Transcript Empires of India

Empires of India
Early Empires
By 512 BC, The Persians had pushed their
empire east to the Indus River Valley
The Aryans still contolled the majority of
northeast India, but it was split into
many states
The strongest of these states was
Magadha
Persian Empire (500 BC)
The Magadha State
The Magadha state allied itself with many
surrounding states to fend off Persian
expansion
Magadha would eventually push its miniempire into the Ganges region
The Magadha state would not last,
declining in power by 334 BC
The Maurya Dynasty
With the Magadha state in decline,
Chandragupta Maurya seized power from the
last ruler of Magadha
Chandragupta would
expand the remnants
of Magadha to the Bay
of Bengal and the Hindu
Kush Mountains
The Maurya Empire was
the largest yet seen in India
Chandragupta Maurya
The Maurya Dynasty
Chandragupta established his court at
Pataliputra, on the Ganges River
Fearful to leave the palace at Pataliputra,
Chandragupta and his successors split
the empire into many provinces, each to
be overseen by local governors
The governers would regulate tax
collection, justice, transportation, and
defence in their respective province
Asoka
 Asoka was the best known Mauryan emperor, ruling
from 269 to 232 BC
 Under his rule, the empire
would reach its greatest size
 During the conquest of
Southern India, a massacre
of more than 100,000
people occured
 Feeling great remorse for
the deaths, Asoka renounced
violence and converted to Buddhism
Asoka
As a Buddhist, Asoka began preaching the
virtues of good work, nonviolence, and religious
tolerance
 Stoopahs were built for monks throughout the
empire and roads repaired, so that pilgramages
could be made to religious shrines
Asoka spread Buddhism to Southeast Asia and
modern day Sri Lanka by dispatching
missionaries throughout the region
A Stoopah in the Mauryan Capital of Pataliputra
The Age of Invasions
After Asoka’s death, civil war erupted in
the Mauryan Empire
Many groups pushed into the former
Mauryan Empire from the north, but most
were assimilated into Indian culture
The Bactrian Greeks and the Kushans
were the only invaders to influence
Indian culture and society
The Bactrian Greeks
 Composed of descendants of Alexander the Great’s
invading army, the Bactrian Greeks pushed deep
into the former Mauryan Empire
 Their leader, King Demetrius,
encouraged a blending of eastern
and western cultures
 The Bactrians brought Greek
influence into sculpture, medicine,
astronomy, astrology, and
Bactrian Currency Blended
Greek and Indian Influences
currency in India
The Kushans
The Bactrians were eventually
assimilated into Indian culture,
but another group soon took
their place
The Kushans first conquered
northern India before moving
north to modern day Pakistan
The Kushans ruled India for
200 years, encouraging art,
medical studies, and construction
Kanishka
Kanishka led the Kushans during their conquest
of India and Pakistan
Like Asoka, Kanishka converted to Buddhism,
employing 500 monks to regulate Buddhist
teachings in his empire
Kanishka’s monks’ meetings resulted in the
creation of Mahayana Buddhism
His opening of trade to China led to the
expansion of Mahayana Buddhism into East Asia
The Gupta Empire
While the Western Roman Empire was
collapsing in Europe, India
experienced a golden age
of peace and prosperity
under the Gupta Empire
Between 320 and 535 AD,
the Gupta Empire would
reunite the warring factions
in Central India, south of
the former Kushan Empire
The Gupta Empire
 The founder of the Gupta Empire, Chandra Gupta I,
promoted the study of arts and sciences, and brought
about a period of peace where violent crime was
extremely rare
 The Gupta Empire maintained its Buddhist influences,
but the Buddhist religion in India became assimilated
into Hinduism during empire’s reign
 The empire soon became weak with the Hun invasion of
Central Asia, and India was driven into a thousand years
of rule by small, independent kingdoms
The Tamils
 While the empires of India rose and fell in the
North, the South of India could never be conquered
 The Tamils, the rulers in the south
maintained their distinct culture,
absorbing the diverse traditions
of Hinduism
 The Tamils maintained a strong
trade relationship with the
Roman Empire before its downfall
 After its collapse, the Tamils
Modern Day Tamiland
began trading heavily with China