The Mauryan Dynasty: 332 BC to 184 BC

Sangaralingam Ramesh ()
Additional contact information
Sangaralingam Ramesh: University of Oxford

Chapter Chapter 6 in The Political Economy of India's Economic Development: 5000BC to 2022AD, Volume I, 2023, pp 177-220 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter provides a historical account of the rise of power of the Maurya Kingdom in Magadha established by Chandragupta Maurya in 4 BC, strengthened by Ashoka and abolished through the murder of its last king Brihadratha. In particular, it is a contextual analysis of factors that supported the development and expansion of the Maurya Kingdom as well as factors that led to its eventual demise. Prime among them was Kautilya, a Brahmin scholar who went on to write Arthashastra, the first scholarly body of writing on statecraft, wealth accumulation and military supremacy. However, the Arthashastra does not focus on strategies to promote political stability and solidarity and build strong international relations between states. The author explores the relationship between the power of the Brahmans in the Hindu caste system and the unrealised power of kings and institutions that left the Indian sub-continent fragmented and vulnerable to foreign invasion. The second part discusses the empire’s socio-economic landscape, religion, governance and military capacity with the help of the Arthashastra, Rajtarangini and Parishishthai Parvana as well as accounts by Greek writers including Megasthenes and Pliny. The empire focused on agriculture and trade, taxation policies and implemented state control. War elephants played a crucial role in expanding the empire and later generally protecting and defending it after King Ashoka, horrified by the carnage at Kalinga, became a pacifist king and adopted Buddhism. Ashoka’s adoption of Buddhism greatly influenced the culture and values of the empire. After Ashoka’s reign, the empire gradually weakened and was overthrown by the Sunga Dynasty.

Keywords: Ashoka; Arthashastra; Rajtarangini; Parishishthai Parvana; Mauryan Empire; Chandragupta Maurya; Kautilya; Magadha; Brahmin; Sunga Dynasty; Kalinga; Megasthenes; Indica; Pliny; Buddhism; Laws of Manu (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palscp:978-3-031-42072-6_6

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9783031420726

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-42072-6_6

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Studies in Economic History from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().