BPSC 70th CCE Re-exam Prelims General Studies · Question 37 of 142

Correct — B, Chandragupta Maurya. Chandragupta founded the Mauryan empire in about 321 BCE by overthrowing Dhana Nanda, the last ruler of the Nanda dynasty of Magadha, and taking Pataliputra — the city that is now Patna and that would remain the imperial capital for a century and a half. His guide in the enterprise was the brahmana Chanakya, also called Kautilya or Vishnugupta, the presumed author of the Arthashastra. Having taken Magadha, Chandragupta turned west into the power vacuum Alexander's departure had left in the Punjab and Sindh, and then met Seleucus Nicator, Alexander's successor in the east, in about 305 BCE; the settlement gave Chandragupta the satrapies of Arachosia, Gedrosia and Paropamisadae — broadly eastern Afghanistan and Baluchistan — in exchange for five hundred war elephants, and sent Megasthenes to Pataliputra as Seleucid ambassador. Megasthenes's account, the Indika, survives only in quotation but is the fullest foreign description of Mauryan India that exists. Jain tradition holds that Chandragupta abdicated in favour of his son and went south with the Jain teacher Bhadrabahu to Shravanabelagola in Karnataka, where he died by the ritual fast of sallekhana. The three other names on this page are all genuinely Mauryan, which is what makes the question a test of sequence rather than of recognition: Bindusara was Chandragupta's son and successor, Ashoka his grandson, and Brihadratha the last of the line. The empire at its height under Ashoka covered almost the whole subcontinent apart from the far south, and it is the first Indian state to have done so.

• (a)Ashoka — The most famous Mauryan, and therefore the reflex answer — but he was the third ruler of the line, Chandragupta's grandson, who came to the throne around 268 BCE and inherited an empire already built. What Ashoka added was the Kalinga war of about 261 BCE and the dhamma policy that followed it, together with the pillars and rock edicts by which the dynasty is now known.
• (c)Brihadratha — The trap at the opposite end of the dynasty, and the option that catches a candidate who recognises the name without placing it. Brihadratha was the LAST Mauryan ruler, assassinated in about 185 BCE by his own commander-in-chief Pushyamitra Shunga, who then founded the Shunga dynasty. First and last are exactly the two positions a question like this plays with.
• (d)Bindusara — The second ruler, Chandragupta's son, who reigned for roughly a quarter of a century from about 297 BCE and was known to Greek writers as Amitrochates. He extended Mauryan control southwards and maintained the diplomatic contact with the Hellenistic world that his father had opened, but he inherited the empire rather than founding it.

The Mauryan empire is the first pan-Indian state and the reference point for everything that follows in ancient Indian political history. Its heartland was Magadha in south Bihar, whose rise had been under way for two centuries through the Haryanka, Shishunaga and Nanda dynasties before Chandragupta took it — Magadha's advantages being iron ore in the surrounding hills, elephants from its forests, fertile alluvium and control of Ganga river traffic. Our knowledge of the empire comes from an unusually varied set of sources: Kautilya's Arthashastra on statecraft and administration, the fragments of Megasthenes's Indika, Ashoka's own inscriptions, the Buddhist Divyavadana and Sri Lankan chronicles, the Jain tradition on Chandragupta's last years, and archaeology at Kumhrar in Patna, where the pillared hall of the Mauryan palace was excavated. The state it describes was highly centralised, with provinces under royal princes, a network of officials and spies, state monopolies in mining and liquor, and a standing army.

Dynastic-founder questions are answered by holding the FIRST and the LAST ruler of each line, because those are the two slots examiners fill. For the Mauryas: Chandragupta first, Brihadratha last, with Bindusara and Ashoka in between. For the Shungas: Pushyamitra first, Devabhuti last. For the Kanvas: Vasudeva first. Learn them as a chain and the succession questions answer themselves — the Nandas were overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya, the last Maurya was killed by Pushyamitra Shunga, the last Shunga by Vasudeva Kanva, and the Kanvas were displaced by the Satavahanas. The Bihar dimension is worth carrying for a BPSC paper specifically: every one of those transitions happened at Pataliputra, the empire's capital was in Bihar throughout, and the archaeological remains at Kumhrar are within Patna city. When a State commission asks about the Mauryas, it is asking about local history.

• Chandragupta Maurya founded the empire in about 321 BCE by overthrowing Dhana Nanda of Magadha, with the counsel of Chanakya, also called Kautilya, the presumed author of the Arthashastra.
• About 305 BCE he defeated Seleucus Nicator; the settlement gave him Arachosia, Gedrosia and Paropamisadae in exchange for five hundred war elephants, and brought Megasthenes to Pataliputra as ambassador.
• Jain tradition records that Chandragupta abdicated, went south with Bhadrabahu to Shravanabelagola in Karnataka, and died there by the ritual fast of sallekhana.
• The succession runs Chandragupta, Bindusara (from about 297 BCE, known to Greek writers as Amitrochates), Ashoka (from about 268 BCE), and finally Brihadratha, assassinated about 185 BCE by his commander-in-chief Pushyamitra Shunga.
• The capital throughout was Pataliputra, present-day Patna, where the pillared hall of the Mauryan palace has been excavated at Kumhrar.

• Answering Ashoka because he is the best-known Mauryan. He was the third ruler and inherited the empire.
• Not recognising Brihadratha's position. He is the LAST Mauryan, killed by Pushyamitra Shunga about 185 BCE — the standard first-versus-last trap.
• Confusing Chandragupta Maurya with Chandragupta I or Chandragupta II of the Gupta dynasty, six centuries later.

BPSC treats Mauryan history as home ground because its capital was in Bihar, and asks it plainly — who founded the dynasty, which dynasty preceded it, which city was its capital — often with all four options drawn from the same dynasty so that only the sequence separates them. UPSC assumes the founder and asks about the succession chain, the sources, or the administrative detail, as in its statement question on how each of the Maurya, Shunga and Kanva lines came to an end.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which dynasty did Chandragupta Maurya overthrow to establish the Mauryan empire ?

  • (a)Haryanka
  • (b)Shishunaga
  • (c)Nanda
  • (d)Shunga

  Answer(c) Nanda — he defeated Dhana Nanda at Pataliputra in about 321 BCE with Chanakya's help. The Shungas came after the Mauryas, not before them.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Greek ambassador Megasthenes was sent to the court of

  • (a)Ashoka
  • (b)Bindusara
  • (c)Chandragupta Maurya
  • (d)Harshavardhana

  Answer(c) Chandragupta Maurya — sent by Seleucus Nicator to Pataliputra after their settlement of about 305 BCE. His account, the Indika, survives only in quotations by later Greek writers.