Maurya Empire

8 CH

India's first unifier, Buddhism's patron

Maurya Empire322 BCE – 185 BCE

The Conqueror

Chandragupta seizes the throne, defeats the Greeks, and builds India's first great empire

~322–298 BCE

Kautilya's ruthless treatise on statecraft — India's answer to Machiavelli, written 1,800 years earlier

Thematic

Bindusara expands south, patronizes the Ajivikas, and produces a succession crisis

~298–272 BCE

the Kalinga War — 100,000 dead, and the carnage that changed everything

~272–260 BCE

the first ruler in history to carve his regrets into stone — dhamma as imperial policy

~260–240 BCE

the Third Council, missionaries to Sri Lanka, and the launch of a world religion

~250–232 BCE

lion capitals, the Ashoka Chakra, and how a 3rd-century emperor became a modern nation's symbol

Thematic

the Arthashastra vs. the Rock Edicts — two visions of power, neither sufficient alone

~232–185 BCE