The first rulers of Ancient India

During the entire period of before Independence, India was either ruled by kings or else by the Britishers. There will definitely be some questions regarding the ruling of kings like, when? who? how? why?

In ancient India, one animal was treated as both god and weapon, for one king these beasts were the shock troops of an army and is organized as before or since. Riding a juggernaut these soldiers carved out one of the largest empires in history.

“THE MAURYANS”- The warriors of Elephant

In the war for India a great army of soldiers and Elephants has proven unstoppable. But in the year 260BC they faced their worst enemy. no matter what, Victory lies first in reaching the battlefield intact a battle all its own. The outcome will decide the fate of a kingdom.

The Mauryan Empire was a geographically extensive Iron age Historical power based in Magadha, Ancient India. It was founded in 322BCE by its king ChandraGupta Maurya. This empire was the largest to have ever existed in the Indian subcontinent expanding over 5million square kilometers at its zenith under Ashoka- The great

The capital of Mauryan Empire was Pataliputra which is recent times is called as Patna

History of Mauryan Empire

The foundation of Mauryan empire is ruled for 137years, and was a unique incident in Indian history, given the fact that it was founded shortly after the death of Alexander- The great who led many victorious campaigns in North-West India during 327BC- 325BC

The founding of the Dynasty

Was founded by ChandraGupta Maurya with the advice of his counsellor Chanakya by over throwing the Nanda Dynasty and built one of the largest empires ever on the aindian Subcontinent.

Conquest of Magadha: Historians believed that it was Chanakya or popularly known as Kautilya who provoked ChandraGupta to take over Magadha throne.

Apart from all the controversies that it was the Chanakyas doing out of grudge against nanda dynasty, it was Mauryan empire and ChandraGupta Maurya as the main person to create one of the worlds largest empires in the World and in Indian subcontinent.

ChandraGupta Maurya (321-297 BC)

• The classical greek writers described Chandragupta as a man of humble origin
• he was born orphaned and abandoned and is raised as a son by another Pastoral family was recognized and taught by Chanakya- The author of Arthashastra
• ChandraGupta left everything and became a Jain monk
• His reign was well recognized as “Economic prosperity”, reforms and expansion of Infrastructure like irrigation, roads and mines.
• Religions like Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivika gained prominence along with Brahmanism

Bindhusara(297-272BC)

• He was 22years old when his father ChandraGupta Maurya stepped out of the throne.
• He extended the empire which he inherited from his father to South India which is now known as Karnataka
• He maintained friendly relations with the Hellenic west and brought 16new states under Mauryan empire
• He, almost conquered the entire Indian peninsula and is populary known as the king who conquered the Land between 2 seas.
• His reign lasted for 28years and he died in 270BCE.

Ashoka- The great(268-232BC)

• The throne was succeeded by Bindusara son- Ashoka-The great.
• As a young prince Ashoka was a magnificent commander who crushed revolts in Ujjainand Thakshasila and was given charges of the viceroyship of Ujjain.
• He was aggressive and ambitious monarch who re-asserted the empires superiority in southern and western parts of India
• the pivotal event of his life came when he conquered Kalinga in 261BCE and this became a part of Mauryan empire.
• He died in 232BCE. His death divided the empire into western and eastern halves and 50years of succession of weaker kings

Ashoka’s first son- Mahendra went on to spread Buddhism across the world. His other son Kunal Maurya was blind and didn’t get a chance to ascend the throne.

slowly, the mauryans started loosing their territories and in 180BCE, the last kind Brihadratha was killed by his general Pushyamitra shunga in a military parade, which gave rise or birth to Shunga empire.