HISTORY ONE-LINER (Mauryan Empire)

 

ONE-LINER HISTORY NOTE FOR COMPETITIVE EXAMS

Mauryan Empire (321-185 BC)

 

1.       Major sources for the study of Mauryan Empire are the Arthasastra of Kautilya and Indika of Megasthenes.  

2.      Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of Mauryan Empire.  

3.      Details about his early life are not available  

4.      He is believed to have belonged to Moriya Clan, hence got the name Maurya.  

5.      It is also said that his mother was Mura a women of lower birth hence got the name Maurya.  

6.      In some texts he is referred to as Vrishala and Kulahina.  

7.      He conspired with Chanakya (Kautilya or Vishnugupta) the minister of Nanda to overthrew the last Nanda ruler DhanaNanda.  

8.      Chandragupta Maurya ascended the throne in BC 321.  

9.      He fought against Selucus in 305 BC. Selucus surrendered before him and sent an ambassador, Megasthenese to the court of Chandragupta Maurya.  

10.    Chandragupta’s Governor Pushygupta constructed the famous Sudarshana lake.  

11.      ChandraGupta Maurya was converted to Jainism, abdicated the throne in favour of his son Bindusara, passed his last days at  Sravanabelagola (Near Mysore) where he died in 298 BC.  

12.    Chandragupa Maurya was responsible for the political unification of North India for the first time.  

13.    Bindusara was a follower of Ajivika sect.  

14.    Bindusara was known as Amitragatha.  

15.    Ashoka ascended the throne in 273BC and ruled upto 232 BC.  

16.    He was known as ‘Devanampriya priyadarsi the beautiful one who was the beloved of Gods.  

17.     Maski and Gujara Edicts of Ashoka gave the name Devanampriya Priyadarsi.  

18.    Buddhist tradition says Ashoka killed 99 of his brothers to capture the throne.  

19.    Ashoka was the first king in Indian history who had left his records engraved on stones.  

20.  Ashokan inscriptions were written in Kharoshti and Brahmi scripts.  

21.    Ashoka fought the Kalinga war in 261 BC Kalinga is in modern Orissa.  

22.   Ashokan inscriptions were deciphered by James Princep.  

23.   After the battle of Kalinga Ashoka became a Buddhist, being shocked by the horrors of the war.  

24.   Ashoka was initiated to Buddhism by Upagupta or Nigrodha a disciple of Buddha.  

25.   For the propagation of Buddhism Ashoka started the institution of Dharmamahamatras.  

26.   The IV Major Rock Edict of Ashoka tells about the practice of Dharma  

27.   The Major Rock Edict XII of Ahoka deals with the conquest of Kalinga.  

28.   Ashoka held the third Buddhist council at his capital Pataliputra in 250BC under the presidentship of Moggaliputa Tissa.  

29.   He sent his son and daughter to Sri Lanka for the spread of Buddhism (Mahendra and Sanghamitra)  

30.  Ashoka spread Buddhism to SriLanka and Nepal.  

31.    He is known as the Constantine of Buddhism.  

32.   In his Kalinga Edict he mentions ‘‘All man are as my children’’.  

33.   Ceylones ruler Devanmpriya Tissa was Ashoka’s first convert to Buddhism.  

34.   Ashoka ruled for 40 years and died in 232 BC.  

35.   The emblem of the Indian Republic has been adopted from the four lion capital of one of Ashokas pillars which is located in Saranath.  

36.   Rock-cut architecture in India made a beginning during Ashoka’s reign.  

37.   Brihadratha the last Mauryan ruler was killed by Pushyamitra Sunga who founded the Sunga Dynasty in 185 BC.  

38.   Megasthenese the first foreign traveller to India mentions about the existence of seven castes in India during the Mauryan period.  

39.   Stanika in Mauryan administration refers to tax collector.

40.  Important Mauryan Officers           Samaharta --- Collector of Revenue,  Sannidata ---Head of Treasury,   Dandapala ---Head of Police,  Durga Pala --- Head of Royal Fort, Pradeshikas --- Head of District Administration,  Prashasti --- Head of Prisons