History of Maurya Dynasty and Names of Rulers:
Maurya Dynasty: The Maurya Dynasty (322 to 185 BCE) was a great dynasty of ancient India. It ruled India for 137 years. The credit for its establishment is given to Chandragupta Maurya and his minister Acharya Chanakya (Kautilya), who defeated Emperor Ghanananda of the Nanda dynasty. Emperor Ashoka is credited with expanding and making the Maurya Empire powerful. According to the Vinayapitaka, he embraced Buddhism after meeting the Buddha, but he had tolerance towards Jainism and Brahmanism.
History of the Maurya Dynasty: The Maurya Empire started from the plains of the Ganges River (today's Bihar and Bengal) in the Magadha kingdom in the east. Its capital was Pataliputra (near today's city of Patna). Chandragupta Maurya established this empire in 322 BC and rapidly developed his empire towards the west. He took advantage of the differences between several small regional states that had arisen after Alexander's invasion. By 316 BCE, the Maurya dynasty had occupied the whole of North-Western India. The Maurya dynasty expanded immensely in the reign of the Chakravarti Emperor Ashoka. Due to Emperor Ashoka, the Maurya Empire became the greatest and most powerful and became famous all over the world.
Decline of the Maurya Empire: After the death of the Maurya emperor, the mighty Maurya Empire, which lasted for almost two centuries (322 to 184 BC), began to disintegrate. The last Mauryan emperor, Brihadratha, was assassinated by his general, Pushyamitra Sunga. This ended the Maurya Empire.
The main reasons for the downfall of the Maurya dynasty:
- Incompetent and weak successor,
- Excessive centralization of administration,
- lack of national consciousness,
- Economic and cultural inequalities,
- The tyranny of the provincial rulers,
- Excess of taxes.
Rulers and Rulers of Maurya Dynasty:
| S.No. | Name of the rulers of Maurya dynasty | Reign period |
| 1 | Chandragupta Maurya | 322 BC to 298 BC |
| 2 | Bindusara Maurya | 298 BC to 272 BC |
| 3 | Ashoka Maurya | 273 BC to 232 BC |
| 4 | Kunal Maurya | 232 BC to 228 AD |
| 5 | Dasharatha Maurya | 232 BC to 224 BC |
| 6 | Present Maurya | 224 BC to 215 BC |
| 7 | Shalisuk Maurya | 215 BC to 202 BC |
| 8 | Devvarman Maurya | 202 BC to 195 BC |
| 9 | Shatadhanvan Maurya | 195 BC to 187 BC |
| 10 | Brihadratha Maurya | 187 BC to 185 BC |
Chandragupta Maurya: Chandragupta Maurya is an important king in the history of ancient India. He founded the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta was successful in bringing the whole of India under one empire. Before Chandragupta assumed the throne, Alexander had invaded the northwestern Indian subcontinent, and in 324 BC his army abandoned further propaganda because of a rebellion that led to the expansion of Indo-Greek and Indian subcontinental regions ruled by local rulers.
The inheritance was directly handled by Chandragupta. Chandragupta, along with his guru Chanakya (also known as Kautilya and Vishnu Gupta, who was also the prime minister of Chandra Gupta), created a new empire, implemented the principles of the Rajya Chakra, built a large army, and The empire's borders continued to expand. The vast empire of Chandragupta Maurya included Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Balochistan, Punjab, the Ganges-Yamuna plain, Bihar, Bengal, Gujarat and the Vindhyas and the territories of Kashmir, but Chandragupta Maurya extended his empire to Iran in the north-west.
From Bengal in the east and Kashmir in the north to northern Karnataka in the south. At the last moment, Chandragupta Maurya went to Shravanabelagola with Jain sage Bhadrabahu. 298 AD East Chandragupta Maurya gave up his body by fasting in Salekhana.
Bindusara Maurya: Bindusara was the son and successor of Chandragupta Maurya, who has been called Madrasara in Vayu Purana and Simhasen in Jain literature. The Greek writers called them Abhilochetes. This is 298 BC. He sat on the throne of Magadha Empire. According to Jain texts, Bindusara's mother was Durdhara. According to the Theravada tradition, he was a follower of Brahmin religion. During Bindusara's time India had good trade relations with West Asia. In the court of Bindusara, King Antiochus of Syria sent an ambassador named Dimaicus.
During the reign of King Ptolemy of Egypt, an ambassador named Dionysius came to Bindusara's Rajya Sabha in the Mauryan court. According to Divyavadana, there were two rebellions in Taxila during the reign of Bindusara, for the first time, Susim sent Ashoka for the second time. Bindusara followed his father in the field of administration. Appointed Kumar as Uparaja in Prati. According to Divyadan, Ashoka was the king of Avanti. In the assembly of Bindusara, there was a council of ministers with 500 members, whose head was Khallataka. Bindusara ruled for 25 years, finally in 272 BC. He died.
Ashoka Maurya: Ashoka took four years to strengthen his internal position after getting the throne. For this reason, the ascension was four years later in 269 BC. Happened in. That 273 AD. East I sat on the throne. In the inscriptions, he has been addressed with the titles Devana Priya and Raja etc. His name is Ashoka in the writings of Maski and Garjara and in the Puranas he is called Ashoka Vardhan. According to Sinhalese legends, Ashoka attained the throne by killing 99 brothers, but no independent evidence has been found for this succession.
The name of Ashoka's mother in Divyadan is Subhadrangi, who was the daughter of a Brahmin of Champa. According to the Shingli legends of Buddhism, Bindusara had 16 wives and 101 children. Out of which the name of the eldest son was Sushim and the name of the youngest son was Tishya. Thus, after Bindusara, the Maurya dynasty's heir was Sushim, but this did not happen because Ashoka killed him for the throne.
Kunal Maurya: When the prince was 7 years old, the emperor wrote a letter to Kunal's teachers in Prakrit language to start Kunal's education. A wife of Ashoka who wanted the throne to go to her son was present there. He read that letter. He secretly put a dot on the letter 'A' in the letter, which changed the word 'Adhiyu' to 'Andhiyu' which meant to blind the prince. Without re-reading the letter, the emperor stamped it and sent it. The Peshkar of Ujjain was so shocked after reading that letter that he could not read it and narrate it to the prince.
Finally, the prince himself read that letter and, knowing that no one in the Maurya Empire had yet violated the head of the household, he blinded himself with hot bars so as not to set a bad example. It is said that Kunal was sent to Taxila to suppress a rebel, in which he also succeeded. But later Tishyaraksha blinded him with deceit. He was the son of Emperor Ashoka and Queen Padmavati.
Dasharatha Maurya: Dasharatha Maurya (232 BC to 224 BC) was the grandson of Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya dynasty, famous in Indian history. It was around 232 BC. Sitting on the throne Like his grandfather Ashoka, he had also got many caves built. Dasharatha Maurya donated some of the cavities of the Nagarjuni hills of Bihar to the living beings. It is evident from the inscriptions inscribed on the walls of these caves that, like Ashoka, Dasaratha was also adorned with the title of 'Devanampriya'. It is difficult to say whether he too was a follower of Buddhism or not.
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History of Maurya Dynasty FAQs:
In the Mauryan period spies were called Amatyas. He was appointed by Emperor Chandragupta Maurya and his successors to collect information, maintain surveillance and ensure the security of the empire.
During the Maurya period, the irrigation tax was known as "Uttara" or "Uttara-Karaj" (meaning special or additional tax). It was an additional tax levied on the lands that benefited from irrigation facilities provided by the state.
Takshashila University was the most famous center of education during the Maurya period. Takshashila University was located in North India and was considered one of the major educational centers of South Asia.
The Sunga dynasty came and ruled the kingdom of Magadha immediately after the Maurya dynasty. The Sunga dynasty ruled from around 185 BCE to 73 BCE and was founded by Pushyamitra Sunga, who overthrew the last Maurya ruler.
During the Maurya dynasty, "Sthanika" was a position or title given to the local administrators or officers who governed specific regions or provinces within the empire.