The first empire the mauryas

social grade 6

1. The First Empire: Mauryas

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vH_VszU1d8

3. ALEXANDER, THE GREAT

4. Alexander attacked North- western India and defeated a number of republican states in 326 BCE. The most famous battle was with Porus. Porus was defeated , but Alexander returned the kingdom to Porus. Later he wanted to advance to Magadha, but his army refused to fight anymore as they were homesick and tired of fighting. Before leaving, he appointed governors in India to look after the conquered territories. On his way back, Alexander died of an illness at Babylon in 323 BCE.

5. Chandragupta Maurya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IOhAd-atxI

6. He was the founder of Mauryan Dynasty in India. He was an ambitious and intelligent person with exceptional military abilities. In 321 BCE, he overthrew the Nandas and became the emperor of Magadha. He was helped and guided by his advisor Chankya,(also known as K autilya) who was a wise Brahman Scholar. After ascending the throne, Chandragupta turned his attention to Punjab, western and North Western India. He defeated Seleucus Nicator, the Greek governor appointed by alexander. Thus he feed north India from Greek control. Chandragupta conquered many territories in the South, stretching his empire beyond Vindyas up to the Deccan. Towards the end of his life, Chandragupta became a Jain monk and gave up the throne to his son Bindusara. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IOhAd-atxI

7. BINDUSARA

8. He succeeded his father in 298 BCE. He extended his empire as far as modern day Karnataka. he died in 273 BCE and was succeeded by his son Ashoka.

9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-xJIZb08f0

10. Popularly referred as Ashoka, the great. Under his rule, the Mauryan Dynasty reached the height of its glory. When Ashoka ascended the throne in 273 BCE, he concentrated on expanding his kingdom. But, after the war of Kalinga, he gave up war completely in favor of peace and non violence. He was the first king in ancient India to give up war and proclaim peace .

11. Now, lets read about his transformation- page 75 The bloodshed in Kalinga deeply broke him, he gave up war and became a Buddhist.

12. ASHOKA AND BUDDHISM Deeply influenced by principles of non violence, compassion and peace. He never forced it on his subjects Respected all religions equally. Ashoka send his son M ahendra and daughter Sanghamitra to S rilanka to spread the message of Buddhism. He also sent number of learnt scholars to far-off places to spread Buddhism. He built a number of stupas and viharas for Buddhist monks.

13. Ashoka’s Dhamma was a code of conduct inspired by the teachings of the Buddha. The main principles of Ashoka’s dhamma were as follows: People should be peaceful and tolerant and live in harmony. Everyone should follow ahimsa or non violence and non injury towards all living things. People should love another and respect all religions. People should be truthful, kind and generous towards all. People should obey elders and elders should treat children with understanding. Ashoka strictly followed the principles of dhamma. As a part of dhamma, he planted trees along the roads for shade, dug wells, built rest houses and constructed hospitals for humans and animals. He appointed special officers called Dhamma mahamatras to spread and enforce the principles of Dhamma throughout his empire. ASHOKA’S DHAMMA

14. ASHOKAN EDICTS First I ndian ruler who spoke to his people through edicts. Edicts are royal orders or proclamations. Ashoka’s edicts were inscribed on stone pillars, rock boulders and caves. We get most of the information about Ashoka through his edicts. In these edicts Ashoka is being referred to as Piyadasi meaning “Blessed by the gods” and Ashoka refers to his people as his children. The edicts contains orders and messages about Ashoka's dhamma, his efforts to spread Buddhism and the welfare measures he undertook for his people.

15. The Mauryan Administration

16. It was based on the guidelines for a good government laid down in Chanakya’s Arthashatra. The administration was centralized and the king has the supreme power. A council of ministers called mantrin Parishad advised the king on important issues. The government divided into different departments which were looked after by officials appointed by the king . Officials such as mahamatras looked after the day to day affairs of the government. The kingdom was divided into provinces which were under the control of royal princes or kumaras. The provinces were divided into districts. Each district had many nagaras (towns) and gramas(villages).

17. There were officials at every level of administration who collected taxes, worked as judges and kept records. The tax money was used for building and maintaining roads, wells, rest houses, irrigation projects and the army. There was an espionage system and the spies informed the king about what was going on inside and outside his kingdom. The Mauryans had a large, well equipped standing army which included infantry, cavalry, elephants, chariots and a navy.

18. It was the capital of Mauryan empire. Large, impressive, magnificent walled city with several gates and towers. The king’s palace was made of stone while t he house of the people were made of brick and wood. The city administration was looked after by a group of 30 officials divided into six committees, each supervising a special department.

19. Indian art and architecture reached a new height under the Mauryas. To spread the message of Buddhism, Ashoka built many stupas, pillars and viharas. The highly polished monolithic pillars containing Ashokan edicts are still marveled by the modern people. The Ashokan pillar at Sarnath contains the lion capital which consists of four lions seated back to back and supporting the wheel of dharma known as the Ashoka chakra. An elephant , a horse, a bull and a lion are found on the abacus of the capital. The lion capital has been adopted as the national emblem of India. The Ashoka chakra is also found on the Indian flag.

20. He constructed many stupas and viharas. A stupa is a semi spherical mound containing the relics of Sree Buddha. The most well known stupa is the Sanchi Stupa at Sarnath. It contains four gateways which are richly carved. These carvings consists of animal figures and tales from J atakas.

21. A Vihara is a Buddhist monastery for monks and nuns. The earliest were rock cut caves made during Mauryan times.

22. DECLINE OF THE MAURYANE EMPIRE

23. Ashoka died in 232 BCE. After his death the Mauryan empire gradually began to decline. The reasons for decline of Mauryan Empire are- His successors were weak and could not control a large empire. As communication to the far lying territories were difficult, they were isolated. Gradually they broke away from the kingdom. Enough taxes could nit be collected to maintain a proper army. Attacks from the North – west weakened the empire.

24. The last Mauryan ruler was Brihadratha . He was killed by Pushyamitra Sunga, the founder of Sunga Dynasty.