Mauryan Empire
The establishment of the Mauryan Empire bore one of the first powerful kingdoms in India. Chandragupta Maurya was born as the first ruler of the Mauryan Empire, but the Southern part of the kingdom which was located on the southern part of the Ganges River was ruled by the Nanda Family. Chandragupta killed the Nanda king and that was the official birth the the Mauryan Empire.Chandragupta expanded the empire greatly as he conqured kingdoms throughout all of India.
GeographyAs you can see, to the left of this paragraph there is a map of the Mauryan Empire in 265 BCE. By the end of the Empires existence, much of India belonged to the Empire. As you can see, the southern tip of the peninsula and the right part of the continent weren't completely part of the Dynasty, but they were not complete rivals of the Empire. Not all of the expansion was done by Chandragupta, but there were also contributions made by other rulers, Bindusara and Asoka.
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Government & RulersWhile Chandragupta was ruler, he relied much on his main adviser, Kautilya. Kautilya wrote a the Arthasastra which was a book of rules that held the empire together. On top of Kautilya, Chandragupta created a very bureaucratic government consisting of many people doing many jobs that Chandragupta would supervise. To keep rule of the Dynasty under control, Chandragupta split his Empire into 4 provinces, each with their own "royal prince". Further dividing continued inside of those provinces into local districts, very similar to counties or cities here in the States. Inside those districts, officials would govern based of the Arthasastra. The other two rulers of the Mauryan Empire were Bindusara and Asoka. Both of the rulers of the Empire were decedents of Chandragupta, Bindusara being his song and Asoka being his grandson. While Asoka was in rule, the Empire was at its highest. As soon as Asoka died the country spun out of control and that was the fall of the Mauryan Empire
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ReligionWhen Asoka first became Emperor in 269 B.C. he followed greatly in his grandfather's, Chandragupta's, footsteps. While he expanded the empire through warfare, Asoka started to feel that all of the bloodshed was not necessary. He ended up studying Buddhism and concluded that his Empire was going to follow the teachings of "peace to all beings" and "nirvana". Even though Asoka encouraged Buddhism, many others urged religious tolerance. Practicing this non-violence, peaceful religion throughout the Empire brought in others without having to defeat them engaging in warfare. This helped the Mauryan Empire grow to the heights that it reached as an Empire.
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Fall of the Mauryan EmpireThe death of Asoka was the beginning of the end of the Mauryan Empire. Independent states that were loosely part of the Empire split and became their own Dynasties. The main Empire that arose from the downfall of the Mauryan Empire was the Andhra Dynasty. The reason that they succeeded among the others was because of its placement. It was in the perfect spot to trade with places like Rome and Southeast Asia. Trade was a big factor when it came to the establishment of the Andhra and the fall of the Mauryan Empire
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