# The Maurya Empire of India > Chandragupta Maurya unites northern India in the power vacuum left by Alexander, makes peace with Seleucus for 500 elephants, and his grandson Ashoka conquers Kalinga, regrets it, and carves edicts of dhamma across the subcontinent while Buddhist missions travel abroad. Episode 04 of the World Empires series. Interactive film: https://www.planetpast.com/stories/empires-maurya/ Publisher: PlanetPast (https://www.planetpast.com/) · Published 2026-10-13 · History ## Prologue ### The Maurya Empire *World Empires · Episode 04* India’s first great empire. In the 300s BC, northern India was divided among many kingdoms. The richest was Magadha, on the Ganges, ruled by the Nanda dynasty from Pataliputra, today’s Patna. In 326 BC, Alexander’s army reached the Indus and turned back. Into the power vacuum it left stepped a young man named Chandragupta. Prologue · Episode 04 of the World Empires series #### India before the Mauryas The Ganges plain had fertile soil, iron and growing cities. Magadha, in today’s Bihar, had become the leading kingdom under the Nanda dynasty. In the north-west, Alexander’s brief invasion left Greek garrisons and local rulers in disarray. Grey outlines show other powers of the time. Outlines are approximate. Sources: [Wikipedia: Maurya Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire) ## Chapter I · Chandragupta ### Chandragupta and Chanakya *Chapter I · c. 322 BC* A young founder and a ruthless teacher. Around 322 BC, Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the Nanda king and took Pataliputra. He then seized the Punjab from Alexander’s successors. Tradition says his adviser was Chanakya, also called Kautilya, the author of the Arthashastra, a manual on statecraft, spies and taxes. Most scholars think the Arthashastra was compiled or expanded later, but it shows how Indian rulers thought about running a state. Chapter I · Step 1 #### Chandragupta and Chanakya - **Chandragupta**: c. 322–298 BC - **Capital**: Pataliputra modern Patna The exact founding date is uncertain: sources give 322 or 321 BC. Sources: [Wikipedia: Maurya Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire) ### Peace with Seleucus *Chapter I · 305–303 BC* Land for elephants. Alexander’s general Seleucus tried to reclaim the Indus lands. Instead, around 303 BC, he made peace with Chandragupta. The Mauryas gained Arachosia and Gandhara, in today’s Afghanistan and Pakistan. Seleucus received 500 war elephants, and the two families made a marriage alliance. A Greek ambassador, Megasthenes, lived at Pataliputra and described a vast walled city and an enormous army, though his numbers may be exaggerated. Chapter I · Step 2 #### Peace with Seleucus - **Elephants to Seleucus**: 500 c. 303 BC - **Army (Megasthenes)**: 600,000 infantry, 9,000 elephants an ancient claim, probably inflated The elephants helped Seleucus win the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC (Episode 03). Sources: [Livius: chronology of the Diadochi](https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/diadochi/chronology-of-the-diadochi/); [Wikipedia: Maurya Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire) ### Bindusara *Chapter I · 298–272 BC* The empire pushes south. Chandragupta’s son Bindusara extended Maurya rule into the Deccan plateau of central India. By the end of his reign, only Kalinga on the east coast, and the Tamil lands of the far south, stood outside the empire. Chapter I · Step 3 #### Bindusara - **Reign**: 298–272 BC - **Provincial centres**: Taxila, Ujjain, Tosali, Suvarnagiri Sources: [Wikipedia: Maurya Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire) ## Chapter II · Ashoka ### The Kalinga war *Chapter II · c. 261 BC* A conquest that changed the conqueror. Bindusara’s son Ashoka was crowned around 268 BC. In about his eighth year, he invaded Kalinga, in today’s Odisha. In his own words, carved later in stone, 150,000 people were deported, 100,000 were killed, and many more died. Ashoka declared that he felt deep remorse. He said that from then on, the only true conquest was conquest by dhamma: moral law. Chapter II · Step 4 #### The Kalinga war Ashoka’s 13th Major Rock Edict is one of the few records in which an ancient ruler expresses regret for a war he won. - **Deported**: 150,000 Rock Edict XIII - **Killed**: 100,000 “and many times that number died” Sources: [Wikipedia: Kalinga War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_War); [World History Encyclopedia: Edicts of Ashoka](https://www.worldhistory.org/Edicts_of_Ashoka) ### Rule by dhamma *Chapter II · 260–232 BC* Messages carved in stone across an empire. Ashoka had his messages carved on rocks and tall polished pillars across the empire, in local languages and scripts, even Greek and Aramaic near Kandahar. They urged honesty, kindness to animals, respect for all religious groups, and announced wells, rest houses and medical care for people and animals. At its height the empire covered most of the subcontinent, by estimates between 3.4 and 5 million square kilometres. Chapter II · Step 5 #### Rule by dhamma - **Inscriptions**: 33 incl. 14 Major Rock Edicts - **Peak area**: ~3.4–5M km² c. 250 BC; estimates vary - **Languages and scripts**: Prakrit in Brahmi and Kharosthi; Greek and Aramaic at Kandahar Sources: [World History Encyclopedia: Edicts of Ashoka](https://www.worldhistory.org/Edicts_of_Ashoka); [Wikipedia: Maurya Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire); [Wikipedia: List of largest empires](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_empires) ### Buddhism travels *Chapter II · c. 250 BC* Missions from Ashoka’s court spread the Buddha’s teaching. According to Buddhist chronicles, Ashoka supported a great council of monks, and sent missions to neighbouring lands. His son Mahinda is said to have brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan chronicles also say monks named Sona and Uttara went to a “Golden Land”, Suvarnabhumi. Thailand and Myanmar both claim that land. Historians note that no Southeast Asian record mentions the story before the second millennium AD, so it remains a tradition. Chapter II · Step 6 #### Buddhism travels Ashoka’s own edicts mention sending envoys of dhamma to Greek kings in the west and to the south. The detailed stories of missions to Sri Lanka and Suvarnabhumi come from later Sri Lankan chronicles such as the *Mahavamsa* (5th century AD). Thai tradition links Suvarnabhumi with central Thailand (for example Nakhon Pathom); Myanmar tradition with Thaton in the Mon country. Its marker here is deliberately vague. Sources: [Revire, “Facts and Fiction: the myth of Suvaṇṇabhūmi”, TRaNS 2018](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/trans-trans-regional-and-national-studies-of-southeast-asia/article/abs/facts-and-fiction-the-myth-of-suvannabhumi-through-the-thai-and-burmese-looking-glass/9D601B5088B2E11C3C40C55B97CDE7E0); [World History Encyclopedia: Edicts of Ashoka](https://www.worldhistory.org/Edicts_of_Ashoka) ## Chapter III · Decline and memory ### A swift decline *Chapter III · 232–185 BC* Within fifty years of Ashoka’s death, the empire was gone. After Ashoka died around 232 BC, the empire was divided among weaker successors, and distant provinces broke away. In 185 BC, according to later accounts, the general Pushyamitra Shunga killed the last Maurya king during a military review, and founded his own dynasty. Some later writers blamed Ashoka’s pacifism. Most historians point instead to an over-centralised state that was hard to hold together. Chapter III · Step 7 #### A swift decline - c. 232 BC Death of Ashoka - c. 200 BC Greco-Bactrian kings push into the north-west - 185 BC Pushyamitra kills Brihadratha; Shunga dynasty Sources: [Wikipedia: Maurya Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire) ### A forgotten emperor returns *Chapter III · 1837* For two thousand years, India forgot Ashoka’s inscriptions. Over the centuries, the Brahmi script of the edicts became unreadable, and Ashoka survived mostly in Buddhist legend. In 1837, James Prinsep, a British official in Calcutta, deciphered Brahmi, and Ashoka’s own words could be read again. When India became a republic, it chose the lion capital from Ashoka’s pillar at Sarnath as its national emblem, and his wheel of dhamma for its flag. Chapter III · Step 8 #### A forgotten emperor returns - 1837 James Prinsep deciphers Brahmi - 1950 The Sarnath lion capital becomes India’s national emblem - Flag The 24-spoke Ashoka Chakra at the centre of India’s flag Sources: [World History Encyclopedia: Edicts of Ashoka](https://www.worldhistory.org/Edicts_of_Ashoka); [Wikipedia: Maurya Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire) ## Epilogue ### The emperor who regretted *Epilogue* A short-lived empire with a very long shadow. The Maurya Empire lasted about 140 years. But it was the first to unite most of South Asia, and its ideas outlived it. Ashoka’s support helped Buddhism grow from a regional faith into a religion of Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and, later, East Asia. Next: China, where in 221 BC the Qin dynasty unified the warring states. Epilogue #### The emperor who regretted - c. 322 BC Empire founded - c. 261 BC Kalinga war - c. 250 BC Edicts and missions - 185 BC End of the dynasty #### The series - **00**The Rise and Fall of Empires (overview) - **01**The First Empires: Mesopotamia - **02**Egypt of the Pharaohs - **03**Persia and Alexander - **04** The Maurya Empire of India (this film) - **05**China Unified: Qin and Han - **06** Rome (coming soon) - **07** The Islamic Caliphates (coming soon) - **08** The Khmer Empire of Angkor (coming soon) - **09** The Mongol Empire (coming soon) - **10** The Ottoman Empire (coming soon) - **11** The Aztec and Inca Empires (coming soon) - **12** The Age of Sea Empires (coming soon) - **13** The End of Empires (coming soon) The still images on the chapter cards are AI-generated illustrations. Outlines are approximate. Sources: [Wikipedia: Maurya Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire); [World History Encyclopedia: Edicts of Ashoka](https://www.worldhistory.org/Edicts_of_Ashoka); [Wikipedia: Kalinga War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_War)