9/22/2021 Early States: Rise of Magadha and Mauryas, the Mauryan State- FlexiPrep
FlexiPrep Early States: Rise of Magadha and Mauryas, the Mauryan State (For CBSE, ICSE, IAS, NET, NRA 2022)
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Rise of Magadha and Mauryas Among the monarchical states, Magadha emerged as an important power. They faced constant fights from Lichchhavi. Ajatasatru made confederacy with Vajji against Lichchhavi. Later Lichchhavi became part of Magadhan empire.
Lichchhavi controlled northern trade route called uttarapatha, while the southern route called dakshinapatha was controlled by Magadha. The conquest helped Magadha to manage the economic resources.
The Mauryan empire is said to have originated from the kingdom of Magadha in 322 BC. Pataliputra as its capital. Chandragupta Maurya founded the empire by overthrowing the last Nanda ruler Mahapadma Nanda.
Bindusara and Asoka were among the famous ruler. The Kalinga conquest of Asoka made him control the majority of the Indian subcontinent. Kingdoms like Pandya՚s and Chera՚s accepted the supremacy of Mauryas under Asoka.
The Mauryan State Major sources:
Arthashasthra of Kautilya, Northern Black polished ware, Edicts of Ashoka.
The empire was divided into major ecological zones: Core, Metropolis and Periphery. There was no uniform method of administration in the whole Mauryan empire.
Core and Metropolis: directly under the state.
Peripheries: given more autonomy.
The administrative network consisted of an upper bureaucracy recruited from the upper castes. There was no central method of recruitment.
During the period of Asoka, Empire was organized into five parts. Magadha and adjacent parts were under the direct administration.
The Mauryan Bureaucracy Empire was divided into four provinces:
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Head of the province were Kumara (royal prince) .
The kumara was assisted by matamatas and council of ministers.
Central government was under Emperor and his Mantri parishads.
Irrigation system: Irrigation was considerably decentralized. Elaborate reservoir system was established with local effort.
Trade became an important activity to extract revenue.
There was no standard coin. They used punch-marked coins.
Sale of goods at the place of production was not permitted.
State had monopoly trade of weapons, armour, metals, and gems.
Commodity production was an independent enterprise geared to a market.
Kautilya mentioned about the organisation of the empire with an extensive bureaucracy in the Arthashasthra. Megatheres gave reference to the standing army, vast espionage system across the subcontinent.
Post Mauryan State
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Expansion of the Gupta State Gupta period was marked as the Golden period in the Indian history. Also called as imperial age.
The administration was centralized.
Theory of divinity was given much importance.
Along with conquest, they entered into matrimonial alliance with smaller kingdoms.
Unlike the Mauryas, they did not consolidate every kingdom into a single administrative unit.
The third king, Chandra Gupta I (Chandragupta I) , took the title of maharaja dhiraja. He married a Lichchhavi princess. And this event celebrated in a series of gold coins.
The Gupta era began in 320 BC.
Samudragupta, who was mentioned in the Allahabad inscription, succeeded Chandragupta. Major territories that Samudragupta conquered were rulers of Aryavarta, various forest chiefs, the northern oligarchies, and border States. These states were regarded as subordinate to Samudragupta. These comprised the “king of kings” of the 3 of 4 9/22/2021 Early States: Rise of Magadha and Mauryas, the Mauryan State- FlexiPrep
northwest, the Sakas, the Murundas, and the inhabitants of “all the islands” , including Sinhala (Sri Lanka) , all of which are listed in the inscription at Allahabad.
His son Chandragupta II succeeded Samudra Gupta. Chandragupta II՚s major campaign was against the Saka rulers of Ujjain, the success of which was celebrated in a series of silver coins. He took the title of Vikram Aditya. Fa-Hsien was his contemporary.
Nature of the Gupta State Gupta rulers adopted the title of Maharaja Dhiraj, Param raja dhiraja, Raja dhiraja shri, Rajaraja dhiraja.
The adopted hereditary succession of rulers.
The conquered territories were sometimes allowed to rule independently and were regarded as feudatories. These feudatories paid tribute to the ruler.
Guptas gave land grants and grants to villages. These grants carried administrative rights, which led to the decentralization of the state. The right of subinfeudation (ownership) was given to the grant receiver.
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