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The Mauryan Empire was the first political entity to unite most of the Indian subcontinent and expand into Central Asia and the Middle East. Its soft power further spread into much of Persia and Greece due to its military victories over these regions. Its cultural influence also extended west into Egypt and Syria, and east into Thailand, China and Burma.
The Empire was founded in 322 BC by Chandragupta Maurya. Chandragupta waged a war against the nearby Greek powers and won, forcing the Greeks to surrender large amounts of land. Under the reign of Ashoka the Great, the empire became pacifist and turned to spreading its soft power in the form of Buddhism. It has been estimated that the Maurya Dynasty controlled an unprecedented one-third of the world's entire economy, was home to one-third of the world's population at the time (an estimated 50 million out of 150 million human), contained the world's largest city of the time (Pataliputra, estimated to be larger than Rome under Emperor Trajan).
Buddhist proselytism during the reign of Maurya Empire.
The Empire was divided into four provinces, which one of the four, look like a giant crescents. with the imperial capital at Pataliputra. From Ashokan edicts, the names of the four provincial capitals are Tosali (in the east), Ujjain in the west, Suvarnagiri (in the south), and Taxila (in the north). The head of the provincial administration was the Kumara (royal prince), who governed the provinces as king's representative. The kumara was assisted by Mahamatyas and council of ministers. This organizational structure was reflected at the imperial level with the Emperor and his Mantriparishad (Council of Ministers).
Historians theorize that the organization of the Empire was in line with the extensive bureaucracy described by Kautilya in the Arthashastra: a sophisticated civil service governed everything from municipal hygiene to international trade. According to Megasthenes, the empire wielded a military of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, and 9,000 war elephants. A vast espionage system collected intelligence for both internal and external security purposes. Having renounced offensive warfare and expansionism, Ashoka nevertheless continued to maintain this large army, to protect the Empire and instill stability and peace across West and South Asia.
During Ashoka's reign, the Mauryan empire reached zenith covering an area from modern Afganistan in west to Assam in east and in north from Himalayas to modern Andhra Pradesh in southern India. These imperial punch marked coins have been discovered in all the regions which cover modern India, Pakistan and Afganistan, truly representing the glory of the mighty Mauryan empire. Although, Kalinga war proved to be turning point and produced far reaching consequence in the history of India and whole eastern world. Ashoka came under influence of Buddhist philosophy and later sent his son (or brother?) Mahendra to Sri Lanka who converted king Devanampiya Tissa and eventually the entire island country to Buddhism.
Emperor Ashoka drew up a code of laws noted for their humanity and erected hundreds of stone pillars and magnificent Buddhist Stupas (dome shaped monuments). It is believed that Ashoka erected almost 85,000 stupas and pillars all carved in stone with teachings of Buddhism engraved on them. After two thousand years, we can still see ruins of them in most states of india including Gujrat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Tamilnadu. Some of Asoka's edicts , carved on pillars and rocks, form the earliest known epigraphs in the subcontinent. These pillars are made out of shafts of sandstone and display Buddhist symbols such as the wheel and the lion. These pillars are some of India's earliest major stone sculptures.
The great Stupa at Sanchi is perhaps the finest surviving relic of the Mauryan empire. This great stupa is 54 feet in height and surrounded by exquisitely carved stone railings and four gateways. These elaboratley carved gateways depicts events in life of Buddha and also lifestyle of people of that era. A famous Lion-Capital (four-lion pillar which is shown above) gleams in polished white sandstone realistically represents the artistic achievements of Indian artists and patronage of their masters. This Lion-Capital that Ashoka erected at Sarnath (in modern madhya Pradesh) has become the national emblem of modern republic of India. All the coins and currency notes of modern India have this four-lion symbol on it. The Mauryan Empire is famous for its great achievements in art, culture architecture and literature. The classics of Indian literature, such as the Arthashastra of Kautilya (a treatise for kings about ruling a state) and the famous Kama Sutra by Vatsayan (unfortunately, today it is considered as just the book for art of Love-Making) were written during Mauryan reign.
Some of the Coins during The Mauryan Period
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