Transcript The Mauryan Empire – 185 BCE) (ca. 324

The Mauryan Empire
(ca. 324 – 185 BCE)
• Created by Chandragupta Maurya
• (ruled 324 – 301 BCE)
– Leads forces to remove Hellenistic influence
and unifies lands by 321BCE
• Paranoid ruler
• Treason suspects tortured and killed
• Spies, food tasters, never sleeps in same
room two nights in a row
Chandragupta’s Rule
• Establishes ruling principles based on:
– Hindu philosophy
– “policy of the scepter”
• Establishes Government
– Pataliputra
– Kingdom divided into Provinces – each ruled
by a royal governor appointed by the ruler
• ivided into districts – each ruled by an official
appointed by the royal governor
– Districts contain villages – each has a village leader
The Reign of Asoka
(269 -232 BCE)
• Initially continues brutal rule as father and
grandfather had
• 260 BCE – Asoka
– converted to Buddhism because he was
disturbed by his own brutality
• Sends out Buddhist missionaries throughout
kingdom
– Spreads buddhism
– uses the principles of Buddhism in the rest of his reign
Asoka’s Rule
• Issues “Rock Edicts”
– has several stone pillars and tablets placed throughout his
kingdom
• outlining his new policies and ideas based on Buddhist principles
• appoints “officials of righteousness” who make sure that
everybody treated fairly
• orders the building of hospitals for people and animals
• creates “rest stops” along roads within the Empire
• revises the legal code of the Empire
• encouraged trade and industry
• allowed freedom of religion within the Empire
End of the Mauryan Empire
• Asoka dies in 232 BCE – Maurayan Empire
starts to decline
• 185 BCE – the last Mauryan Emperor is
assassinated,
• Mauryan empire splits-up
• Intermediate Period (ca. 185 BCE – 320 CE)
– India fragments into independent kingdoms (again)
The Gupta Empire (ca. 320 – 550
CE) – “India’s Golden Age”
Establishment
• Much smaller territory than Mauryan
• Famous Emperors:
• Chandra Gupta I
• (r. 320 – 335 CE) – first Gupta Emperor, united
several kingdoms
• Chandra Gupta II (r. 375• 415 CE) – Emperor during the height
Government/Economic
Organization
• Emperor ruled from the capital
(Pataliputra)
• *. Emperor’s revenues generated from taxes from
provinces
• monopolistic control over salt and minerals
• Empire divided into
• provinces – each ruled by a royal governor
• *. governed loosely, as long as they paid
• Culture
• Hinduism official religion (religious freedom
allowed)
• Arts (especially Hindu-related) - flourished
• Literature written in Sanskrit
• Architecture and Sculpture (many temples)
– especially in the form of Hindu
New Technologies/Developments
• Medicine – Inoculation, basic surgery
• Mathematics – base 10 number system
– Develop concepts of zero and infinity
Decline in the status of women
• arranged marriages become common
• high respect, but little power for women
• End of the Gupta Empire – caused by invasions by
the Huns