Section IV: Ancient Indian Dynasties (Pages 65-69) This section is about: The rise and fall of Chandragupta and his Mauryan Empire. The Gupta Empire. The great advances in arts and sciences at this time. G

Two of the best known of the ancient Indian cultures are the Mauryan and the Gupta Empires. The first great empire of India was formed by Chandragupta Maurya. He took control and united many kingdoms in the Indus River valley about 321 B.C. G

The Mauryan empire worked well because it was a bureaucracy. Appointed officials were in charge of different responsibilities (building roads, running towns, collecting taxes). There were even spies keeping track that everything was done correctly. Chandragupta had a huge army: 700,000 men, 9,000 elephants, and 10,000 chariots. He also improved business and trade for the empire Built canals, created jobs, built roads to link everything, and traded everywhere they knew of. (a government system of departments – run by appointed officials) G

Chandragupta’s grandson (Asoka)… …was the most admired of the empires rulers. After losing more than 100,000 men in a battle, Asoka changed his mind about violence and became a Buddhist. He won the support of India’s people through kindness and now saw himself as the protector of his people. He tried to lead his people by example (and not by force). He began placing edicts (orders) around places people would gather- promoting goodness, compassion, truthfulness, purity, tolerance, and gentleness. 1 2 G

Mauryan society was greatly improved by Asoka’s changes. He… Dug wells along major roads for travelers. Grew herbs and provided medical care. Prohibited the slaughter of animals for food (Buddhism). Tried to get “ministers” to help him make a more caring, tolerant society -even among different castes. Promoted religious tolerance. Gave assistance to the elderly. Personally donated large sums of money. All this helped spread Buddhism to other parts of Asia 3 4 G

The empire failed when it couldn’t unite the entire sub-continent into one group. Fifty years after Asoka died, the empire was pretty much gone. We’re not sure why, but… May have been too spread out to be united The economy may have weakened. Agriculture may not have been able to keep up with the population. But… about 500 years later, a new empire would rise up in India G

The Gupta Empire (about 320 A.D.) Was not as large as the Mauryan Empire. Because it had good military leaders, no one bothered them for about 300 years. Because it was peaceful, the people could concentrate more on developing art, music, writing, literature, and architecture. 5 G

The empire was set up different than the Mauryan Empire Divided into territories – each governed by a member of the royal family, The people in these individual territories worked together pretty well – they all had mostly common interests. Chandragupta I and his son Chandragupta II (not related to the Mauryan ruler) helped build up the Gupta empire. The empire lasted until about 650 A.D. (when the Huns invaded from the north). There were many kingdoms at that time who wanted to control India 6 G

Gupta Art and Architecture: 7 Art, architecture, math, and science were huge in the Gupta Empire. They also supported both Buddhism and Hinduism. Mural paintings and sculpture from the time show details of how the people lived. They also built magnificent stone temples – usually simple buildings with heavy walls that had an image of a deity (god). Some also had elaborate carvings that told the story of the Buddha. G

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Literature G The Gupta wrote in “Sanskrit” – their official language. India’s greatest Sanskrit poet was Kalidasa: who wrote: “The Cloud Messenger” about a man who misses his wife and shares his sadness with a passing cloud. There was another set of stories called the Panchatantra – a collection of animal fables G

Science, medicine, and education also flourished in the Gupta Empire 9 They even had centers of learning – or universities – probably the first of their kind in the world. Students were taught medicine, physics, languages, mathematics, and literature. In mathematics, they came up with the idea of using a number system with a decimal point and a zero. Aryabhata also probably came up with the ideas for Algebra and a decimal system that counted in tens. They also studied astronomy and knew the earth had a round shape and rotated on an axis. G

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