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Classical India:
The Mauryan and Gupta Dynasties
600 B.C.E.-600 C.E
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This packet includes information on the following topics:
 The Mauryan and Gupta Dynasties (321 BCE-550 CE)
Chandragupta Maurya and the Mauryan Dynasty 321-185:
 During the late 320s B.C.E. an ambitious adventurer named
Chandragupta Maurya centralized and unified the
government of most of the Indian subcontinent. By 432 B.C.E.
he had overthrown the ruling dynasty and consolidated his
hold on the kingdom.
o Supposedly he abdicated the throne, became a
monk and an ascetic and starved himself to death.
Political:
 An advisor named Kautalya devised procedures for governing Chandragupta’s
realm. His advice survives in the Arthashastra handbook, a manual offering
detailed instructions on the uses of power and the principles of government.
o He advised Chandragupta to make use of spies. His advice oversees
trade, tax collecting, agriculture etc.
o The together built a bureaucratic administrative system that
ensured governance throughout the state.
 Ashoka: Chandragupta’s grandson. The high point of the Mauryan Empire.
Ashoka was a conqueror. When he came to power, the only major region that
remained independent of the Mauryan empire as the kingdom of Kalinga. As
emperor he sought to conquer Kalinga and bring it under Mauryan control. It
was a bloody campaign in 260 B.C.E. About100,000 Kalingans died and 150,000
were driven from their home.
o Ashoka ruled through a tightly ruled bureaucracy.
o He communicated his policies by inscribing edicts in natural stone
formations or on pillars that he ordered erected. They are known as
the rock and pillar edicts (pictured on cover).
o He converted to Buddhism after seeing the devastation in Kalinga.
 Buddhism did not gain much ground in India.
 Financial difficulties led to the end of the dynasty.
Gupta: 320-550 CE
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Smaller than Mauryan
Arose 500 years after the fall of the Mauryan
Empire.
Before the Gupta Empire, what remained of the
Mauryan Empire was lots of small independent
states under the rule of kings
Organization was considerably different
Samudra Gupta and Chandra Gupta II conquered
many of the regional kingdoms of India, and they
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established tributary alliances with others that elected not to fight.
The Gupta dynasty brought stability and prosperity to the subcontinent.
Ashoka had insisted on knowing the details of regional affairs which he closely
monitored from his court. The Guptas left local government and administration,
and even the making of basic policy, in the hands of their allies in the various
regions of their empire.
Declined after invasion by nomadic people from central Asia
Large regional kingdoms dominated political life in India during the millennium
between the Gupta and the Mughal dynasties
Culture:
 Great achievements in math
 Indian numerals included “0”Indian math calculated the value of pi and the
length of the solar year.
 Gender:
o Women were largely subordinate to men. Women were portrayed as
weak willed in literature and exalted wives who devoted themselves
to their husbands.
o By the Gupta Dynasty, child marriage was common. 8 and 9 year old
girls were betrothed to much older men.
o Women’s work was in the home.
 Social Order:
o Aryans recognized four main castes or classes of people: Brahmins
(priests), kshatriyas (warrior and aristocrats), vaishyas (peasants
and merchants), shudras (serfs).
 Religion:
o Ancient Indian religion revolved around ritual sacrifices offered by
Brahmin priests in hopes that the gods would reward their loyal
human servants with large harvests and abundant herds.
 Jainism: believe that everything in the universe-humans, animals,
plants, the air, bodies of wa ter, and inanimate physical objects
like rocks—possessed a soul. As long as they
rmained trapped in terrestrial bodies, these sous
experiencd both physical and psychological
suffering. Only by purification from selfish
behavior could souls gain release from their
imprisonment.
 Demands rigorous asceticism
 Buddhism: Siddhartha Gautama (pictured)
born in 563 bce was the founder. He left his
family in 534 bce to lead the life of a holy man.
He wandered searching for spiritual
enlightenment and an explanation for suffering.
He meditated for 49 straight days under a bo
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tree where he received enlightenment: he understood both the
problem of suffering and the means by which humans could
eliminate it from the world. At this point, Guattama became the
Buddha—the enlightened one (more on Buddhism in its own
packet).
 Jains and Buddhists did not recognize social distinctions
based on caste. Appealed to members of lower castes.
 Hinduism: Drew inspiration from the Vedas and Upanishads,
popular Hinduism increasingly departed from the older traditions
of the Brahmins.
 Hinduism displaced Buddhism as the most popular religion
in India. Hinduism attracted political support and
patronage, particularly from the Gupta emperors. The
Guptas and their successors helped Hinduism become the
dominant religion and cultural tradition in India. It would
almost completely dominate the subcontinent until it was
challenged by Islam.
Although an imperial state did not bec ome a permanent feature of Indian
political life, the peoples of the subcontinent maintained an orderly society
based on the caste system and regional states.
Economy:
 Agricultural surpluses encouraged the emergence of towns, the growth of trade,
and further development of the caste system.
 Flourishing towns maintained marketplace and encouraged the development of
trade.
 From India, long distance trade passed in two directions – west to the
Mediterranean basin, and across the silk roads of central Asia to markets in
China.
 Cotton, aromatics, black pepper, pearls, and gems were the principal Indian
exports, in exchange for which Indian merchants imported horses and bullion
from western lands and silk from China.
 During the Mauryan Dynasty, an increase in trade
in the Indian Ocean occurred.
 Seaborne trade benefited especially from the
rhythms of the monsoon winds. AS early as the
fifth century BCE, Indian merchants had traveled
to the islands of Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
 A robust agricultural economy supported the
creation of large-scale states and interregional
trade.
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SOCIAL
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENTAL
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Vocabulary
Chandragupta
Maurya
Mauryan
Dynasty
Gupta Dynasty
Kautalya
Arthashastra
Ashoka
Kalinga
Pillar Edicts
Brahmins
kshatriyas
vaishyas
shudras
Jainism
Definition
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Buddhism
Hinduism
Siddhartha
Gautama