Later Mauryan Kings and the Decline of the Empire

1.1 Who ruled after Ashoka?

Ashoka died around 232 BCE. The Mauryan Empire then lasted less than fifty years. Its later kings left few records, so their reigns are hard to piece together.

1.2 What happened to his sons?

Ashoka had several sons. Only one is named in his own inscriptions. He is Tivala, son of the second queen, the Kaluvaki. The Queen’s Edict calls her “the mother of Tivala”. Tivala does not seem to have become emperor.

Other sons come from later Buddhist books. These say Mahinda became a monk and Kunala was blinded. Smith called the Kunala story “mere folk-lore”. Even Mahinda’s link to Ashoka is uncertain. Some scholars think he was a brother.

1.3 Who were the later kings?

The Puranas are old Hindu histories. They list the later Mauryas, but the lists disagree on names, order and number. Dasharatha is called Ashoka’s grandson. Samprati is called Kunala’s son in Jain and Buddhist books. The Matsya and Vayu Puranas make him Dasharatha’s son instead.

So Dasharatha is called Ashoka’s grandson. Samprati counts as a grandson only in the Jain and Buddhist line. The Puranas make him Dasharatha’s son. Smith called the brothers idea little more than a guess.

2.1 What did Dasharatha build?

Dasharatha gave three caves at Nagarjuni to the Ajivika monks. The Ajivikas were an ascetic sect. His inscription says the Vahiyaka cave was given “to the venerable Ajivikas as a dwelling-place, for as long as sun and moon endure”.

He used the title Devanampiya, as Ashoka had. The Nagarjuni caves sit in a hill group beside the four Barabar caves. Ashoka also gave caves to the Ajivikas, so this gift continued an older habit.

2.2 What is Mauryan polish?

Mauryan polish is a mirror-like finish on hard stone. Smith describes cave interiors “polishing the interiors like a mirror”. The name Mauryan polish is modern. The cave shows that fine stonework went on after Ashoka, even as the empire weakened.

2.3 What do Jain books say about Samprati?

Jain writers praise Samprati as highly as Buddhists praise Ashoka. One Jain text says he built viharas, or monasteries, for monks even in non-Aryan lands. Jain books place him at Pataliputra and Ujjayini.

All of this is Jain tradition. No inscription of Samprati has been found in this article’s sources. Treat his Jain link as tradition, not proof.

3.1 Was it only weak kings?

No single reason explains the fall. Raychaudhuri thinks the empire was already weak long before the end. He calls it “a shrivelled and attenuated carcase” before Pushyamitra’s coup. That is one historian’s view, not a settled fact.

3.2 What went wrong in the provinces?

The city of Taxila revolted twice. In the tradition, its people said they did not oppose the prince, but “these wicked ministers insult us”. Ashoka also warned his officers at Tosali against unjust imprisonment. Raychaudhuri links these signs to rule by oppressive officials.

3.3 Which lands broke away?

Later books say Jalauka made himself independent in Kashmir. They say Virasena took Gandhara. Kalidasa’s play also shows Vidarbha, in the Deccan, splitting off. These are traditions and have no firm dates.

One date is firm. Around 206 BCE the Greek writer Polybius says Antiochos the Great renewed friendship with “Sophagasenus, the king of the Indians”. So the north-west already had its own ruler before the final coup.

3.4 Did Greek invasions end the empire?

Raychaudhuri says no. The first Greek invasion after Ashoka came around 206 BCE. The break-up had begun long before that.

4.1 What did Shastri argue?

Haraprasad Shastri said Ashoka’s pro-Buddhist rule angered the Brahmans. He pointed to the Dhamma officers, called Dharma-mahamatras. He read “equality in lawsuits” as an attack on caste privilege. He wrote that “we clearly see the hands of the Brahmanas in the great revolution”.

4.2 Who disagrees, and why?

Raychaudhuri disagrees. He finds “no evidence of any such conflict between the children of Asoka and the Brahmanas”. He adds that the Buddhist remains at Bharhut, built under the Sungas, do not fit a fierce Brahman reaction.

Ashoka’s own Rock Edict XII asks all sects to respect each other. It calls concord “meritorious”. Also, Pushyamitra was himself a Maurya officer before the coup.

All three are modern theories. None is an agreed cause.

5.1 How did the last king die?

Bana’s Harshacharita is a Sanskrit life of King Harsha. It says the general Pushyamitra killed his master Brihadratha. He did it after showing off his whole army on the pretext of displaying his power. Bana calls him a “base-born general”.

The Puranas say Pushyamitra, the commander-in-chief, uprooted Brihadratha and ruled for 36 years. They then say the kingdom passed to the Sungas.

5.2 When did it happen?

The usual date is about 185 BCE. Raychaudhuri uses c. 187 BCE. Bana gives no year, so the date is a modern calculation. The Puranas say ten Mauryas ruled in all for 137 years.

6.1 What is the single-cause trap?

Some questions present one cause as the settled reason for the fall. The cause may be weak successors, a money shortage or a Brahmanical backlash. Historians debate all of these. A cause that has a named critic is a debated cause.

No source in this article proves that Ashoka’s grants to monks emptied the treasury. Treat that claim with care.

6.2 What is the grandsons trap?

A second trap mixes up Dasharatha and Samprati. The safe line is simple. Both are later kings. Tradition calls Dasharatha a grandson of Ashoka. Samprati is Kunala’s son in Jain and Buddhist books, but the Puranas make him Dasharatha’s son.

Also remember the word “mere tradition”. Kunala’s blinding, Mahinda’s monkhood and Samprati’s Jain work all come from later books, not from Mauryan inscriptions.