddhist

dharma throughout his kingdom. Although Buddhism as well as Gautama Buddha are
mentioned, the edicts focus on social and moral precepts rather than specific religious practices

or the philosophical dimension of Buddhism. These were located in public places and were

meant for people to read.

In these inscriptions, Ashoka refers to himself as "Beloved of the Gods" (Devanampiya). The

identification of Devanampiya with Ashoka was confirmed by an inscription discovered in 1915

by C. Beadon, a British gold-mining engineer, at Maski, a village in Raichur

district of Karnataka. Another minor rock edict, found at the village Gujarra in Datia

district of Madhya Pradesh, also used the name of Ashoka together with his titles:

"Devanampiya Piyadasi Asokaraja".[4] The inscriptions found in the central and eastern part of

India were written in Magadhi Prakrit using the Brahmi script, while Prakrit using

the Kharoshthi script, Greek and Aramaic were used in the northwest. These edicts were

deciphered by British archaeologist and historian James Prinsep.[5]

The inscriptions revolve around a few recurring themes: Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism, the

description of his efforts to spread Buddhism, his moral and religious precepts, and his social

and animal welfare program. The edicts were based on Ashoka's ideas on administration and

behaviour of people towards one another and religion.

Besides a few inscriptions in Greek and Aramaic (which were discovered only in the 20th

century), the Edicts were mostly written in the Brahmi script and sometimes in the Kharoshthi

script in the northwest, two Indian scripts which had both become extinct around the 5th century

CE, and were yet undeciphered at the time the Edicts were discovered and investigated in the

19th century.[7][8]
The first successful attempts at deciphering the ancient Brahmi script were made in 1836 by

Norwegian scholar Christian Lassen, who used the bilingual Greek-Brahmi coins of Indo-

Greek king Agathocles to correctly and securely identify several Brahmi letters.[8] The task was

then completed by James Prinsep, an archaeologist, philologist, and official of the East India

Company, who was able to identify the rest of the Brahmi characters, with the help of Major

Cunningham.[8][9] In a series of results that he published in March 1838 Prinsep was able to

translate the inscriptions on a large number of rock edicts found around India, and to provide,

according to Richard Salomon, a "virtually perfect" rendering of the full Brahmi

alphabet.[10][5] The edicts in Brahmi script mentioned a King Devanampriya Piyadasi which

Prinsep initially assumed was a Sri Lankan king.[11] He was then able to associate this title with

Asoka on the basis of Pali script from Sri Lanka communicated to him by George Turnour.[12][13]

The Kharoshthi script, written from right to left, and associated with Aramaic, was also

deciphered by James Prinsep in parallel with Christian Lassen, using the bilingual Greek-

Kharoshthi coinage of the Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian kings.[14][15] "Within the incredibly

brief space of three years (1834-37) the mystery of both the Kharoshthi and Brahmi scripts (were

unlocked), the effect of which was instantly to remove the thick crust of oblivion which for many

centuries had concealed the character and the language of the earliest epigraphs".[14][16]

The Edicts are divided into four categories, according to their size (Minor or Major) and

according to their medium (Rock or Pillar). Chronologically, the minor inscriptions tend to

precede the larger ones, while rock inscriptions generally seem to have been started earlier than

the pillar inscriptions:

 • Minor Rock Edicts: Edicts inscribed at the beginning of Ashoka's

reign; in Prakrit, Greek and Aramaic.

• Minor Pillar Edicts: Schism Edict, Queen's

Edict, Rummindei Edict, Nigali Sagar Edict; in Prakrit.

• Major Rock Edicts: 14 Edicts (termed 1st to 14th) and 2 separate

ones found in Odisha; in Prakrit and Greek.

• Major Pillar Edicts: 7 Edicts, inscribed at the end of Ashoka's

reign; in Prakrit.

General content

The Minor Rock Edicts (in which Ashoka is sometimes named in person, as

in Maski and Gujarra) as well as the Minor Pillar Edicts are very religious in their content: they

mention extensively the Buddha (and even previous Buddhas as in the Nigali Sagar inscription),

the Samgha, Buddhism and Buddhist scriptures (as in the Bairat Edict).[20]

On the contrary, the Major Rock Edicts and Major Pillar Edicts are essentially moral and

political in nature: they never mention the Buddha or explicit Buddhist teachings, but are

preoccupied with order, proper behaviour and non violence under the general concept of

"Dharma", and they also focus on the administration of the state and positive relations with

foreign countries as far as the Hellenistic Mediterranean of the mid-3rd century BCE.[20]

Minor Rock Edicts[edit]

The Minor Rock Edicts of Ashoka (r.269-233 BCE) are rock inscriptions which form the earliest

part of the Edicts of Ashoka. They predate Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts.
Chronologically, the first known edict, sometimes classified as a Minor Rock Edict, is

the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription, in Greek and in Aramaic, written in the 10th year of his

reign (260 BCE) at the border of his empire with the Hellenistic world, in the city of Old

Kandahar in modern Afghanistan.[17][18][19]

Ashoka then made the first edicts in the Indian language, written in the Brahmi script, from the

11th year of his reign (according to his own inscription, "two and a half years after becoming a

secular Buddhist", i.e. two and a half years at least after returning from the Kalinga conquest of

the eighth year of his reign, which is the starting point for his remorse towards the horrors of the

war, and his gradual conversion to Buddhism). The texts of the inscriptions are rather short, the

technical quality of the engraving of the inscriptions is generally very poor, and generally very

inferior to the pillar edicts dated to the years 26 and 27 of Ashoka's reign.[21]

There are several slight variations in the content of these edicts, depending on location, but a

common designation is usually used, with Minor Rock Edict N°1 (MRE1)[22] and a Minor Rock

Edict N°2 (MRE2, which does not appear alone but always in combination with Edict N°1), the

different versions being generally aggregated in most translations. The Maski version of Minor

Rock Edict No.1 is historically particularly important in that it confirmed the association of the

title "Devanampriya" with the name "Asoka", thereby clarifying the historical author of all these

inscriptions.[23][24] In the Gujarra version of Minor Rock Edict No.1 also, the name of Ashoka is

used together with his full title: Devanampiya Piyadasi Asokaraja.[4]

There is also a unique Minor Rock Edict No.3, discovered next to Bairat Temple, for the

Buddhist clergy, which gives a list of Buddhist scriptures (most of them unknown today) which

the clergy should study regularly.[26]

A few other inscriptions of Ashoka in Aramaic, which are not strictly edicts, but tend to share a

similar content, are sometimes also categorized as "Minor Rock Edicts". The dedicatory

inscriptions of the Barabar caves are also sometimes classified among the Minor Rock Edicts of

Ashoka.

The Minor Rock Edicts can be found throughout the territory of Ashoka, including in the frontier

area near the Hindu Kush, and are especially numerous in the southern, newly conquered,

frontier areas of Karnataka and southern Andhra Pradesh.

Minor Pillar Edicts

The Minor Pillar Edicts of Ashoka refer to 5 separate minor Edicts inscribed on columns,

the Pillars of Ashoka.[27] These edicts are preceded chronologically by the Minor Rock Edicts

and may have been made in parallel with the Major Rock Edicts.

The inscription technique is generally very poor compared for example to the later Major Pillar

Edicts, however the Minor Pillar Edicts are often associated with some of the artistically most

sophisticated pillar capitals of Ashoka, such as the renowned Lion Capital of Ashoka which

crowned the Sarnath Minor Pillar Edict, or the very similar, but less well

preserved Sanchi lion capital which crowned the very clumsily inscribed Schism Edict of

Sanchi.[28] According to Irwin, the Brahmi inscriptions on the Sarnath and Sanchi pillars were

made by inexperienced Indian engravers at a time when stone engraving was still new in India,

whereas the very refined Sarnath capital itself was made under the tutelage of crafstmen from the

former Achaemenid Empire, trained in Perso-Hellenistic statuary and employed by

Ashoka.[29] This suggests that the most sophisticated capitals were actually the earliest in the

sequence of Ashokan pillars and that style degraded over a short period of time.[28]
These edicts were probably made at the beginning of the reign of Ashoka (reigned 268-

232 BCE), from the year 12 of his reign, that is, from 256 BCE.[30]

The Minor Pillar Edicts are the Schism Edict, warning of punishment for dissent in the Samgha,

the Queen's Edict, and the Rummindei Edict as well as the Nigali Sagar Edict which record

Ashoka's visits and Buddhist dedications in the area corresponding to today's Nepal. The

Rummindei and Nigali Sagar edicts, inscribed on pillars erected by Ashoka later in his reign

(19th and 20th year) display a high level of inscriptional technique with a good regularity in the

lettering.[29]

Major Rock Edicts

The Major Rock Edicts of Ashoka refer to 14 separate major Edicts, which are significantly

detailed and extensive.[31] These Edicts were concerned with practical instructions in running the

kingdom such as the design of irrigation systems and descriptions of Ashoka's beliefs in peaceful

moral behavior. They contain little personal detail about his life.[32] These edicts are preceded

chronologically by the Minor Rock Edicts.

Three languages were used, Prakrit, Greek and Aramaic. The edicts are composed in non-

standardized and archaic forms of Prakrit. Prakrit inscriptions were written

in Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts, which even a commoner could read and understand. The

inscriptions found in the area of Pakistan are in the Kharoshthi script. Other Edicts are written in

Greek or Aramaic. The Kandahar Greek Edict of Ashoka (including portions of Edict No.13 and

No.14) is in Greek only, and originally probably contained all the Major Rock Edicts 1-14.[33]

The Major Rock Edicts of Ashoka are inscribed on large rocks, except for the Kandahar version

in Greek (Kandahar Greek Edict of Ashoka), written on a stone plaque belonging to a building.
The Major Edicts are not located in the heartland of Mauryan territory, traditionally centered

on Bihar, but on the frontiers of the territory controlled by Ashoka.[34]

Major Pillar Edicts

The Major Pillar Edicts of Ashoka refer to seven separate major Edicts inscribed on columns,

the Pillars of Ashoka, which are significantly detailed and extensive.[27]

These edicts are preceded chronologically by the Minor Rock Edicts and the Major Rock Edicts,

and constitute the most technically elegant of the inscriptions made by Ashoka. They were made

at the end of his reign, from the years 26 and 27 of his reign, that is, from 237-236

BCE.[30] Chronologically they follow the fall of Seleucid power in Central Asia and the related

rise of the Parthian Empire and the independent Greco-Bactrian Kingdom circa 250 BCE.

Hellenistic rulers are not mentioned anymore in these last edicts, as they only appear in Major

Rock Edict No.13 (and to a lesser extent Major Rock Edict No.2), which can be dated to about

the 14th year of the reign of Ashoka circa 256–255.[35] The last Major Pillar Edicts (Edict No.7)

is testamental in nature, making a summary of the accomplishments of Ashoka during his life.

The Major Pillar Edicts of Ashoka were exclusively inscribed on the Pillars of Ashoka or

fragments thereof, at Kausambi (now Allahabad pillar), Topra Kalan, Meerut, Lauriya-

Araraj, Lauria Nandangarh, Rampurva (Champaran), and fragments of these in Aramaic

(Kandahar, Edict No.7 and Pul-i-Darunteh, Edict No.5 or No.7 in Afghanistan)[36][37] However

several pillars, such as the bull pillar of Rampurva, or the pillar of Vaishali do not have

inscriptions, which, together with their lack of proper foundation stones and their particular style,

led some authors to suggest that they were in fact pre-Ashokan.[38][39]

The Major Pillar Edicts (excluding the two fragments of translations found in

modern Afghanistan) are all located in central India.[40]

The Pillars of Ashoka are stylistically very close to an important Buddhist monument, also built

by Ashoka in Bodh Gaya, at the location where the Buddha had reached enlightenment some 200

years earlier: the Diamond Throne.[41][42] The sculpted decorations on the Diamond Throne

clearly echoe the decorations found on the Pillars of Ashoka.[43] The Pillars dated to the end of

Ashoka's reign are associated with pillar capitals that tend to be more solemn and less elegant

than the earlier capitals, such as those of Sanchi or Sarnath. This led some authors to suggest that

the artistic level under Ashoka tended to fall towards the end of his reign.[44]

Languages of the Edicts[edit]

Three languages were used: Ashokan Prakrit, Greek (the language of the neighbouring Greco-

Bactrian kingdom and the Greek communities in Ashoka's realm) and Aramaic (the official

language of the former Achaemenid Empire). The Prakrit displayed local variations, from

early Gandhari in the northwest, to Old Ardhamagadhi in the east, where it was the "chancery

language" of the court.[45] The language level of the Prakrit inscriptions tends to be rather

informal or colloquial.[46]

Four scripts were used. Prakrit inscriptions were written in the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts, the

latter for the area of modern Pakistan. The Greek and Aramaic inscriptions used their respective

scripts, in the northwestern areas of Ashoka's territory, in modern Pakistan and Afghanistan.
While most Edicts were in Ashokan Prakrit, a few were written in Greek or Aramaic.

The Kandahar Rock Inscription is bilingual Greek-Aramaic. The Kandahar Greek Edict of

Ashoka is in Greek only, and originally probably contained all the Major Rock Edicts 1-14. The

Greek language used in the inscription is of a very high level and displays philosophical

refinement. It also displays an in-depth understanding of the political language of the Hellenic

world in the 3rd century BCE. This suggests the presence of a highly cultured Greek presence in

Kandahar at that time.[47]

By contrast, in the rock edicts engraved in southern India in the newly conquered territories

of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Ashoka only used the Prakrit of the North as the language of

communication, with the Brahmi script, and not the local Dravidian idiom, which can be

interpreted as a kind of authoritarianism in respect to the southern territories.[48]

Ashoka's edicts were the first written inscriptions in India after the ancient city of Harrapa fell to

ruin.[49] Due to the influence of Ashoka's Prakrit inscriptions, Prakrit would remain the main

inscriptional language for the following centuries, until the rise of inscriptional Sanskrit from the

1st century CE.[46]

Content of the Edicts[edit]

The Dharma preached by Ashoka is explained mainly in term of moral precepts, based on the

doing of good deeds, respect for others, generosity and purity. The expressions used by Ashoka

to express the Dharma, were the Prakrit word Dhaṃma, the Greek word Eusebeia (in

the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription and the Kandahar Greek Edict of Ashoka), and

the Aramaic word Qsyt ("Truth") (in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription).[50]

Moral precepts
Dharma is good. And what is Dharma? It is having few faults and many goods deeds, mercy,

charity, truthfulness and purity. (Major Pillar Edict No.2)[51]

Thus the glory of Dhamma will increase throughout the world, and it will be endorsed in the

form of mercy, charity, truthfulness, purity, gentleness, and virtue. (Major Pillar Edict No. 7)[27]

Benevolence

Ashoka's Dharma meant that he used his power to try to make life better for his people and he

also tried to change the way people thought and lived. He also thought that dharma meant doing

the right thing.

Kindness to prisoners

Ashoka showed great concern for fairness in the exercise of justice, caution and tolerance in the

application of sentences, and regularly pardoned prisoners.

But it is desirable that there should be uniformity in judicial procedure and punishment. This is

my instruction from now on. Men who are imprisoned or sentenced to death are to be given three

days respite. Thus their relations may plead for their lives, or, if there is no one to plead for them,

they may make donations or undertake a fast for a better rebirth in the next life. For it is my wish

that they should gain the next world. (Major Pillar Edict No. 4)[27]

In the period [from my consecration] to [the anniversary on which] I had been consecrated

twenty-six years, twenty-five releases of prisoners have been made. (Major Pillar Edict No. 5)[27]

The Mauryan empire was the first Indian empire to unify the country and it had a clear-cut policy

of exploiting as well as protecting natural resources with specific officials tasked with protection

duty. When Ashoka embraced Buddhism in the latter part of his reign, he brought about
significant changes in his style of governance, which included providing protection to fauna, and

even relinquished the royal hunt. He was perhaps the first ruler in history to advocate

conservation measures for wildlife. Reference to these can be seen inscribed on the stone

edicts.[52][53]

This rescript on morality has been caused to be written by Devanampriya Priyadarsin. Here no

living being must be killed and sacrificed. And also no festival meeting must be held. For king

Devanampriya Priyadarsin sees much evil in festival meetings. And there are also some festival

meetings which are considered meritorious by king Devanampriya Priyadarsin. Formerly in the

kitchen of king Devanampriya Priyadarsin many hundred thousands of animals were killed daily

for the sake of curry. But now, when this rescript on morality is caused to be written, then only

three animals are being killed (daily), (viz.) two peacocks (and) one deer, but even this deer not

regularly. But even these three animals shall not be killed (in future). (Major Rock Edict

No.1)[54][27]

King Devanampriya Priyadansin speaks thus. (When I had been) anointed twenty-six years, the

following animals were declared by me inviolable, viz. parrots, mainas, the aruna, ruddy geese,

wild geese, the nandimukha, the gelata, bats, queen-ants, terrapins, boneless fish, the

vedaveyaka, the Ganga-puputaka, skate-fish, tortoises and porcupines, squirrels (?), the srimara,

bulls set at liberty, iguanas (?), the rhinoceros, white doves, domestic doves, (and) all the

quadrupeds which are neither useful nor edible. Those [she-goats], ewes, and sows (which are)

either with young or in milk, are inviolable, and also those (of their) young ones (which are) less

than six months old. Cocks must not be caponed. Husks containing living animals must not be

burnt. Forests must not be burnt either uselessly or in order to destroy (living beings). Living

animals must not be fed with (other) living animals. (Major Pillar Edict No.5)[55][27]
Ashoka advocated restraint in the number that had to be killed for consumption, protected some

of them, and in general condemned violent acts against animals, such as castration.

However, the edicts of Ashoka reflect more the desire of rulers than actual events; the mention of

a 100 'panas' (coins) fine for poaching deer in royal hunting preserves shows that rule-breakers

did exist. The legal restrictions conflicted with the practices then freely exercised by the common

people in hunting, felling, fishing and setting fires in forests.[53]

Religious

Buddhism

Explicit mentions of Buddhism or the Buddha only appear in the Minor Rock Edicts and

the Minor Pillar Edicts.[20] Beyond affirming himself as a Buddhist and spreading the moral

virtues of Buddhism, Ashoka also insisted that the word of the Buddha be read and followed, in

particular in monastic circles (the Sanghas), in a unique edict (Minor Rock Edict No.3), found in

front of the Bairat Temple[58]

I have been a Buddhist layman ("Budha-Shake" in the Maski edict, upāshake in others)[59] for

more than two and a half years, but for a year I did not make much progress. Now for more than

a year I have drawn closer to the Order and have become more ardent. (Minor Rock Edict

No.1)[27]

The king of Magadha, Piyadassi, greets the Order and wishes it prosperity and freedom from

care. You know Sirs, how deep is my respect for and faith in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the

Samgha [i.e. the Buddhist creed]. Sirs, whatever was spoken by the Lord Buddha was well

spoken. (Minor Rock Edict No.3)[27]

These sermons on Dhamma, Sirs - the Excellence of the Discipline, the Lineage of the Noble

One, the Future Fears, the Verses of,the Sage, the Sutra of Silence, the Question, of Upatissa,

and the Admonition spoken by the Lord Buddha to Rahula on the subject of false speech - these

sermons on the Dhamma, Sirs, I desire that many monks and nuns should hear frequently and

meditate upon, and likewise laymen and laywomen. (Minor Rock Edict No.3)[27]

Ashoka also expressed his devotion for the Buddhas of the past, such as the Koṇāgamana

Buddha, for whom he enlarged a stupa in the 14th year of his reign, and made a dedication and

set up a pillar during a visit in person in the 20th year of his reign, as described in his Minor

Pillar Edict of Nigali Sagar, in modern Nepal.[60][61]

Belief in a next world

By doing so, there is gain in this world, and in the next there is infinite merit, through the gift of

Dhamma. (Major Rock Edict No.11) [27]

It is hard to obtain happiness in this world and the next without extreme love of Dhamma, much

vigilance, much obedience, much fear of sin, and extreme energy. (Major Pillar Edict No. 1)[27]

Far from being sectarian, Ashoka, based on a belief that all religions shared a common, positive

essence, encouraged tolerance and understanding of other religions.

The Beloved of the Gods, the king Piyadassi, wishes that all sect may dwell in all places, for all

seek self-control and purity of mind. (Major Rock Edict No.7[27]

For whosoever praises his own sect or blames other sects, — all (this) out of pure devotion to his

own sect, (i.e.) with the view of glorifying his own sect, — if he is acting thus, he rather injures

his own sect very severely. But concord is meritorious, (i.e.) that they should both hear and obey

each other's morals. For this is the desire of Devanampriya, (viz.) that all sects should be both
full of learning and pure in doctrine. And those who are attached to their respective (sects), ought

to be spoken to (as follows). Devanampriya does not value either gifts or honours so (highly) as

(this), (viz.) that a promotion of the essentials of all sects should take place. (Major Rock Edict

No.12[62][27]

Social and animal welfare[edit]

According to the edicts, Ashoka took great care of the welfare of his subjects (human and

animal), and those beyond his borders, spreading the use of medicinal treatments, improving

roadside facilities for more comfortable travel, and establishing "officers of the faith" throughout

his territories to survey the welfare of the population and the propagation of the Dharma. The

Greek king Antiochos ("the Yona king named Antiyoga" in the text of the Edicts) is also named

as a recipient of Ashoka's generosity, together with the other kings neighbouring him.[63]

Everywhere in the dominions of king Devanampriya Priyadarsin and (of those) who (are his)

borderers, such as the Chodas, the Pandyas, the Satiyaputa,[note 1]

the Kelalaputa,[note
2]
Tamraparni, the Yona king named Antiyoga, and the other kings who are the neighbours of

this Antiyoga, everywhere two (kinds of) medical treatment were established by king

Devanampriya Priyadarsin, (viz.) medical treatment for men and medical treatment for cattle.

Wherever there were no herbs beneficial to men and beneficial to cattle, everywhere they were

caused to be imported and to be planted. Likewise, wherever there were no roots and fruits,

everywhere they were caused to be imported and to be planted. On the roads trees were planted,

and wells were caused to be dug for the use of cattle and men. (Major Rock Edict No.

2, Khalsi version)[67][27]

Roadside facilities
On the roads banyan-trees were caused to be planted by me, (in order that) they might afford

shade to cattle and men, (and) mango-groves were caused to be planted. And (at intervals) of

eight kos wells were caused to be dug by me, and flights of steps (for descending into the water)

were caused to be built. Numerous drinking-places were caused to be established by me, here

and there, for the enjoyment of cattle and men. [But] this so-called enjoyment (is) [of little

consequence]. For with various comforts have the people been blessed both by former kings and

by myself. But by me this has been done for the following purpose: that they might conform to

that practice of morality. (Major Pillar Edict No.7)[55][27]

Officers of the faith

Now, in times past (officers) called Mahamatras of morality did not exist before. Mahdmatras of

morality were appointed by me (when I had been) anointed thirteen years. These are occupied

with all sects in establishing morality, in promoting morality, and for the welfare and happiness

of those who are devoted to morality (even) among the Yona, Kambojas, and Gandharas, and

whatever other western borderers (of mine there are). They are occupied with servants and

masters, with Brahmanas and Ibhiyas, with the destitute; (and) with the aged, for the welfare and

happiness of those who are devoted to morality, (and) in releasing (them) from the fetters (of

worldly life). (Major Rock Edict No.5)[68][27]

Birthplace of the historical Buddha

Main article: Lumbini pillar inscription

In a particularly famous Edict, the Rummindei Edict in Lumbini, Nepal, Ashoka describes his

visit in the 21st year of his reign, and mentions Lumbini as the birthplace of the Buddha. He also,
for the first time in historical records, uses the epithet "Sakyamuni" (Sage of the Shakyas), to

describe the historical Buddha.[69]

Ashoka's

In order to propagate welfare, Ashoka explains that he sent emissaries and medicinal plants to

the Hellenistic kings as far as the Mediterranean, and to people throughout India, claiming that

Dharma had been achieved in all their territories as well. He names the Greek rulers of the time,

inheritors of the conquest of Alexander the Great, from Bactria to as far as Greece and North

Africa, as recipients of the Dharma, displaying a clear grasp of the political situation at the

time.[73][74][75]

Proselytism beyond India[edit]

Now, it is the conquest by the Dharma that the Beloved of the Gods considers as the best

conquest. And this one (the conquest by the Dharma) was won here, on the borders, and even

600 yojanas (leagues) from here, where the king Antiochos reigns, and beyond where reign the

four kings Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander, likewise in the south, where live

the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni.

— Extract from Major Rock Edict No.13.[76]

The distance of 600 yojanas (4,800 to 6,000 miles) corresponds roughly to the distance between

the center of India and Greece.[63]

In the Gandhari original Antiochos is referred to as "Amtiyoge nama Yona-raja" (lit. "The Greek

king by the name of Antiokos"), beyond whom live the four other kings: "param ca tena

Atiyogena cature 4 rajani Tulamaye nama Amtekine nama Makā nama Alikasudaro nama" (lit.
"And beyond Antiochus, four kings by the name of Ptolemy, the name of Antigonos, the name of

Magas, the name Alexander".[77]

• Amtiyaka (𑀅𑀁𑀢𑀺𑀬𑀓) or Amtiyoga (𑀅𑀁𑀢𑀺 𑀕), refers to Antiochus II

Theos of Syria (261–246 BCE), who controlled the Seleucid

Empire from Syria to Bactria in the east from 305 to 250 BCE,

and was therefore a direct neighbor of Ashoka.[63][78]

• Tulamāya (𑀢𑀺𑀭𑀫𑀬) refers to Ptolemy II Philadelphos of Egypt

(285–247 BCE), king of the dynasty founded by Ptolemy I, a

former general of Alexander the Great, in Egypt.[63][78]

• Amtekina (𑀅𑀁𑀢𑁂𑀓𑀦) refers to Antigonus II

Gonatas of Macedon (278–239 BCE).[63][78]

• Makā (𑀫𑀓) refers to Magas of Cyrene (300–258 BCE).[63][78]

• Alikyaṣadala (𑀅𑀁𑀮𑀺 𑀱𑀤𑀮𑀺) refers to Alexander II of Epirus (272–

258 BCE).[63][78]

It is not clear in Hellenic records whether these emissaries were actually received, or had any

influence on the Hellenic world. But the existence of the edicts in a very high-level Greek

literary and philosophical language testifies to the high sophistication of the Greek community of

Kandahar, and to a true communication between Greek intellectuals and Indian

thought.[80][81] According to historian Louis Robert, it becomes quite likely that these Kandahar

Greeks who were very familiar with Indian culture could in turn transmit Indian ideas to the

philosophical circles of the Mediterranean world,

in Seleucia, Antioch, Alexandria, Pella or Cyrene.[81] He suggests that the famous Ashoka
emissaries sent to the Western Hellenistic Courts according to Ashoka's Major Rock Edict No.13

were in fact Greek subjects and citizens of Kandahar, who had the full capacity to carry out these

embassies.[81]

Another document, the Mahavamsa (XII, 1st paragraph),[82] also states that in the 17th year of his

reign, at the end of the Third Buddhist Council, Ashoka sent Buddhist missionaries to eight parts

of Southern Asia and the "country of the Yonas" (Greeks) to propagate Buddhism.[83]

Presence in the West

Overall, the evidence for the presence of Buddhists in the west from that time is very

meager.[84] But some scholars point to the possible presence of Buddhist communities in

the Hellenistic world, in particular in Alexandria.[85] Dio Chrysostum wrote to Alexandrians that

there are "Indians who view the spectacles with you and are with you on all occasions"

(Oratio.XXXII.373).[86][87][85] According to Ptolemy also, Indians were present in Alexandria, to

whom he was much endebted for his knowledge of India (As.Res.III.53).[88] Clement of

Alexandria too mentioned the presence of Indians in Alexandria.[89] A possible Buddhist

gravestone from the Ptolemaic period has been found by Flinders Petrie, decorated with a

depiction of what may be Wheel of the Law and Trishula.[85][90] According to the 11th century

Muslim historian Al-Biruni, before the advent of Islam, Buddhists were present in Western

Asia as far as the frontiers of Syria.[91][92]

Colonial era scholars such as Rhys Davids have attributed Ashoka's claims of "Dharmic

conquest" to mere vanity, and expressed disbelief that Greeks could have been in any way

influenced by Indian thought.[94]

But numerous authors have noted the parallels

between Buddhism, Cyrenaicism and Epicureanism, which all strive for a state

of ataraxia ("equanimity") away from the sorrows of life.[95][96][97] The positions of philosophers

such as Hegesias of Cyrene were close to Buddhism, his ideas recalling the Buddhist doctrine of

suffering: he lived in the city of Cyrene where Magas ruled, the same Magas under whom the

Dharma prospered according to Ashoka, and he may have been influenced by Ashoka's

missionaries.[97][98][99][100]

The religious communities of the Essenes of Palestine and the Therapeutae of Alexandria may

also have been communities based on the model of Buddhist monasticism, following Ashoka's

missions.[101][102][103] According to semitologist André Dupont-Sommer, speaking about the

consequences of Ashoka's proselytism: "It is India which would be, according to us, at the

beginning of this vast monastic current which shone with a strong brightness during about three

centuries in Judaism itself".[104] This influence would even contribute, according to André

Dupont-Sommer, to the emergence of Christianity: "Thus was prepared the ground on which

Christianity, that sect of Jewish origin influenced by the Essenes, which was so quickly and so

powerfully to conquer a very large part of the world."[105][102]

Proselytism within Ashoka's territories[edit]

Inside India proper, in the realm of Ashoka, many different populations were the object of the

King's proselytism. Greek communities also lived in the northwest of the Mauryan empire,

currently in Pakistan, notably ancient Gandhara, and in the region of Gedrosia, nowadays in

Southern Afghanistan, following the conquest and the colonization efforts of Alexander the

Great around 323 BCE. These communities therefore seem to have been still significant during

the reign of Ashoka. The Kambojas are a people of Central Asian origin who had settled first
in Arachosia and Drangiana (today's southern Afghanistan), and in some of the other areas in the

northwestern Indian subcontinent in Sindhu, Gujarat and Sauvira. The Nabhakas, the

Nabhapamkits, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas were other people under

Ashoka's rule:

Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits,

the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-

of-the-Gods' instructions in Dhamma. Rock Edict Nb13 (S. Dhammika)

The inscriptions of Ashoka may show Achaemenid influences, including formulaic parallels

with Achaemenid inscriptions, presence of Iranian loanwords (in Aramaic inscriptions), and the

very act of engraving edicts on rocks and mountains (compare for example Behistun

inscription).[107][108] To describe his own Edicts, Ashoka used the word Lipī (𑀮𑀺𑀧𑀺), now generally

simply translated as "writing" or "inscription". It is thought the word "lipi", which is also

orthographed "dipi" (𐨤𐨁𐨡𐨁) in the two Kharosthi versions of the rock edicts,[note 3]
comes from

an Old Persian prototype dipî (𐎮𐎮𐎮𐎮) also meaning "inscription", which is used for example

by Darius I in his Behistun inscription,[note 4]

suggesting borrowing and

diffusion.[109][110][111] There are other borrowings of Old Persian terms for writing-related words

in the Edicts of Ahoka, such as nipista or nipesita (𐨯𐨿𐨟𐨤𐨁𐨣𐨁, "written" and "made to be written") in

the Kharoshthi version of Major Rock Edict No.4, which can be related to the

word nipištā (𐎮𐎮𐎮𐎮𐎮𐎮𐎮, "written") from the daiva inscription of Xerxes at Persepolis.[112]

Hellenistic inscriptions[edit]

It has also been suggested that inscriptions bearing the Delphic maxims from the Seven Sages of

Greece, inscribed by philosopher Clearchus of Soli in the neighbouring city of Ai-

Khanoum circa 300 BCE, may have influenced the writings of Ashoka.[113][114] These Greek

inscriptions, located in the central square of Ai-Khanoum, put forward traditional Greek moral

rules which are very close to the Edicts, both in term of formulation and content.[114][115]

The first examples of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system appeared in the Brahmi numerals used in

the Edicts of Ashoka, in which a few numerals are found, although the system is not yet

positional (the zero, together with a mature positional system, was invented much later around

the 6th century CE) and involves different symbols for units, dozens or hundreds.[116] This

system is later further documented with more numerals in the Nanaghat inscriptions (1st century

BCE), and later in the Nasik Caves inscriptions (2nd century CE), to acquire designs which are

largely similar to the Hindu-Arabic numerals used today.[117][118][119]

The number "6" in particular appears in Minor Rock Edict No.1 when Ashoka explains he has

"been on tour for 256 days". The evolution to the modern glyph for 6 appears rather

straightforward. It was written in one stroke, somewhat like a cursive lowercase "e". Gradually,

the upper part of the stroke (above the central squiggle) became more curved, while the lower

part of the stroke (below the central squiggle) became straighter. The Arabs dropped the part of

the stroke below the squiggle. From there, the European evolution to the modern 6 was very

straightforward, aside from a flirtation with a glyph that looked more like an uppercase G.[120]

Ashokan inscriptions in Prakrit precede by several centuries inscriptions in Sanskrit, probably

owing to the great prestige which Ashokan inscriptions gave to the Prakrit language.[122] Louis

Renou called it "the great linguistical paradox of India" that the Sanskrit inscriptions appear later

than Prakrit inscriptions, although Prakrit is considered as a descendant of the Sanskrit

language.[122]
Ashoka was probably the first Indian ruler to create stone inscriptions, and in doing so, he began

an important Indian tradition of royal epigraphical inscriptions.[121] The earliest known stone

inscriptions in Sanskrit are in the Brahmi script from the first century BCE.[122] These early

Sanskrit inscriptions include the Ayodhyā (Uttar Pradesh) and Hāthībādā-

Ghosuṇḍī (near Chittorgarh, Rajasthan) inscriptions.[122][123] Other important inscriptions dated to

the 1st century BCE, in relatively accurate classical Sanskrit and Brahmi script are

the Yavanarajya inscription on a red sandstone slab and the long Naneghat inscription on the

wall of a cave rest stop in the Western Ghats.[124] Besides these few examples from the 1st

century BCE, the bulk of early Sanskrit inscriptions were made from the 1st and 2nd-century CE

by the Indo-Scythian Northern Satraps in Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), and the Western

Satraps in Gujarat and Maharashtra.[125] According to Salomon, the Scythian rulers of northern

and western India while not the originators, were promoters of the use of Sanskrit language for

inscriptions, and "their motivation in promoting Sanskrit was presumably a desire to establish

themselves as legitimate Indian or at least Indianized rulers and to curry the favor of the educated

Brahmanical elite".[126]

The Brahmi script used in the Edicts of Ashoka, as well as the Prakrit language of these

inscriptions was in popular use down through the Kushan period, and remained readable down to

the 4th century CE during the Gupta period. After that time the script underwent significant

evolutions which rendered the Ashokan inscriptions unreadable. This still means that Ashoka's

Edicts were for everyone to see and understand for a period of nearly 700 years in India,

suggesting that they remained significantly influential for a long time.[127]

According to some scholars such as Christopher I. Beckwith, Ashoka, whose name only appears

in the Minor Rock Edicts, should be differentiated from the ruler Piyadasi,
or Devanampiya Piyadasi (i.e. "Beloved of the Gods Piyadasi", "Beloved of the Gods" being a

fairly widespread title for "King"), who is named as the author of the Major Pillar Edicts and

the Major Rock Edicts.[128] Beckwith also highlights the fact that Buddhism nor the Buddha are

mentioned in the Major Edicts, but only in the Minor Edicts.[129] Further, the Buddhist notions

described in the Minor Edicts (such as the Buddhist canonical writings in Minor Edict No.3

at Bairat, the mention of a Buddha of the past Kanakamuni Buddha in the Nigali Sagar Minor

Pillar Edict) are more characteristic of the "Normative Buddhism" of the Saka-Kushan period

around the 2nd century CE.[129]

This inscriptional evidence may suggest that Piyadasi and Ashoka were two different

rulers.[128] According to Beckwith, Piyadasi was living in the 3rd century BCE, probably the son

of Chandragupta Maurya known to the Greeks as Amitrochates, and only advocating for piety

("Dharma") in his Major Pillar Edicts and Major Rock Edicts, without ever

mentioning Buddhism, the Buddha or the Samgha.[128] Since he does mention a pilgrimage

to Sambhodi (Bodh Gaya, in Major Rock Edict No.8) however, he may have adhered to an

"early, pietistic, popular" form of Buddhism.[130] Also, the geographical spread of his inscription

shows that Piyadasi ruled a vast Empire, contiguous with the Seleucid Empire in the West.[128]

On the contrary, for Beckwith, Ashoka himself was a later king of the 1st-2nd century CE,

whose name only appears explicitly in the Minor Rock Edicts and allusively in the Minor Pillar

Edicts, and who does mention the Buddha and the Samgha, explicitly promoting

Buddhism.[128] He may have been an unknown or possibly invented ruler named Devanampriya

Asoka, with the intent of propagating a later, more institutional version of the Buddhist

faith.[129][131] His inscriptions cover a very different and much smaller geographical area,

clustering in Central India.[128] According to Beckwith, the inscriptions of this later Ashoka were
typical of the later forms of "normative Buddhism", which are well attested from inscriptions and

Gandhari manuscripts dated to the turn of the millennium, and around the time of the Kushan

Empire.[128] The quality of the inscriptions of this Ashoka is significantly lower than the quality

of the inscriptions of the earlier Piyadasi.[128]

However, many of Beckwith's methodologies and interpretations concerning early Buddhism,

inscriptions, and archaeological sites have been criticized by other scholars, such as Johannes

Bronkhorst and Osmund Bopearachchi.[132][133]

Maurya Empire

The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power based

in Magadha and founded by Chandragupta Maurya, which dominated the Indian

subcontinent between 322 and 185 BCE. Comprising the majority of South Asia, the Maurya

Empire was centralized by the conquest of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, and its capital city was

located at Pataliputra (modern Patna).[15][16] The empire was the largest political entity that has

existed in the Indian subcontinent, extending over 5 million square kilometres (1.9 million

square miles) at its zenith under Ashoka.[17]

Chandragupta Maurya raised an army, with the assistance of Chanakya, author

of Arthasastra,[18] and overthrew the Nanda Empire in c. 322 BCE. Chandragupta rapidly

expanded his power westwards across central and western India by conquering the satraps left

by Alexander the Great, and by 317 BCE the empire had fully occupied northwestern

India.[19] The Mauryan Empire then defeated Seleucus I, a diadochus and founder of the Seleucid

Empire, during the Seleucid–Mauryan war, thus acquiring territory west of the Indus River.[20][21]
At its greatest extent, the empire stretched along the natural boundary of the Himalayas, to the

east into Bengal, to the west into what is present-day Balochistan, Pakistan and the Hindu

Kush mountains of what is now eastern Afghanistan.[22] The dynasty expanded into India's

southern regions[23][24] by the reign of the emperor Bindusara, but it

excluded Kalinga (modern Odisha), until it was conquered by Ashoka.[25] It declined for about

50 years after Ashoka's rule, and dissolved in 185 BCE with the foundation of the Shunga

dynasty in Magadha.

Under Chandragupta Maurya and his successors, internal and external trade, agriculture, and

economic activities thrived and expanded across South Asia due to the creation of a single and

efficient system of finance, administration, and security. The Maurya dynasty built the Grand

Trunk Road, one of Asia's oldest and longest trade networks, connecting the north of the Indian

subcontinent from east to west.[26] After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced nearly half a

century of centralized rule under Ashoka. Chandragupta Maurya's embrace of Jainism increased

socio-religious reform across South Asia, while Ashoka's embrace of Buddhism and sponsorship

of Buddhist missionaries allowed for the expansion of that faith into Sri Lanka, northwest India,

Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Egypt, and Hellenistic Europe.[27]

The population of the empire has been estimated to be about 50–60 million, making the Mauryan

Empire one of the most populous empires of antiquity.[28][29] Archaeologically, the period of

Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW).

The Arthashastra[30] and the Edicts of Ashoka are the primary sources of written records of

Mauryan times. The Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath is the national emblem of the modern

Republic of India.
The name "Maurya" does not occur in Ashoka's inscriptions, or the contemporary Greek

accounts such as Megasthenes's Indica, but it is attested by the following sources:[31]

• The Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman (c. 150 CE)

prefixes "Maurya" to the names Chandragupta and Ashoka.[31]

• The Puranas (c. 4th century CE or earlier) use Maurya as a

dynastic appellation.[31]

• The Buddhist texts state that Chandragupta belonged to the

"Moriya" clan of the Shakyas, the tribe to which Gautama

Buddha belonged.[31]

• The Jain texts state that Chandragupta was the son of a royal

superintendent of peacocks (mayura-poshaka).[31]

• Tamil Sangam literature also designate them as 'moriyar' and

mention them after the Nandas[32]

• Kuntala inscription (from the town of Bandanikke, North

Mysore ) of 12th century AD chronologically mention Mauryya

as one of the dynasties which ruled the region.[33]

According to some scholars, Kharavela's Hathigumpha inscription (2nd-1st century BC)

mentions era of Maurya Empire as Muriya Kala (Mauryan era),[34] but this reading is disputed:

other scholars—such as epigraphist D. C. Sircar—read the phrase as mukhiya-kala ("the

principal art").[35]

According to the Buddhist tradition, the ancestors of the Maurya kings had settled in a region

where peacocks (mora in Pali) were abundant. Therefore, they came to be known as "Moriyas",
literally, "belonging to the place of peacocks". According to another Buddhist account, these

ancestors built a city called Moriya-nagara ("Moriya-city"), which was so called, because it was

built with the "bricks coloured like peacocks' necks".[36]

The dynasty's connection to the peacocks, as mentioned in the Buddhist and Jain traditions,

seems to be corroborated by archaeological evidence. For example, peacock figures are found on

the Ashoka pillar at Nandangarh and several sculptures on the Great Stupa of Sanchi. Based on

this evidence, modern scholars theorize that the peacock may have been the dynasty's

emblem.[37]

Some later authors, such as Dhundiraja (a commentator on the Mudrarakshasa) and an annotator

of the Vishnu Purana, state that the word "Maurya" is derived from Mura and the mother of the

first Maurya king. However, the Puranas themselves make no mention of Mura and do not talk of

any relation between the Nanda and the Maurya dynasties.[38] Dhundiraja's derivation of the

word seems to be his own invention: according to the Sanskrit rules, the derivative of the

feminine name Mura (IAST: Murā) would be "Maureya"; the term "Maurya" can only be derived

from the masculine "Mura".[39]

Prior to the Maurya Empire, the Nanda Empire ruled over most of the Indian

Subcontinent. The Nanda Empire was a large, militaristic, and economically powerful empire

due to conquering the Mahajanapadas. According to several legends, Chanakya travelled

to Pataliputra, Magadha, the capital of the Nanda Empire where Chanakya worked for the

Nandas as a minister. However, Chanakya was insulted by the Emperor Dhana Nanda, of

the Nanda dynasty and Chanakya swore revenge and vowed to destroy the Nanda Empire.[40] He

had to flee in order to save his life and went to Taxila, a notable center of learning, to work as a

teacher. On one of his travels, Chanakya witnessed some young men playing a rural game
practicing a pitched battle. He was impressed by the young Chandragupta and saw royal qualities

in him as someone fit to rule.

Meanwhile, Alexander the Great was leading his Indian campaigns and ventured into Punjab.

His army mutinied at the Beas River and refused to advance further eastward when confronted

by another army. Alexander returned to Babylon and re-deployed most of his troops west of

the Indus River. Soon after Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BCE, his empire fragmented into

independent kingdoms led by his generals.[41]

The Maurya Empire was established in the Greater Punjab region under the leadership of

Chandragupta Maurya and his mentor Chanakya. Chandragupta was taken to Taxila by

Chanakya and was tutored about statecraft and governing. Requiring an army Chandragupta

recruited and annexing local military republics such as the Yaudheyas that had resisted

Alexanders Empire. The Mauryan army quickly rose to become the prominent regional power in

the North West of the Indian Subcontinent. The Mauryan army then conquered the satraps

established by the Macedonians.[42] Ancient Greek historians Nearchus, Onesictrius and

Aristobolus have provided lot of information about the Mauryan empire.[43]. The Greek

generals Eudemus and Peithon ruled in the Indus Valley until around 317 BCE, when

Chandragupta Maurya (with the help of Chanakya, who was now his advisor) fought and drove

out the Greek governors, and subsequently brought the Indus Valley under the control of his new

seat of power in Magadha.[19]

Chandragupta Maurya's ancestry is shrouded in mystery and controversy. On one hand, a number

of ancient Indian accounts, such as the drama Mudrarakshasa (Signet ring of Rakshasa –

Rakshasa was the prime minister of Magadha) by Vishakhadatta, describe his royal ancestry and

even link him with the Nanda family. A kshatriya clan known as the Mauryas are referred to in
the earliest Buddhist texts, Mahaparinibbana Sutta. However, any conclusions are hard to make

without further historical evidence. Chandragupta first emerges in Greek accounts as

"Sandrokottos". As a young man he is said to have met Alexander.[44] Chanakya is said to have

met the Nanda king, angered him, and made a narrow escape.[45]

Chanakya encouraged Chandragupta Maurya and his army to take over the throne of Magadha.

Using his intelligence network, Chandragupta gathered many young men from across Magadha

and other provinces, men upset over the corrupt and oppressive rule of king Dhana Nanda, plus

the resources necessary for his army to fight a long series of battles. These men included the

former general of Taxila, accomplished students of Chanakya, the representative of King

Parvataka, his son Malayaketu, and the rulers of small states. The Macedonians (described

as Yona or Yavana in Indian sources) may then have participated, together with other groups, in

the armed uprising of Chandragupta Maurya against the Nanda

dynasty.[47][48] The Mudrarakshasa of Visakhadutta as well as

the Jaina work Parisishtaparvan talk of Chandragupta's alliance with the Himalayan king

Parvataka, often identified with Porus,[49][50] although this identification is not accepted by all

historians.[51] This Himalayan alliance gave Chandragupta a composite and powerful army made

up

of Yavanas (Greeks), Kambojas, Shakas (Scythians), Kiratas (Himalayans), Parasikas (Persians)

and Bahlikas (Bactrians) who took Pataliputra (also called Kusumapura, "The City of

Flowers"):[52]

Kusumapura was besieged from every direction by the forces of Parvata and Chandragupta:

Shakas, Yavanas, Kiratas, Kambojas, Parasikas, Bahlikas and others, assembled on the advice of

Chanakya
— In Mudrarakshasa 2[53][52]

Preparing to invade Pataliputra, Maurya came up with a strategy. A battle was announced and

the Magadhan army was drawn from the city to a distant battlefield to engage with Maurya's

forces. Maurya's general and spies meanwhile bribed the corrupt general of Nanda. He also

managed to create an atmosphere of civil war in the kingdom, which culminated in the death of

the heir to the throne. Chanakya managed to win over popular sentiment. Ultimately Nanda

resigned, handing power to Chandragupta, and went into exile and was never heard of again.

Chanakya contacted the prime minister, Rakshasas, and made him understand that his loyalty

was to Magadha, not to the Nanda dynasty, insisting that he continue in office. Chanakya also

reiterated that choosing to resist would start a war that would severely affect Magadha and

destroy the city. Rakshasa accepted Chanakya's reasoning, and Chandragupta Maurya was

legitimately installed as the new King of Magadha. Rakshasa became Chandragupta's chief

advisor, and Chanakya assumed the position of an elder statesman.

Chandragupta Maurya

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, Chandragupta led a series of campaigns in

305 BCE to take satrapies in the Indus Valley and northwest India.[54] When Alexander's

remaining forces were routed, returning westwards, Seleucus I Nicator fought to defend these

territories. Not many details of the campaigns are known from ancient sources. Seleucus was

defeated and retreated into the mountainous region of Afghanistan.[55]

The two rulers concluded a peace treaty in 303 BCE, including a marital alliance. Under its

terms, Chandragupta received the satrapies of Paropamisadae (Kamboja and Gandhara)

and Arachosia (Kandhahar) and Gedrosia (Balochistan). Seleucus I received the 500 war
elephants that were to have a decisive role in his victory against western Hellenistic kings at

the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BCE. Diplomatic relations were established and several Greeks, such

as the historian Megasthenes, Deimakos and Dionysius resided at the Mauryan court.[56]

Megasthenes in particular was a notable Greek ambassador in the court of Chandragupta

Maurya.[57] According to Arrian, ambassador Megasthenes (c. 350 – c. 290 BCE) lived in

Arachosia and travelled to Pataliputra.[58] Megasthenes' description of Mauryan society as

freedom-loving gave Seleucus a means to avoid invasion, however, underlying Seleucus'

decision was the improbability of success. In later years, Seleucus' successors maintained

diplomatic relations with the Empire based on similar accounts from returning travellers.[54]

Chandragupta established a strong centralised state with an administration at Pataliputra, which,

according to Megasthenes, was "surrounded by a wooden wall pierced by 64 gates and 570

towers". Aelian, although not expressly quoting Megasthenes nor mentionning Pataliputra,

described Indian palaces as superior in splendor to Persia's Susa or Ectabana.[59] The architecture

of the city seems to have had many similarities with Persian cities of the period.[60]

Chandragupta's son Bindusara extended the rule of the Mauryan empire towards southern India.

The famous Tamil poet Mamulanar of the Sangam literature described how areas south of

the Deccan Plateau which comprised Tamil country was invaded by the Maurya army using

troops from Karnataka. Mamulanar states that Vadugar (people who resided in Andhra-

Karnataka regions immediately to the north of Tamil Nadu) formed the vanguard of the Mauryan

army.[32][61] He also had a Greek ambassador at his court, named Deimachus.[62] According

to Plutarch Chandragupta Maurya subdued entire India, Justin also observed that chandragupta

maurya was "in possession of India"; this is corroborated by Tamil sangam literature which
mentions about Mauryan invasion with their south Indian allies and defeat of their rivals at

Podiyil hill in Tirunelveli district in present-day Tamil Nadu.[63][64]

Chandragupta renounced his throne and followed Jain teacher Bhadrabahu.[65][66][67] He is said to

have lived as an ascetic at Shravanabelagola for several years before fasting to death, as per the

Jain practice of sallekhana.[68]

Bindusara

Bindusara was born to Chandragupta, the founder of the Mauryan Empire. This is attested by

several sources, including the various Puranas and the Mahavamsa.[69][full citation needed]
He is

attested by the Buddhist texts such as Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa ("Bindusaro"); the Jain texts

such as Parishishta-Parvan; as well as the Hindu texts such as Vishnu

Purana ("Vindusara").[70][71] According to the 12th century Jain

writer Hemachandra's Parishishta-Parvan, the name of Bindusara's mother

was Durdhara.[72] Some Greek sources also mention him by the name "Amitrochates" or its

variations.[73][74]

Historian Upinder Singh estimates that Bindusara ascended the throne around 297

BCE.[61] Bindusara, just 22 years old, inherited a large empire that consisted of what is now,

Northern, Central and Eastern parts of India along with parts of Afghanistan and Baluchistan.

Bindusara extended this empire to the southern part of India, as far as what is now known

as Karnataka. He brought sixteen states under the Mauryan Empire and thus conquered almost

all of the Indian peninsula (he is said to have conquered the 'land between the two seas' – the

peninsular region between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea). Bindusara did not conquer

the friendly Tamil kingdoms of the Cholas, ruled by King Ilamcetcenni, the Pandyas,

and Cheras. Apart from these southern states, Kalinga (modern Odisha) was the only kingdom in
India that did not form part of Bindusara's empire.[75] It was later conquered by his son Ashoka,

who served as the viceroy of Ujjaini during his father's reign, which highlights the importance of

the town.[76][77]

Bindusara's life has not been documented as well as that of his father Chandragupta or of his son

Ashoka. Chanakya continued to serve as prime minister during his reign. According to the

medieval Tibetan scholar Taranatha who visited India, Chanakya helped Bindusara "to destroy

the nobles and kings of the sixteen kingdoms and thus to become absolute master of the territory

between the eastern and western oceans".[78] During his rule, the citizens of Taxila revolted

twice. The reason for the first revolt was the maladministration of Susima, his eldest son. The

reason for the second revolt is unknown, but Bindusara could not suppress it in his lifetime. It

was crushed by Ashoka after Bindusara's death.[79]

Bindusara maintained friendly diplomatic relations with the Hellenic world. Deimachus was the

ambassador of Seleucid emperor Antiochus I at Bindusara's court.[80] Diodorus states that the

king of Palibothra (Pataliputra, the Mauryan capital) welcomed a Greek author, Iambulus. This

king is usually identified as Bindusara.[80] Pliny states that the Egyptian king Philadelphus sent

an envoy named Dionysius to India.[81][82] According to Sailendra Nath Sen, this appears to have

happened during Bindusara's reign.[80]

Unlike his father Chandragupta (who at a later stage converted to Jainism), Bindusara believed in

the Ajivika sect. Bindusara's guru Pingalavatsa (Janasana) was a Brahmin[83] of the Ajivika sect.

Bindusara's wife, Queen Subhadrangi (Queen Dharma/ Aggamahesi) was a Brahmin[84] also of

the Ajivika sect from Champa (present Bhagalpur district). Bindusara is credited with giving

several grants to Brahmin monasteries (Brahmana-bhatto).[85]

Historical evidence suggests that Bindusara died in the 270s BCE. According to Upinder Singh,

Bindusara died around 273 BCE.[61] Alain Daniélou believes that he died around 274

BCE.[78] Sailendra Nath Sen believes that he died around 273–272 BCE, and that his death was

followed by a four-year struggle of succession, after which his son Ashoka became the emperor

in 269–268 BCE.[80] According to the Mahavamsa, Bindusara reigned for 28 years.[86] The Vayu

Purana, which names Chandragupta's successor as "Bhadrasara", states that he ruled for 25

years.[87]

Ashoka

As a young prince, Ashoka (r. 272–232 BCE) was a brilliant commander who crushed revolts in

Ujjain and Takshashila. As monarch he was ambitious and aggressive, re-asserting the Empire's

superiority in southern and western India. But it was his conquest of Kalinga (262–261 BCE)

which proved to be the pivotal event of his life. Ashoka used Kalinga to project power over a

large region by building a fortification there and securing it as a possession.[88] Although

Ashoka's army succeeded in overwhelming Kalinga forces of royal soldiers and civilian units, an

estimated 100,000 soldiers and civilians were killed in the furious warfare, including over 10,000

of Ashoka's own men. Hundreds of thousands of people were adversely affected by the

destruction 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.[citation needed]

Ashoka implemented principles of ahimsa by banning hunting and violent sports activity and

ending indentured and forced labor (many thousands of people in war-ravaged Kalinga had been

forced into hard labour and servitude). While he maintained a large and powerful army, to keep
the peace and maintain authority, Ashoka expanded friendly relations with states across Asia and

Europe, and he sponsored Buddhist missions. He undertook a massive public works building

campaign across the country. Over 40 years of peace, harmony and prosperity made Ashoka one

of the most successful and famous monarchs in Indian history. He remains an idealized figure of

inspiration in modern India.[citation needed]

The Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, are found throughout the Subcontinent. Ranging from as far

west as Afghanistan and as far south as Andhra (Nellore District), Ashoka's edicts state his

policies and accomplishments. Although predominantly written in Prakrit, two 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's having sent envoys to the Greek rulers in the West as far as the Mediterranean.

The edicts precisely name each of the rulers of the Hellenic world at the time such

as Amtiyoko (Antiochus), Tulamaya (Ptolemy), Amtikini (Antigonos), Maka (Magas)

and Alikasudaro (Alexander) as recipients of Ashoka's proselytism.[citation needed] The Edicts also

accurately locate their territory "600 yojanas away" (a yojanas being about 7 miles),

corresponding to the distance between the center of India and Greece (roughly 4,000 miles).[89]

Decline[edit]

Ashoka was followed for 50 years by a succession of weaker kings. He was succeeded

by Dasharatha Maurya, who was Ashoka's grandson. None of Ashoka's sons could ascend the

throne after him. Mahendra, his first born, was on to spread Buddhism in the world. Kunala

Maurya was blind hence couldn't ascend the throne and Tivala, son of Kaurwaki, died even

earlier than Ashoka. Another son, Jalauka, does not have much story behind him.
The empire lost many territories under Dasharatha, which were later reconquered by Samprati,

Kunala's son. Post Samprati, the Mauryas slowly lost many territories. In 180 BCE, Brihadratha

Maurya, was killed by his general Pushyamitra Shunga in a military parade without any heir.

Hence, the great Maurya empire finally ended, giving rise to the Shunga Empire.

Reasons advanced for the decline include the succession of weak kings after Aśoka Maurya, the

partition of the empire into two, the growing independence of some areas within the empire, such

as that ruled by Sophagasenus, a top-heavy administration where authority was entirely in the

hands of a few persons, an absence of any national consciousness,[90] the pure scale of the empire

making it unwieldy, and invasion by the Greco-Bactrian Empire.

Some historians, such as H. C. Raychaudhuri, have argued that Ashoka's pacifism undermined

the "military backbone" of the Maurya empire. Others, such as Romila Thapar, have suggested

that the extent and impact of his pacifism have been "grossly exaggerated".[91]

Shunga coup (185 BCE)[edit]

Buddhist records such as the Ashokavadana write that the assassination of Brihadratha and the

rise of the Shunga empire led to a wave of religious persecution for Buddhists,[92] and a

resurgence of Hinduism. According to Sir John Marshall,[93] Pushyamitra may have been the

main author of the persecutions, although later Shunga kings seem to have been more supportive

of Buddhism. Other historians, such as Etienne Lamotte[94] and Romila Thapar,[95] among others,

have argued that archaeological evidence in favour of the allegations of persecution of Buddhists

are lacking, and that the extent and magnitude of the atrocities have been exaggerated.

Establishment of the Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BCE)[edit]

Main article: Indo-Greek Kingdom

The fall of the Mauryas left the Khyber Pass unguarded, and a wave of foreign invasion

followed. The Greco-Bactrian king, Demetrius, capitalized on the break-up, and he conquered

southern Afghanistan and parts of northwestern India around 180 BCE, forming the Indo-Greek

Kingdom. The Indo-Greeks would maintain holdings on the trans-Indus region, and make forays

into central India, for about a century. Under them, Buddhism flourished, and one of their

kings, Menander, became a famous figure of Buddhism; he was to establish a new capital of

Sagala, the modern city of Sialkot. However, the extent of their domains and the lengths of their

rule are subject to much debate. Numismatic evidence indicates that they retained holdings in the

subcontinent right up to the birth of Christ. Although the extent of their successes against

indigenous powers such as the Shungas, Satavahanas, and Kalingas are unclear, what is clear is

that Scythian tribes, renamed Indo-Scythians, brought about the demise of the Indo-Greeks from

around 70 BCE and retained lands in the trans-Indus, the region of Mathura, and Gujarat.[citation
needed]

Military[edit]

Megasthenes mentions military command consisting of six boards of five members each,

(i) Navy (ii) military transport (iii) Infantry (iv) Cavalry with Catapults(v) Chariot divisions and

(vi) Elephants.[96]

The Empire was divided into four provinces, with the imperial capital at Pataliputra. From

Ashokan edicts, the names of the four provincial capitals are Tosali (in the east), Ujjain (in the

west), Suvarnagiri (in the south), and Taxila (in the north). The head of the provincial

administration was the Kumara (royal prince), who governed the provinces as king's

representative. The kumara was assisted by Mahamatyas and council of ministers. This

organizational structure was reflected at the imperial level with the Emperor and
his Mantriparishad (Council of Ministers).[citation needed]
. The mauryans established a well

developed coin minting system. Coins were mostly made of silver and copper. Certain gold coins

were in circulation as well. The coins were widely used for trade and commerce[97]

Historians theorise that the organisation of the Empire was in line with the extensive bureaucracy

described by Kautilya in the Arthashastra: a sophisticated civil service governed everything from

municipal hygiene to international trade. The expansion and defense of the empire was made

possible by what appears to have been one of the largest armies in the world during the Iron

Age.[98] According to Megasthenes, the empire wielded a military of 600,000 infantry, 30,000

cavalry, 8,000 chariots and 9,000 war elephants besides followers and attendants.[99] A

vast espionage system collected intelligence for both internal and external security purposes.

Having renounced offensive warfare and expansionism, Ashoka nevertheless continued to

maintain this large army, to protect the Empire and instil stability and peace across West and

South Asia.[citation needed].Even though large parts were under the control of Mauryan empire the

spread of information and imperial message was limited since many parts were inaccessible and

were situated far away from capital of empire.[100].

Local government[edit]

Arthashastra and Megasthenes accounts of Pataliputra describe the intricate municipal system

formed by Maurya empire to govern its cities. A city counsel made up of thirty commissioners

was divided into six committees or boards which governed the city. The first board fixed wages

and looked after provided goods, second board made arrangement for foreign dignitaries, tourists

and businessmen, third board made records and registrations, fourth looked after manufactured

goods and sale of commodities, fifth board regulated trade, issued licenses and checked weights

and measurements, sixth board collected sales taxes. Some cities such as Taxila had autonomy to
issue their own coins. The city counsel had officers who looked after public welfare such as

maintenance of roads, public buildings, markets, hospitals, educational institutions etc.[101] The

official head of the village was Gramika (in towns Nagarika).[102] The city counsel also had some

magisterial powers.

Economy

For the first time in South Asia, political unity and military security allowed for a common

economic system and enhanced trade and commerce, with increased agricultural productivity.

The previous situation involving hundreds of kingdoms, many small armies, powerful regional

chieftains, and internecine warfare, gave way to a disciplined central authority. Farmers were

freed of tax and crop collection burdens from regional kings, paying instead to a nationally

administered and strict-but-fair system of taxation as advised by the principles in

the Arthashastra. Chandragupta Maurya established a single currency across India, and a

network of regional governors and administrators and a civil service provided justice and

security for merchants, farmers and traders. The Mauryan army wiped out many gangs of

bandits, regional private armies, and powerful chieftains who sought to impose their own

supremacy in small areas. Although regimental in revenue collection, Maurya also sponsored

many public works and waterways to enhance productivity, while internal trade in India

expanded greatly due to new-found political unity and internal peace.[citation needed]

Under the Indo-Greek friendship treaty, and during Ashoka's reign, an international network of

trade expanded. The Khyber Pass, on the modern boundary of Pakistan and Afghanistan, became

a strategically important port of trade and intercourse with the outside world. Greek states and

Hellenic kingdoms in West Asia became important trade partners of India. Trade also extended

through the Malay peninsula into Southeast Asia. India's exports included silk goods and textiles,
spices and exotic foods. The external world came across new scientific knowledge and

technology with expanding trade with the Mauryan Empire. Ashoka also sponsored the

construction of thousands of roads, waterways, canals, hospitals, rest-houses and other public

works. The easing of many over-rigorous administrative practices, including those regarding

taxation and crop collection, helped increase productivity and economic activity across the

Empire.[citation needed]

In many ways, the economic situation in the Mauryan Empire is analogous to the Roman Empire

of several centuries later. Both had extensive trade connections and both had organizations

similar to corporations. While Rome had organizational entities which were largely used for

public state-driven projects, Mauryan India had numerous private commercial entities. These

existed purely for private commerce and developed before the Mauryan Empire itself.[103][unreliable
source?]

Religion[edit]

In the early period of empire Hinduism was an important religion.[105]. The Mauryans favored a

multi religion society. Minor religious sects such as ajivikas also received patronage.

Jainism

Chandragupta Maurya embraced Jainism after retiring, when he renounced his throne and

material possessions to join a wandering group of Jain monks. Chandragupta was a disciple of

the Jain monk Acharya Bhadrabahu. It is said that in his last days, he observed the rigorous but

self-purifying Jain ritual of santhara (fast unto death), at Shravana

Belgola in Karnataka.[106][67][107][66] Samprati, the grandson of Ashoka, also patronized Jainism.

Samprati was influenced by the teachings of Jain monks like Suhastin and he is said to have built
125,000 derasars across India.[108] Some of them are still found in the towns of Ahmedabad,

Viramgam, Ujjain, and Palitana.[citation needed] It is also said that just like Ashoka, Samprati sent

messengers and preachers to Greece, Persia and the Middle East for the spread of Jainism, but, to

date, no research has been done in this area.[109][110]

Thus, Jainism became a vital force under the Mauryan Rule. Chandragupta and Samprati are

credited for the spread of Jainism in South India. Hundreds of thousands of temples and stupas

are said to have been erected during their reigns

Magadha, the centre of the empire, was also the birthplace of Buddhism. Ashoka initially

practised Hinduism[citation needed]

but later embraced Buddhism; following the Kalinga War, he

renounced expansionism and aggression, and the harsher injunctions of the Arthashastra on the

use of force, intensive policing, and ruthless measures for tax collection and against rebels.

Ashoka sent a mission led by his son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitta to Sri Lanka, whose

king Tissa was so charmed with Buddhist ideals that he adopted them himself and made

Buddhism the state religion. Ashoka sent many Buddhist missions to West

Asia, Greece and South East Asia, and commissioned the construction of monasteries and

schools, as well as the publication of Buddhist literature across the empire. He is believed to

have built as many as 84,000 stupas across India, such as Sanchi and Mahabodhi Temple, and he

increased the popularity of Buddhism in Afghanistan, Thailand and North Asia including Siberia.

Ashoka helped convene the Third Buddhist Council of India's and South Asia's Buddhist orders

near his capital, a council that undertook much work of reform and expansion of the Buddhist

religion. Indian merchants embraced Buddhism and played a large role in spreading the religion

across the Mauryan Empire.[111]

Architectural
.

The greatest monument of this period, executed in the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, was the

old palace at Paliputra, modern Kumhrar in Patna. Excavations have unearthed the remains of the

palace, which is thought to have been an group of several buildings, the most important of which

was an immense pillared hall supported on a high substratum of timbers. The pillars were set in

regular rows, thus dividing the hall into a number of smaller square bays. The number of

columns is 80, each about 7 meters high. According to the eyewitness account of Megasthenes,

the palace was chiefly constructed of timber, and was considered to exceed in splendour and

magnificence the palaces of Susa and Ecbatana, its gilded pillars being adorned with golden

vines and silver birds. The buildings stood in an extensive park studded with fish ponds and

furnished with a great variety of ornamental trees and

shrubs.[112][better source needed] Kauṭilya's Arthashastra also gives the method of palace construction

from this period. Later fragments of stone pillars, including one nearly complete, with their

round tapering shafts and smooth polish, indicate that Ashoka was responsible for the

construction of the stone columns which replaced the earlier wooden ones.[citation needed]

During the Ashokan period, stonework was of a highly diversified order and comprised lofty

free-standing pillars, railings of stupas, lion thrones and other colossal figures. The use of stone

had reached such great perfection during this time that even small fragments of stone art were

given a high lustrous polish resembling fine enamel. This period marked the beginning of the

Buddhist school of architecture. Ashoka was responsible for the construction of several stupas,

which were large domes and bearing symbols of Buddha. The most important ones are located

at Sanchi, Bharhut, Amaravati, Bodhgaya and Nagarjunakonda. The most widespread examples
of Mauryan architecture are the Ashoka pillars and carved edicts of Ashoka, often exquisitely

decorated, with more than 40 spread throughout the Indian subcontinent.[113][better source needed]

The protection of animals in India was advocated by the time of the Maurya dynasty; being the

first empire to provide a unified political entity in India, the attitude of the Mauryas towards

forests, their denizens, and fauna in general is of interest.[116]

The Mauryas firstly looked at forests as resources. For them, the most important forest product

was the elephant. Military might in those times depended not only upon horses and men but

also battle-elephants; these played a role in the defeat of Seleucus, one of Alexander's former

generals. The Mauryas sought to preserve supplies of elephants since it was cheaper and took

less time to catch, tame and train wild elephants than to raise

them. Kautilya's Arthashastra contains not only maxims on ancient statecraft, but also

unambiguously specifies the responsibilities of officials such as the Protector of the Elephant

Forests.[117]

On the border of the forest, he should establish a forest for elephants guarded by foresters. The

Office of the Chief Elephant Forester should with the help of guards protect the elephants in any

terrain. The slaying of an elephant is punishable by death.

— Arthashastra

The Mauryas also designated separate forests to protect supplies of timber, as well as lions and

tigers for skins. Elsewhere the Protector of Animals also worked to eliminate thieves, tigers and

other predators to render the woods safe for grazing cattle.[citation needed]

The Mauryas valued certain forest tracts in strategic or economic terms and instituted curbs and

control measures over them. They regarded all forest tribes with distrust and controlled them
with bribery and political subjugation. They employed some of them, the food-gatherers

or aranyaca to guard borders and trap animals. The sometimes tense and conflict-ridden

relationship nevertheless enabled the Mauryas to guard their vast empire.[118]

When Ashoka embraced Buddhism in the latter part of his reign, he brought about significant

changes in his style of governance, which included providing protection to fauna, and even

relinquished the royal hunt. He was the first ruler in history[failed verification]
to

advocate conservation measures for wildlife and even had rules inscribed in stone edicts. The

edicts proclaim that many followed the king's example in giving up the slaughter of animals; one

of them proudly states:[118]

Our king killed very few animals.

— Edict on Fifth Pillar

However, the edicts of Ashoka reflect more the desire of rulers than actual events; the mention of

a 100 'panas' (coins) fine for poaching deer in royal hunting preserves shows that rule-breakers

did exist. The legal restrictions conflicted with the practices freely exercised by the common

people in hunting, felling, fishing and setting fires in forests.[118]

Foundation of the Empire[edit]

Relations with the Hellenistic world may have started from the very beginning of the Maurya

Empire. Plutarch reports that Chandragupta Maurya met with Alexander the Great, probably

around Taxila in the northwest:[119]

Sandrocottus, when he was a stripling, saw Alexander himself, and we are told that he often said

in later times that Alexander narrowly missed making himself master of the country, since its

king was hated and despised on account of his baseness and low birth.
— Plutarch 62-4[120][119]

Reconquest of the Northwest (c. 317–316 BCE)[edit]

Chandragupta ultimately occupied Northwestern India, in the territories formerly ruled by the

Greeks, where he fought the satraps (described as "Prefects" in Western sources) left in place

after Alexander (Justin), among whom may have been Eudemus, ruler in the western Punjab

until his departure in 317 BCE or Peithon, son of Agenor, ruler of the Greek colonies along the

Indus until his departure for Babylon in 316 BCE.[citation needed]

India, after the death of Alexander, had assassinated his prefects, as if shaking the burden of

servitude. The author of this liberation was Sandracottos, but he had transformed liberation in

servitude after victory, since, after taking the throne, he himself oppressed the very people he has

liberated from foreign domination.

— Justin XV.4.12–13[121]

Later, as he was preparing war against the prefects of Alexander, a huge wild elephant went to

him and took him on his back as if tame, and he became a remarkable fighter and war leader.

Having thus acquired royal power, Sandracottos possessed India at the time Seleucos was

preparing future glory.

[122]

Seleucus I Nicator, the Macedonian satrap of the Asian portion of Alexander's former empire,

conquered and put under his own authority eastern territories as far as Bactria and the Indus

(Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55), until in 305 BCE he entered into a

confrontation with Emperor Chandragupta:

Always lying in wait for the neighbouring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he

[Seleucus] acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria,

Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been

subdued by Alexander, as far as the river Indus, so that the boundaries of his empire were the

most extensive in Asia after that of Alexander. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was

subject to Seleucus.

— Appian, History of Rome, "The Syrian Wars" 55[123]

Though no accounts of the conflict remain, it is clear that Seleucus fared poorly against the

Indian Emperor as he failed to conquer any territory, and in fact was forced to surrender much

that was already his. Regardless, Seleucus and Chandragupta ultimately reached a settlement and

through a treaty sealed in 305 BCE, Seleucus, according to Strabo, ceded a number of territories

to Chandragupta, including eastern Afghanistan and Balochistan.[citation needed]

Marriage alliance[edit]

Chandragupta and Seleucus concluded a peace treaty and a marriage alliance in 303 BCE.

Chandragupta received vast territories and in a return gave Seleucus 500 war

elephants,[124][125][126][127][128] a military asset which would play a decisive role at the Battle of

Ipsus in 301 BCE.[129] In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched an

ambassador, Megasthenes, to Chandragupta, and later Deimakos to his son Bindusara, at the

Mauryan court at Pataliputra (modern Patna in Bihar). Later, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the ruler

of Ptolemaic Egypt and contemporary of Ashoka, is also recorded by Pliny the Elder as having

sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the Mauryan court.[130][better source needed]

Mainstream scholarship asserts that Chandragupta received vast territory west of the Indus,

including the Hindu Kush, modern-day Afghanistan, and the Balochistan province

of Pakistan.[131][132] Archaeologically, concrete indications of Mauryan rule, such as the

inscriptions of the Edicts of Ashoka, are known as far as Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

He (Seleucus) crossed the Indus and waged war with Sandrocottus [Maurya], king of the Indians,

who dwelt on the banks of that stream, until they came to an understanding with each other and

contracted a marriage relationship.

— Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55

After having made a treaty with him (Sandrakotos) and put in order the Orient situation,

Seleucos went to war against Antigonus.

— Junianus Justinus, Historiarum Philippicarum, libri XLIV, XV.4.15

The treaty on "Epigamia" implies lawful marriage between Greeks and Indians was recognized at

the State level, although it is unclear whether it occurred among dynastic rulers or common

people, or both.[citation needed]

Exchange of presents[edit]

Classical sources have also recorded that following their treaty, Chandragupta and Seleucus

exchanged presents, such as when Chandragupta sent various aphrodisiacs to Seleucus:[73]

And Theophrastus says that some contrivances are of wondrous efficacy in such matters [as to

make people more amorous]. And Phylarchus confirms him, by reference to some of the presents

which Sandrakottus, the king of the Indians, sent to Seleucus; which were to act like charms in

producing a wonderful degree of affection, while some, on the contrary, were to banish love.
— Athenaeus of Naucratis, The deipnosophists, Book I, chapter 32[133]

His son Bindusara 'Amitraghata' (Slayer of Enemies) also is recorded in Classical sources as

having exchanged presents with Antiochus I:[73]

But dried figs were so very much sought after by all men (for really, as Aristophanes says,

"There's really nothing nicer than dried figs"), that even Amitrochates, the king of the Indians,

wrote to Antiochus, entreating him (it is Hegesander who tells this story) to buy and send him

some sweet wine, and some dried figs, and a sophist; and that Antiochus wrote to him in answer,

"The dry figs and the sweet wine we will send you; but it is not lawful for a sophist to be sold in

Greece.

— Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae XIV.67[134]

An influential and large Greek population was present in the northwest of the Indian

subcontinent under Ashoka's rule, possibly remnants of Alexander's conquests in the Indus

Valley region. In the Rock Edicts of Ashoka, some of them inscribed in Greek, Ashoka states

that the Greeks within his dominion were converted to Buddhism:

Here in the king's dominion among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits,

the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-

of-the-Gods' instructions in Dharma.

— (Rock Edict Number 13)

Now, in times past (officers) called Mahamatras of morality did not exist before. Mahdmatras of

morality were appointed by me (when I had been) anointed thirteen years. These are occupied

with all sects in establishing morality, in promoting morality, and for the welfare and happiness
of those who are devoted to morality (even) among the Greeks, Kambojas and Gandharas, and

whatever other western borderers (of mine there are).

— (Rock Edict Number 5)

Fragments of Edict 13 have been found in Greek, and a full Edict, written in both Greek and

Aramaic, has been discovered in Kandahar. It is said to be written in excellent Classical Greek,

using sophisticated philosophical terms. In this Edict, Ashoka uses the word Eusebeia ("Piety")

as the Greek translation for the ubiquitous "Dharma" of his other Edicts written in Prakrit:[non-
primary source needed]

Ten years (of reign) having been completed, King Piodasses (Ashoka) made known (the doctrine

of) Piety (εὐσέβεια, Eusebeia) to men; and from this moment he has made men more pious, and

everything thrives throughout the whole world. And the king abstains from (killing) living

beings, and other men and those who (are) huntsmen and fishermen of the king have desisted

from hunting. And if some (were) intemperate, they have ceased from their intemperance as was

in their power; and obedient to their father and mother and to the elders, in opposition to the past

also in the future, by so acting on every occasion, they will live better and more happily.

Also, in the Edicts of Ashoka, Ashoka mentions the Hellenistic kings of the period as recipients

of his Buddhist proselytism, although no Western historical record of this event remains:

The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six

hundred yojanas (5,400–9,600 km) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there

where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the

south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni (Sri Lanka).

— Edicts of Ashoka, 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika.[non-primary source needed]

Ashoka also encouraged the development of herbal medicine, for men and animals, in their

territories:

Everywhere within Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi's [Ashoka's] domain, and among the

people beyond the borders, the Cholas, the Pandyas, the Satiyaputras, the Keralaputras, as far

as Tamraparni and where the Greek king Antiochos rules, and among the kings who are

neighbors of Antiochos, everywhere has Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, made provision

for two types of medical treatment: medical treatment for humans and medical treatment for

animals. Wherever medical herbs suitable for humans or animals are not available, I have had

them imported and grown. Wherever medical roots or fruits are not available I have had them

imported and grown. Along roads I have had wells dug and trees planted for the benefit of

humans and animals.

— 2nd Rock Edict[non-primary source needed]

The Greeks in India even seem to have played an active role in the spread of Buddhism, as some

of the emissaries of Ashoka, such as Dharmaraksita, are described in Pali sources as leading

Greek ("Yona") Buddhist monks, active in Buddhist proselytism (the Mahavamsa, XII[138][non-
primary source needed]
).

Subhagasena and Antiochos III (206 BCE)[edit]

Sophagasenus was an Indian Mauryan ruler of the 3rd century BCE, described in ancient Greek

sources, and named Subhagasena or Subhashasena in Prakrit. His name is mentioned in the list

of Mauryan princes,[citation needed] and also in the list of the Yadava dynasty, as a descendant of

Pradyumna. He may have been a grandson of Ashoka, or Kunala, the son of Ashoka. He ruled an

area south of the Hindu Kush, possibly in Gandhara. Antiochos III, the Seleucid king, after
having made peace with Euthydemus in Bactria, went to India in 206 BCE and is said to have

renewed his friendship with the Indian king there:

He (Antiochus) crossed the Caucasus and descended into India; renewed his friendship with

Sophagasenus the king of the Indians; received more elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty

altogether; and having once more provisioned his troops, set out again personally with his army:

leaving Androsthenes of Cyzicus the duty of taking home the treasure which this king had agreed

to hand over to him.

— Polybius 11.39[non-primary source needed]

Timeline[edit]

• 322 BCE: Chandragupta Maurya founded the Mauryan Empire

by defeating the Nanda Dynasty.

• 317–316 BCE: Chandragupta Maurya conquers the Northwest of

the Indian subcontinent.

• 305–303 BCE: Chandragupta Maurya gains territory from the

Seleucid Empire.

• 298–269 BCE: Reign of Bindusara, Chandragupta's son. He

conquers parts of Deccan, southern India.

• 269–232 BCE: The Mauryan Empire reaches its height under

Ashoka, Chandragupta's grandson.

• 261 BCE: Ashoka conquers the kingdom of Kalinga.

• 250 BCE: Ashoka builds Buddhist stupas and erects pillars

bearing inscriptions.
 • 184 BCE: The empire collapses when Brihadratha, the last

emperor, is killed by Pushyamitra Shunga, a Mauryan general

and the founder of the Shunga Empire.

Shunga

The Shunga Empire (IAST: Śuṅga) was an ancient Indian dynasty from Magadha that

controlled areas of the central and eastern Indian subcontinent from around 185 to 75 BCE. The

dynasty was established by Pushyamitra Shunga, after the fall of the Maurya Empire. Its capital

was Pataliputra, but later emperors such as Bhagabhadra also held court at Besnagar

(modern Vidisha) in eastern Malwa.[1]

Pushyamitra Shunga ruled for 36 years and was succeeded by his son Agnimitra. There were ten

Shunga rulers. However, after the death of Agnimitra, the second king of the dynasty, the empire

rapidly disintegrated:[2] inscriptions and coins indicate that much of northern and central India

consisted of small kingdoms and city-states that were independent of any Shunga

hegemony.[3] The dynasty is noted for its numerous wars with both foreign and indigenous

powers. They fought the Kalinga, the Satavahana dynasty, the Indo-Greek Kingdom and possibly

the Panchalas and Mitras of Mathura.

Art, education, philosophy, and other forms of learning flowered during this period including

small terracotta images, larger stone sculptures, and architectural monuments such as the stupa

at Bharhut, and the renowned Great Stupa at Sanchi. Shunga rulers helped to establish the

tradition of royal sponsorship of learning and art. The script used by the empire was a variant

of Brahmi script and was used to write Sanskrit.

The Shunga Empire played an imperative role in patronising culture at a time when some of the

most important developments in Hindu thought were taking place. Patanjali's Mahābhāṣya was

composed in this period. Artistry also progressed with the rise of the Mathura art style.

The last of the Shunga emperors was Devabhuti (83–73 BCE). He was assassinated by his

minister (Vasudeva Kanva) and is said to have been overfond of the company of women. The

Shunga dynasty was then replaced by the subsequent Kanvas. The Kanva dynasty succeeded the

Shungas around 73 BCE.

The Shunga dynasty was a Brahmin dynasty,[4] established in 185 BCE, about 50 years

after Ashoka's death, when the emperor Brihadratha Maurya, the last ruler of the Maurya

Empire, was assassinated by his Senānī or commander-in-chief, Pushyamitra Shunga,[5] while he

was reviewing the Guard of Honour of his forces. Pushyamitra Shunga then ascended the

throne.[6]

Pushyamitra Shunga became the ruler of Magadha and neighbouring territories. His realm

essentially covered the central parts of the old Mauryan Empire.[7] The Shunga definitely had

control of the central city of Ayodhya in northern central India, as is proved by the Dhanadeva-

Ayodhya inscription.[7] However, the city of Mathura further west never seems to have been

under the direct control of the Shungas, as no archaeological evidence of a Shunga presence has

ever been found in Mathura.[8] On the contrary, according to the Yavanarajya inscription,

Mathura was probably under the control of Indo-Greeks from some time between 180 BCE and

100 BCE, and remained so as late as 70 BCE.[8]

Some ancient sources however claim a greater extent for the Shunga Empire:

the Asokavadana account of the Divyavadana claims that the Shungas sent an army to persecute

Buddhist monks as far as Sakala (Sialkot) in the Punjab region in the northwest:

... Pushyamitra equipped a fourfold army, and intending to destroy the Buddhist religion, he went

to the Kukkutarama (in Pataliputra). ... Pushyamitra therefore destroyed the sangharama, killed

the monks there, and departed. ... After some time, he arrived in Sakala, and proclaimed that he

would give a ... reward to whoever brought him the head of a Buddhist monk.[9]:293

Also, the Malavikagnimitra claims that the empire of Pushyamitra extended to the Narmada

River in the south. They may also have controlled the city of Ujjain.[7] Meanwhile, Kabul and

much of the Punjab passed into the hands of the Indo-Greeks and the Deccan Plateau to

the Satavahana dynasty.

Pushyamitra died after ruling for 36 years (187–151 BCE). He was succeeded by son Agnimitra.

This prince is the hero of a famous drama by one of India's greatest playwrights, Kālidāsa.

Agnimitra was viceroy of Vidisha when the story takes place.

The power of the Shungas gradually weakened. It is said that there were ten Shunga emperors.

The Shungas were succeeded by the Kanva dynasty around 73 BCE.

Buddhism

Following the Mauryans, the first Brahmin emperor was Pushyamitra Shunga, and is believed by

some historians to have persecuted Buddhists and contributed to a resurgence

of Brahmanism that forced Buddhism outwards to Kashmir, Gandhara and Bactria.[10] Buddhist

scripture such as the Asokavadana account of the Divyavadana and ancient Tibetan

historian Taranatha have written about persecution of Buddhists. Pushyamitra is said to have
burned down Buddhist monasteries, destroyed stupas, massacred Buddhist monks and put

rewards on their heads, but some consider these stories as probable exaggerations.[10][11]

"... Pushyamitra equipped a fourfold army, and intending to destroy the Buddhist religion, he

went to the Kukkutarama. ... Pushyamitra therefore destroyed the sangharama, killed the monks

there, and departed. ... After some time, he arrived in Sakala, and proclaimed that he would give

a ... reward to whoever brought him the head of a Buddhist monk."

— Asokavadana account of the Divyavadana[12]:293

Indian Puranic sources also, such as the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purana, describe the

resurgence of Brahmanism following the Maurya Dynasty, and the killing of millions of

Buddhists:

"At this time (after the rule of Chandragupta, Bindusara and Ashoka) the best of the brahmanas,

Kanyakubja, performed sacrifice on the top of a mountain named Arbuda. By the influence

of Vedic mantras, four Kshatriyas appeared from the yajna (sacrifice). (...) They kept Ashoka

under their control and annihilated all the Buddhists. It is said there were 4 million Buddhists and

all of them were killed by uncommon weapons".

— Pratisarga Parva[13]

Pushyamitra is known to have revived the supremacy of the Bramahnical religion and

reestablished animal sacrifices (Yajnas) that had been prohibited by Ashoka.[11]

Later Shunga emperors were seen as amenable to Buddhism and as having contributed to the

building of the stupa at Bharhut.[14] During his reign the buddhist monuments

of Bharhut and Sanchi were renovated and further improved. There is enough evidence to show

that Pushyamitra patronised buddhist art.[15] However, given the rather decentralised and
fragmentary nature of the Shunga state, with many cities actually issuing their own coinage, as

well as the relative dislike of the Shungas for the Buddhist religion, some authors argue that the

constructions of that period in Sanchi for example cannot really be called "Shunga". They were

not the result of royal sponsorship, in contrast with what happened during the Mauryas, and most

of the dedications at Sanchi were private or collective, rather than the result of royal

patronage.[16]

Some writers believe that Brahmanism competed in political and spiritual realm with

Buddhism[10] in the Gangetic plains. Buddhism flourished in the realms of the Bactrian

kings.[citation needed]

Some Indian scholars are of the opinion that the orthodox Shunga emperors were not intolerant

towards Buddhism and that Buddhism prospered during the time of the Shunga emperors. The

existence of Buddhism in Bengal in the Shunga period can also be inferred from a terracotta

tablet that was found at Tamralipti and is on exhibit at the Asutosh Museum in Kolkata.

Royal dedications[edit]

Two dedication by a king Brahmamitra and a king Indragnimitra are recorded at the Mahabodhi

Temple in Bodh Gaya, and have been claimed to show Sunga support for Buddhism. These kings

however are essentially unknown, and do not form a part of the Shunga recorded genealogy, but

they are thought to be post-Ashokan and to belong to the period of Sunga

rule.[17][18] A Brahmamitra is known otherwise as a local ruler of Mathura, but Indragnimitra is

unknown, and according to some authors, Indragnimitra is in fact not even mentioned as a king

in the actual inscription.[18][19]

• An inscription at Bodh Gaya at the Mahabodhi Temple records

the construction of the temple as follows:

"The gift of Nagadevi the wife of King Brahmamitra."

• Another inscription reads:

"The gift of Kurangi, the mother of living sons and the wife of

King Indragnimitra, son of Kosiki. The gift also of Srima of

the royal palace shrine.[20][21] "

Cunningham has regretted the loss of the latter part of these

important records. As regards the first coping inscription, he

has found traces of eleven Brahmi letters after "Kuramgiye

danam", the first nine of which read "rajapasada-cetika sa".

Bloch reads these nine letters as "raja-pasada-cetikasa" and

translates this expression in relation to the preceding words:

"(the gift of Kurangi, the wife of Indragnimitra and the

mother of living sons), "to the caitya (cetika) of the noble

temple", taking the word raja before pasada as an epithet on

ornans, distinguishing the temple as a particularly large and

stately building similar to such expressions as rajahastin 'a

noble elephant', rajahamsa `a goose (as distinguished from

hamsa 'a duck'), etc."

Cunningham has translated the expression by "the royal

palace, the caitya", suggesting that "the mention of the raja-

 pasada would seem to connect the donor with the king's

family." Luders doubtfully suggests "to the king's temple" as

a rendering of "raja-pasada-cetikasa."

Shunga period contributions in Sanchi[edit]

Main article: Sanchi

On the basis of Ashokavadana, it is presumed that the stupa may have been vandalised at one

point sometime in the 2nd century BCE, an event some have related to the rise of the Shunga

emperor Pushyamitra Shunga who overtook the Mauryan Empire as an army general. It has

been suggested that Pushyamitra may have destroyed the original stupa, and his

son Agnimitra rebuilt it.[22] The original brick stupa was covered with stone during the Shunga

period.

Great Stupa (No 1)[edit]

During the later rule of the Shunga, the stupa was expanded with stone slabs to almost twice its

original size. The dome was flattened near the top and crowned by three superimposed parasols

within a square railing. With its many tiers it was a symbol of the dharma, the Wheel of the

Law. The dome was set on a high circular drum meant for circumambulation, which could be

accessed via a double staircase. A second stone pathway at ground level was enclosed by a

stone balustrade. The railing around Stupa 1 do not have artistic reliefs. These are only slabs,

with some dedicatory inscriptions. These elements are dated to circa 150 BCE.[23]

Stupa No2 and Stupa No3[edit]

The buildings which seem to have been commissioned during the rule of the Shungas are the

Second and Third stupas (but not the highly decorated gateways, which are from the

following Satavahana period, as known from inscriptions), and the ground balustrade and

stone casing of the Great Stupa (Stupa No 1). The Relics of Sariputra and

Mahamoggallana are said to have been placed in Stupa No 3.[24] These are dated to circa 115

BCE for the medallions, 80 BCE for the gateway carvings,[25] slightly after the reliefs

of Bharhut, with some reworks down to the 1st century CE.[23][25]

The style of the Shunga period decorations at Sanchi bear a

close similarity to those of Bharhut, as well as the peripheral

balustrades at Bodh Gaya, which are thought to be the oldest

of the three.

War and conflict characterised the Shunga period. They are

known to have warred with the Kalingas, Satavahanas,

the Indo-Greeks, and possibly

the Panchalas and Mathuras.[citation needed]

The Shunga Empire's wars with the Indo-Greek Kingdom

figure greatly in the history of this period. From around 180

BCE the Greco-Bactrian ruler Demetrius conquered the

Kabul Valley and is theorised to have advanced into the

trans-Indus to confront the Shungas.[11] The Indo-

Greek Menander I is credited with either joining or leading a

campaign to Pataliputra with other Indian rulers; however,

very little is known about the exact nature and success of the

campaign. The net result of these wars remains

uncertain.[citation needed]

Literary evidence[edit]

Several works, such as the Mahabharata and the Yuga

Purana describe the conflict between the Shungas and the

Indo-Greeks.

Military expeditions of the Shungas[edit]

Scriptures such as the Ashokavadana claim that Pushyamitra

toppled Emperor Brahaditha and killed many Buddhist

monks.[28] Then it describes how Pushyamitra sent an army

to Pataliputra and as far as Sakala (Sialkot), in the Punjab, to

persecute Buddhist monks.[29]

War with the Yavanas (Greeks)[edit]

The Indo-Greeks, called Yavanas in Indian sources, either led

by Demetrius I or Menander I, then invaded India, possibly

receiving the help of Buddhists.[30] Menander in particular is

described as a convert to Buddhism in the Milindapanha.

The Hindu text of the Yuga Purana, which describes Indian

historical events in the form of a prophecy,[31][note 1] relates the

attack of the Indo-Greeks on the Shunga capital Pataliputra, a

magnificent fortified city with 570 towers and 64 gates

according to Megasthenes,[33] and describes the impending

war for city:

"Then, after having approached Saketa together with

the Panchalas and the Mathuras, the Yavanas, valiant in

battle, will reach Kusumadhvaja ["the town of the flower-

standard", Pataliputra]. Then, once Puspapura [another name

of Pataliputra] has been reached and its celebrated mud[-

walls] cast down, all the realm will be in disorder." (Yuga

Purana, Paragraph 47–48, 2002 edition)

However, the Yuga Purana indicates that the Yavanas

(Indo-Greeks) did not remain for long in Pataliputra, as

they were faced with a civil war in Bactria.

Western sources also suggest that this new offensive of

the Greeks into India led them as far as the

capital Pataliputra:[34]

Those who came after Alexander went to

the Ganges and Pataliputra

— Strabo, 15.698
Battle on the Sindhu river[edit]

An account of a direct battle between the Greeks and the

Shunga is also found in the Mālavikāgnimitram, a play

by Kālidāsa which describes a battle between a squadron

of Greek cavalrymen and Vasumitra, the grandson

of Pushyamitra, accompanied by a hundred soldiers on

the "Sindhu river", in which the Indians defeated a

squadron of Greeks and Pushyamitra successfully

completed the Ashvamedha Yagna.[35] This river may be

the Indus river in the northwest, but such expansion by

the Shungas is unlikely, and it is more probable that the

river mentioned in the text is the Sindh River or the Kali

Sindh River in the Ganges Basin.[36]

Epigraphic and archaeological evidence[edit]

Dhanadeva-Ayodhya inscription[edit]

Ultimately, Shunga rule seems to have extended to the

area of Ayodhya. Shunga inscriptions are known as far

as Ayodhya in northern central India;[7] in particular,

the Dhanadeva-Ayodhya inscription refers to a local

king Dhanadeva, who claimed to be the sixth descendant

of Pushyamitra Shunga. The inscription also records that

Pushyamitra performed two Ashvamedhas (victory

sacrifices) in Ayodhya.[37]
The Greeks seem to have maintained control of Mathura.

The Yavanarajya inscription, also called the "Maghera

inscription", discovered in Mathura, suggests that the

Indo-Greeks were in control of Mathura during the 1st

century BCE.[38][39] The inscription is important in that it

mentions the date of its dedication as "The last day of

year 116 of Yavana hegemony (Yavanarajya)". It is

considered that this inscription is attesting the control of

the Indo-Greeks in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE in

Mathura, a fact that is also confirmed by numismatic and

literary evidence.[8] Moreover, it doesn't seem that the

Shungas ever ruled in Mathura or Surasena since no

Shunga coins or inscriptions have been found there.[8]

The Anushasana Parva of the Mahabharata affirms that

the city of Mathura was under the joint control of

the Yavanas and the Kambojas.[40]

Later however, it seems the city of Mathura was retaken

from them, if not by the Shungas themselves, then

probably by other indigenous rulers such as the Datta

dynasty or the Mitra dynasty, or more probably by

the Indo-Scythian Northern Satraps under Rajuvula. In

the region of Mathura,

the Arjunayanas and Yaudheyas mention military

victories on their coins ("Victory of the Arjunayanas",

"Victory of the Yaudheyas"), and during the 1st century

BCE, the Trigartas, Audumbaras and finally

the Kunindas also started to mint their own coins, thus

affirming independence from the Indo-Greeks, although

the style of their coins was often derived from that of the

Indo-Greeks.

Very little can be said with great certainty. However,

what does appear clear is that the two realms appeared to

have established normalised diplomatic relations in the

succeeding reigns of their respective rulers. The Indo-

Greeks and the Shungas seem to have reconciled and

exchanged diplomatic missions around 110 BCE, as

indicated by the Heliodorus pillar, which records the

dispatch of a Greek ambassador named Heliodorus, from

the court of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas, to the court

of the Shunga emperor Bhagabhadra at the site

of Vidisha in central India.

Decline[edit]

The last king of Sungas, Devabhuti was assassinated by

his minister Vasudeva Kanva, who then

established Kanva dynasty.[6] According to the Puranas:

"The Andhra Simuka will assail the Kanvayanas and

Susarman, and destroy the remains of the Sungas' power

and will obtain this earth."[41]

Art[edit]

The Shunga art style differed somewhat from

imperial Mauryan art, which was influenced by Persian

art. In both, continuing elements of folk art and cults of

the Mother goddess appear in popular art, but are now

produced with more skill in more monumental forms.

The Shunga style was thus seen as 'more Indian' and is

often described as the more indigenous.[42]

Art, education, philosophy, and other learning flowered

during this period. Most notably, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras

and Mahabhashya were composed in this period. It is also

noted for its subsequent mention in the

Malavikaagnimitra. This work was composed by

Kalidasa in the later Gupta period, and romanticised the

love of Malavika and King Agnimitra, with a background

of court intrigue.

Artistry on the subcontinent also progressed with the rise

of the Mathura school, which is considered the

indigenous counterpart to the more Hellenistic Gandhara

school (Greco-Buddhist art) of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 During the historical Shunga period (185 to 73 BCE),

Buddhist activity also managed to survive somewhat in

central India (Madhya Pradesh) as suggested by some

architectural expansions that were done at

the stupas of Sanchi and Bharhut, originally started under

Emperor Ashoka. It remains uncertain whether these

works were due to the weakness of the control of the

Shungas in these areas, or a sign of tolerance on their

part.

Script[edit]

The script used by the Shunga was a variant of Brahmi,

and was used to write the Sanskrit language. The script is

thought to be an intermediary between the Maurya and

the Kalinga Brahmi scripts.[43]

List of Shunga Emperors[edit]

Emperor Reign[citation needed]

Pushyamitra Shunga 185–149 BCE

Agnimitra 149–141 BCE

Vasujyeshtha 141–131 BCE

Vasumitra 131–124 BCE

Bhadraka 124–122 BCE

Pulindaka 122–119 BCE

Ghosha 119-108 BCE

Vajramitra 108-94 BCE

Bhagabhadra 94-83 BCE

Devabhuti 83–73 BCE