The Mauryan Empire: Chandragupta Maurya

1.1 When did Chandragupta rule?

NCERT puts his accession at about 321 BCE. It dates Asoka’s reign to about 272/268-231 BCE and the end of the empire to about 185 BCE.

Dates for his reign differ between books. Encyclopedia.com gives c. 317-293 BCE. Treat every date here as approximate.

1.2 How far did his empire reach?

He extended control as far northwest as Afghanistan and Baluchistan. The Junagadh inscription adds Gujarat. It names Pushyagupta as a provincial governor of Chandragupta.

Kalinga was not his. His grandson Asoka conquered Kalinga, present-day coastal Orissa.

1.3 Where was his capital?

Pataliputra, present-day Patna. The capital of Magadha was shifted there. The site commanded routes of communication along the Ganga.

Greek writers call the city Palibothra. Pliny says its people, the Prasii, were more famous and powerful than any other nation in the region.

1.4 Who ruled Magadha before him?

Bimbisara, Ajatasattu and Mahapadma Nanda are the best-known ambitious kings of early Magadha. Mahapadma Nanda belongs to the Nanda line that came before the Mauryas (our own reading of the order).

Plutarch records a remark attributed to Chandragupta, whom he calls Androcottus. Alexander narrowly missed mastering the country, because its king was hated and despised for his baseness and low birth. Plutarch does not name that king.

1.5 Why do we know so little about him?

No account written in his own time survives whole. NCERT lists archaeology, the fragments of Megasthenes, the Arthashastra, and later Buddhist, Jaina and Puranic texts.

• Why it matters: most colourful stories about him come from later texts.
• Example: the Jain story in card 6 is late and disputed.
• Misconception: a famous story is not the same as a well-sourced fact.

2.1 What did each side get?

Strabo says Seleucus Nicator gave Sandrocottus some of the countries along the Indus, on a marriage contract. In return he received five hundred elephants.

Those countries had once belonged to the Persians. Alexander had taken them from the Ariani.

2.2 How far did the ceded land reach?

Strabo’s line does not say. It names the countries only as lands along the Indus. Any map of the transfer is therefore a modern estimate.

2.3 What was the marriage term?

Strabo uses the words marriage contract. The pages we checked name no bride and no groom. Our own reading: that silence is why the term is hard to pin down.

2.4 What does Plutarch add?

Plutarch says Androcottus made Seleucus a present of five hundred elephants. He adds that Androcottus overran all India with an army of six hundred thousand men.

Pliny gives the Prasii an army of 600,000 foot. Both writers came long after the events. Our own reading: treat the round figure as an impression, not a count.

• Why it matters: two Greek-language writers agree on the elephants.
• Example: Strabo and Plutarch both give the number as five hundred.
• Misconception: a treaty with elephants does not mean Seleucus lost a war on the page.

3.1 Who was Chanakya?

NCERT says the Arthashastra was probably composed in parts by Kautilya or Chanakya. Tradition holds that he was Chandragupta’s minister.

The word parts matters. Our own reading: the book is not a single record of Chandragupta’s reign. Read more in Kautilya’s Arthashastra.

3.2 What was the Indica?

It was the account of Megasthenes, a Greek ambassador at Chandragupta’s court. It survives in fragments. Strabo and Arrian quote it.

3.3 How did Megasthenes sort Indian society?

Strabo says he divided the people into seven groups. The first, and fewest, were the philosophers. Shepherds and hunters were the third group. Inspectors who reported secretly to the king were the sixth.

The seventh group were the king’s advisers and councillors. They held the chief offices, the judgeships and the administration of everything.

Our own reading: seven groups do not match the four varnas of Indian texts. Megasthenes was describing jobs through a Greek lens.

3.4 Did India have slaves?

Megasthenes says no. Arrian repeats it. But Strabo adds that Onesicritus said slavery existed in the country of Musicanus.

• Why it matters: even Greek writers disagreed with each other.
• Example: one writer says no slaves, another says there were some.
• Misconception: an eyewitness is not automatically right.

4.1 What did the capital look like?

Strabo, quoting Megasthenes, says Palibothra was eighty stadia long and fifteen broad. It was a parallelogram with a wooden wall pierced for arrows and a trench in front.

Arrian, quoting Megasthenes, adds a ditch about thirty cubits deep, 570 towers and 64 gates. The translator notes the city is probably Pataliputra.

4.2 How was the city run?

Strabo says the city commissioners worked in six groups of five each. One group looked after handicraftsmen. Another lodged and cared for strangers.

A third recorded births and deaths, for the sake of taxes. A fourth dealt with sales, barter and measures. The sixth collected a tenth part of the price of things sold.

4.3 How was the army run?

A third joint board handled military affairs. It also had six groups of five. One worked with the admiral and one with the ox-teams. The rest took the infantry, horses, chariots and elephants.

4.4 Who ran the countryside?

A separate set of officials kept the rivers improved and the land remeasured. They inspected canals so all had equal use of water, collected taxes, and set pillars along roads every ten stadia.

Strabo adds that the whole country was of royal ownership. Farmers paid rent and a fourth part of the produce. No private person could keep a horse or an elephant.

4.5 How big was the army?

Pliny says the Prasii kept on daily pay 600,000 foot, 30,000 horse and 9,000 elephants. Our own reading: ancient writers often rounded such figures up, so use them as impressions.

• Why it matters: the boards show a state with offices for water, tax, trade and war.
• Example: six boards of five for the city, six boards of five for the army.
• Misconception: these are Megasthenes’ reports. Other evidence must confirm them.

5.1 Why is the Junagadh inscription so important?

It gives evidence from outside Greek and later Indian texts. It says the Sudarsana lake was built by Pushyagupta, a provincial governor of Chandragupta Maurya.

5.2 What else does it record?

Yavanaraja Tushaspha, a governor in Asoka’s reign, added channels. In the winter of Saka year 72 (150 CE), a terrible storm broke the lake’s banks. The minister Suvisakha carried out the repair for Rudradaman.

Rudradaman claimed to have paid for the repair himself, without taxing his subjects. A Gupta ruler had it repaired again, about the fifth century.

5.3 What are its script, language and date?

The script is Brahmi. The language is Classical Sanskrit, and the inscription is the first prasasti in that language. It is dated around Saka year 72, which is 150-51 CE.

The same rock also carries Asokan Major Rock edicts and an inscription of Skandagupta.

• Why it matters: it was carved long after Chandragupta, but it names his governor.
• Example: CDS 2026 asked about its script, language and date (see card 7).
• Misconception: it is not an undated Prakrit inscription in Kharosthi.

6.1 What does the tradition say?

Encyclopedia.com records an ancient tradition. It says Chandragupta was a patron of Jainism and became a Jain monk at the end of his life.

In the same tradition a famine struck at the end of his reign. It led many Jain monks to leave the Ganges valley for the Deccan.

6.2 Is it established history?

Treat it as tradition. The entry itself calls it an ancient tradition, not a contemporary record. We found no Greek source in the pages we checked that mentions it (our own reading).

• Why it matters: a long-held tradition is not a dated source.
• Example: the same entry gives his dates as c. 317-293 BCE, which differs from the accession date in card 1.
• Misconception: being widely repeated does not make a story proven.

7.1 What do examiners test here?

They test exact details, not the general topic. Distractors are real offices or facts swapped with a plausible neighbour.

• Offices. Match each office to its true job.
• Inscriptions. Know the script, language and date.
• Sources. Know which source gives which detail.

7.2 What have exams asked?

CDS stands for Combined Defence Services. Each label links to that paper.