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Historical Period
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India's first empire, from Chandragupta and Chanakya to Ashoka's turn to the Buddhist dharma.

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Maurya Empire · 321–185 BC
Chandragupta and Ashoka

The Maurya Empire

From Chandragupta's overthrow of the Nandas and the building of India's first great empire, through his pact with Alexander's successor and the vast realm ruled from Pataliputra, to the bloody conquest of Kalinga that turned the emperor Ashoka to the Buddhist dharma and his message of righteousness carved on rock across the land. Slide across the age when the subcontinent was first united, and an emperor renounced war at the height of his power.

321 BC
The Founding
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321 BC

The Founding
  • Political

    Chandragupta founds the empire

    A Mauryan-era rock-cut cave at Barabar
    Via Wikimedia Commons

    Guided by the shrewd Chanakya, Chandragupta Maurya overthrows the Nandas and founds India's first empire.

7 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 321 BC

Full Chronicle

The Maurya Empire

From Chandragupta's overthrow of the Nandas and the building of India's first great empire, through his pact with Alexander's successor and the vast realm ruled from Pataliputra, to the bloody conquest of Kalinga that turned the emperor Ashoka to the Buddhist dharma and his message of righteousness carved on rock across the land. Slide across the age when the subcontinent was first united, and an emperor renounced war at the height of his power.

  1. The Founding

    • Chandragupta founds the empire

      Guided by the shrewd Chanakya, Chandragupta Maurya overthrows the Nandas and founds India's first empire.

  2. The Founding

    • Peace with Seleucus

      Chandragupta defeats Seleucus, Alexander's successor, gaining vast lands and 500 war-elephants in the peace.

  3. Ashoka the Great

    • Ashoka takes the throne

      Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka inherits and extends the empire to nearly the whole subcontinent.

  4. Ashoka the Great

    • The war in Kalinga

      Ashoka's brutal conquest of Kalinga, with its vast slaughter, fills him with remorse and changes his life.

  5. The Dharma

    • Ashoka's edicts of righteousness

      Ashoka has his message of dharma — tolerance, non-violence and welfare — carved on rocks and pillars across the empire.

  6. The Dharma

    • Buddhism goes abroad

      Ashoka sends Buddhist missionaries as far as Sri Lanka and the Greek kingdoms, spreading the faith beyond India.

  7. The Fall

    • The fall of the Mauryas

      Half a century after Ashoka, the last Maurya is overthrown and the great empire dissolves.