Chandragupta Maurya, Bindusara and Ashoka

Prerequisites

• Rise of Magadha: Haryankas to Nandas — the Nanda kingdom that Chandragupta captured, and Alexander’s invasion
• Jainism and Buddhism — Chandragupta’s Jain and Ashoka’s Buddhist associations make sense only against this background

The Hook: The War Next Door

Why it matters: Prelims tests the exact details: Seleucus’s treaty, Megasthenes, Bindusara’s titles, the Kalinga war in Rock Edict XIII, where Ashoka’s name appears, which edict says what. Mains asks about Ashoka’s place in history and how inscriptions are used as sources.

Sources for Mauryan History

Chandragupta Maurya (चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य), c. 321–297 BCE

Bindusara (बिन्दुसार), c. 297–273 BCE

• Titles: Amitraghata (“slayer of enemies”), rendered Amitrochates by the Greeks.
• Followed the Ajivika sect, according to tradition.
• Deimachus came as ambassador from the Seleucid king Antiochus I.
• A Greek anecdote says Bindusara asked Antiochus for sweet wine, dried figs and a philosopher (sophist); Antiochus sent the first two and replied that Greeks did not sell philosophers.
• A revolt at Taxila was put down by his son Ashoka (Divyavadana).
• The empire’s extent into the Deccan by his reign is clear from the fact that Ashoka had to conquer only Kalinga.

Ashoka (अशोक), c. 268–232 BCE

Early life and accession

• According to Buddhist tradition, he served as viceroy at Ujjain and put down the Taxila revolt during his father’s reign.
• Buddhist legends speak of a war of succession. His coronation is placed about four years after his accession (c. 269–268 BCE).
• In his inscriptions he calls himself Devanampiya Piyadasi (देवानांपिय पियदसि), “beloved of the gods, of gracious appearance”. His personal name rarely appears.

The Kalinga War (c. 261 BCE)

Ashoka and Buddhism

• Became a Buddhist lay follower (upasaka) after the war; the Bhabru (Bairat) edict states his faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha and recommends particular Buddhist texts.
• Went on a dhammayatra; visited Sambodhi (Bodh Gaya) in his tenth regnal year (Rock Edict VIII) and Lumbini in his twentieth (Rummindei pillar).
• Third Buddhist Council at Pataliputra, c. 250 BCE, presided over by Moggaliputta Tissa; the Kathavatthu is attributed to it.
• Missions (per the Sri Lankan chronicles): his son Mahinda (Mahendra) and daughter Sanghamitta (Sanghamitra) to Sri Lanka, where King Devanampiya Tissa accepted Buddhism; Sona and Uttara to Suvarnabhumi (usually placed in lower Myanmar or Southeast Asia); Majjhantika to Kashmir and Gandhara.
• Rock Edict XIII claims dhamma-vijaya over five Greek kings, including Antiochus II of Syria and Ptolemy II of Egypt, and over the Cholas, Pandyas and Sri Lanka in the south.

Ashoka’s Inscriptions

graph TD
    A["Ashokan inscriptions"] --> B["14 Major Rock Edicts
Girnar, Kalsi, Shahbazgarhi,
Mansehra, Dhauli, Jaugada, etc."]
    A --> C["Minor Rock Edicts
Maski, Gujarra, Rupnath,
Brahmagiri, Bairat, Sahasram, etc."]
    A --> D["7 Pillar Edicts
all seven only on
the Delhi-Topra pillar"]
    A --> E["Minor Pillar Edicts
Rummindei, Nigali Sagar,
Schism and Queen's edicts"]
    A --> F["Cave inscriptions
Barabar hills,
gifts to the Ajivikas"]

Scripts and language

The language is mostly Prakrit. James Prinsep deciphered Ashokan Brahmi in 1837.

The name “Ashoka”

For decades the edicts were known only as those of “Devanampiya Piyadasi”. In 1915, the gold-mining engineer C. Beadon found the minor rock edict at Maski (Raichur, Karnataka), which reads “Devanampiya Asoka”. This was the first inscription to give his personal name, and it confirmed that Piyadasi was Ashoka. The name also appears in minor rock edicts at Gujarra (Datia, Madhya Pradesh) and at Nittur and Udegolam (Karnataka).

What the major edicts say (high-yield selection)

Other important inscriptions

Ashoka’s Successors

• After Ashoka, the empire appears to have been divided; traditions name several successors in different regions.
• Dasharatha gifted caves in the Nagarjuni hills to the Ajivikas. Samprati is remembered in Jain tradition as a great patron of Jainism.
• The last Mauryan king, Brihadratha, was assassinated at a review of the army by his general Pushyamitra Shunga, c. 185 BCE, who founded the Shunga dynasty.

For the causes of decline, see Mauryan Administration, Dhamma and Decline.

Memory Tricks

Don’t Confuse

Common Mistakes

Practice

All questions below are original practice questions written in CGPSC style. They are not previous-year questions.

Level 1: Foundation

1. The Greek ambassador at the court of Chandragupta Maurya was ______.
2. The Kalinga war is described in Major Rock Edict ______.
3. The Brahmi script of Ashoka’s edicts was deciphered by ______ in ______.

Level 2: Prelims MCQs

Q1. Consider the following statements about Ashoka’s inscriptions:

1. The inscriptions at Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra are in the Kharosthi script.
2. The Maski edict was the first inscription found that mentions Ashoka by name.
3. All seven pillar edicts are inscribed on every Ashokan pillar.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 only
• (b) 2 and 3 only
• (c) 1 and 2 only
• (d) 1, 2 and 3

Q2. Match List I (Ashokan edict) with List II (Subject):

• (a) A-1, B-2, C-4, D-3
• (b) A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4
• (c) A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3
• (d) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3

Q3. The treaty between Chandragupta Maurya and Seleucus Nicator gave Chandragupta territories in present Afghanistan and Baluchistan. What did Seleucus receive in return?

• (a) 500 war elephants
• (b) The province of Gandhara
• (c) A share of the Sudarshana lake revenue
• (d) The services of Megasthenes

Q4. Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched?

• (a) Bindusara — Mudrarakshasa
• (b) Chandragupta Maurya — Shravanabelagola
• (c) Ashoka — Nagarjuni hill caves
• (d) Dasharatha — Third Buddhist Council

Q5. Ashoka’s edict at Rummindei (Lumbini) records that

• (a) he held the Third Buddhist Council there
• (b) he reduced the village’s share of produce to one-eighth
• (c) he ordered the expulsion of schismatic monks
• (d) he appointed Dhamma Mahamattas there

Level 3: Mains Answer Writing

Q1. (150–200 words) “Ashoka’s inscriptions are the voice of the king himself.” Discuss their value as a source of history.

Q2. (60 words) What was the significance of the Kalinga war?

Quick Revision Table

Key Takeaways

What’s Next

• Mauryan Administration, Dhamma and Decline — how the empire was run and what Dhamma meant
• Mauryan and Satavahana Period in Chhattisgarh — the evidence in Dakshin Kosala
• Indian Art and Culture — Mauryan pillars and stupas in the longer story of Indian art
• Chapter Quick Revision