The Maurya Kingdom was a South Asian Iron Age historical empire centred on Magadha, founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE and lasting until 185 BCE. After Ashoka's death in 232 BC, the Mauryan Empire began to crumble. Brihadratha, the final king, was slain by his Brahmin general Pushyamitra Shunga in 185 BC -183 BC. After the death of Ashoka/Asoka, the Maurya Dynasty fell apart quickly. The succession of weak kings was one clear cause. This article will explain to you the Decline of Mauryan which will be helpful in Ancient History preparation for the UPSC Civil Service Exam.

Decline of Mauryan Empire

• The Mauryan Empire fell apart in five eras after King Ashoka's death. Historians have offered a variety of explanations for the fall of a once-mighty kingdom.
• The Mauryan Empire spanned Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east at its peak.
• It encompasses practically the entire Indian subcontinent, with the exception of modern-day Tamil and Kerala, as well as Sri Lanka.
• After Ashoka's death, a few years later.
• The empire began to deteriorate. Some of these factors, such as weak successors, the empire's size, provincial independence, foreign invasion, and internal insurrection, appear to be almost as prevalent.
• These factors contributed to the collapse of the Maurya Empire.

Mauryan Dynasty 322 BCE-185 BCE

Decline of Mauryan Empire - Causes

Weak Successors of Asoka

• The first three Maurya Emperors were all extraordinary individuals. They were outstanding as heroes, conquerors, and administrators.
• However, heredity in succession does not ensure character capacity for all time or all successors.
• Asoka's sons and grandsons failed to live up to the Great Mauryas' expectations.
• The fact that the Puranic and other literary sources do not agree on the order of succession or the names of Asoka's successors demonstrates the later Mauryas' weakness.
• If Asoka's other son Jalauka reigned over Kashmir, as the Kashmir Chronicle claims, no single son of Asoka was capable of governing over the whole Maurya Empire.
• This demonstrates the later Mauryas' fragility.
• Except for conflicting stories of their existence, little is known about Asoka's grandchildren.
• Several Maurya princes' names have been referenced in various literary sources.
• Dasaratha was one of these rulers, and he left three inscriptions on the Nagarjuni hills near Gaya, inscribing his gift to the Ajivika monks of three rock-cut caves.
• Without a strong king to keep the empire together following Asoka's death, it is clear that it crumbled quickly.

Vastness of the Empire

• The Maurya Empire was far too large in size.
• It comprised territory beyond of India's natural borders, as well as the outermost reaches of the Indian subcontinent.
• Because of the absence of communication, this expansion became a source of weakness rather than strength.
• The empire could not remain a tightly connected political unit for much longer due to the vast distances.
• Chandragupta and Asoka have left behind a complex administrative system. The entire mechanism, however, was controlled by the centre.
• The government's highly centralised nature suffered from a serious flaw. All significant policies were dependent on the king.
• Because the king was the hub of the system, the administration's success hinged on his personality.
• The centre was powerful if the monarch was strong. If he was weak, so was the centre.
• When the centre grew weak, so did the governance of the remote provinces.
• This is exactly what happened in the days of the later Mauryas. The huge empire could hardly be governed by a weak centre led by a weak monarch.
• As a result, the Maurya government fell apart, and the empire crumbled.

Independence of the Provinces

• Though the Maurya administration had been powerful enough since Chandragupta's time to handle the remote provinces connected to a centralised system, regional administrations needed to have adequate strength as well.
• When the centre's power waned and its authority weakened, the provinces grew more self-reliant.
• The different Maurya provinces clearly split apart from the centre immediately after Asoka's death.
• The monarch's personality, as much as his magnificence, was the fundamental unifying force for imperial unity.
• Because no single son of Asoka was capable of managing the unified empire, their fragmented reign was the first indicator of dissolution.
• After his father's death, Asoka's son, Jalauka, governed Kashmir as an independent monarch, according to Kalhana, the author of the classic Kashmir Chronicle Rajatarangini.
• He also captured various additional places for his dominion, such as Kannauj.
• This depicts how the empire's far-flung regions developed into sovereign kingdoms.

Foreign Invasion

• The Greeks had access to India's northwestern boundary from the time of Alexander's invasion.
• Chandragupta Maurya expelled the Greeks off Indian land and established his power outside the Indian borders by conquering Seleukos Nikator.
• The Greek powers had no fear of Bindusara and Asoka's authority because they were afraid of the Maurya army.
• However, following Asoka's death, as the Mauryan Empire began to collapse and dissolve, the Greeks turned their hungry gaze back to India.
• The futile attempts of King Antiochus the Great to capture the Indian kingdoms are mentioned by the Greek historian Polybius.
• He'd made it through the Hindu Kush and into Indian territory.

Neglect of the north-west frontier

• Shih Huang Ti (247-210 BCE), the Chinese monarch, built the Great Wall of China around 220 BCE to safeguard his realm against the Scythians, a nomadic central Asian tribe in perpetual change.
• On India's northern boundary, Emperor Ashoka took no such safeguards.
• To flee the Scythians, the Parthians, Shakas, and Greeks were compelled to travel to India.
• The Greeks were the first to enter India in 206 BCE, establishing their state of Bactria in north Afghanistan.
• This was followed by a series of invasions until the Christian period began.

Policies of Ashoka

• Some scholars suggested that Ashoka's nonviolence and pacifist programmes were designed to undermine the empire.
• Foreign countries have been inclined to attack the country again since the gap in conducting wars.
• Similarly, he contributed a great deal of importance and effort to the spread of Buddhism.

Partition of the Empire

• The Mauryan Empire was split into two pieces after the Ashoka Empire fell apart. The empire as a whole suffered as a result of this.
• After Ashoka's death, his son Jalauka reigned over Kashmir as an independent monarch, according to Kalhana, author of the work Rajatarangini, which is a history of Kashmir.
• Attacks came from the northwest as a result of this potion.

Internal Revolt

• When the Maurya reign was failing and the empire was splitting up within a half-century of Asoka's death, an internal insurrection dealt the empire a death blow.
• When the Maurya King Brihadratha ruled in Magadha in around 185 or 186 B.C., the leader of the Maurya army, General Pushyamitra, staged a mutiny.
• "Pushpamitra (Pushyamitra) the Senapati would control the kingdom by assassinating his own master," the Puranas predict.
• According to Bana, the legendary author of Harsha-Charita, Pushyamitra staged an army parade to which he invited the King to observe, and so provided an opportunity to assassinate him on the spot with the army's assistance.

Conclusion

The first great Indian empire, which provided a wonderful epoch for the country, has perished forever. The Mauryan Empire began to fall apart after Ashoka's death in 232 BC. In 185 BC-183 BC, Brihadratha, the last monarch, was assassinated by his Brahmin general Pushyamitra Shunga. The Maurya Dynasty came apart shortly after the death of Ashoka. One obvious factor was the succession of weak rulers.