MAGADHA
One of the mahajanapadas was Magadha, the kingdom that
would create the fi rst Indian empire (684–26 b.c.e.). By 400
b.c.e. Magadha and another mahajanapada, Koshala, were
conquering their neighbors. Both King Bimbisāra (ca. 543–
491 b.c.e.) of Magadha and King Prasenajit of Koshala became
patrons of Siddhartha Gautama (ca. 563–ca. 483 b.c.e.), who
became the Buddha. When Bimbisāra died, he was succeeded
by his son Ajatashatru, who spent the fi rst few years of his
reign fi ghting off challengers to his rule. In the meantime, one
of Bimbisāra’s widows died; she was a daughter of Prasenajit.
Land that Prasenajit had given to Bimbisāra as a dowry was
reclaimed by Prasenajit. Ajatashatru went to war to reclaim
the land and was defeated. Later, Prasenajit was overthrown
by his son and fl ed to Magadha’s capital of Rajagriha, where he
died of exhaustion outside the city gates. Ajatashatru swore to
avenge the fallen king, and through good luck and intelligence
he led a successful military campaign that put a permanent
end to Koshala. Ajatashatru went on to wage war against Lic-
chavi, a republic ruled by several thousand knights. He lost
some battles, but eventually he conquered Licchavi, and he
made Magadha the dominant power in northern India. Dates
are very uncertain for India in the 300s, but Ajatashatru died
probably sometime between 380 and 330 b.c.e.
Ajatashatru’s death was followed by chaos in Magadha’s
government. Apparently, numerous people claimed the
throne. Th e man who eventually made the kingdom his own
was Mahapadma Nanda, who in about 424 b.c.e. founded the
Nanda Dynasty, which lasted only until about 321 b.c.e. Ma-
hapadma Nanda was the son of a barber, a member of the
Sudra caste. Th is made him intolerable to the warriors of the
Kshatriya caste, who tried to kill him. Nanda retaliated by
defeating his enemies in many battles. He built an army of
more than 200,000 troops and used it to establish himself as
the supreme power in northern India.
INDIA’S MAURYA EMPIRE
In 326 b.c.e. Alexander the Great (356–323 b.c.e.) of Greece
entered northwestern India, where he won over some Indian
leaders as allies and defeated in battle those who opposed him.
He was poised to battle the army of the Nandas when his own
army refused to continue to fi ght. It is unlikely that Alexan-
der gave up his ambition to conquer India, but he died in 323
b.c.e., before he could reasonably build a new army for a war.
By then Aggrames, son of Mahapadma Nanda, was the
Nandan king. His government was very wealthy, and its riches
became legendary in its time. Its taxes were high, creating re-
sentment throughout his kingdom and making him very un-
popular. Also, there was the matter of his father being a Sudra.
Th us, in 321 or 320 b.c.e. one of his generals, Candragupta
Maurya (r. ca. 321–ca. 297 b.c.e.), overthrew him and founded
the Maurya Empire, which lasted from 321 to 185 b.c.e.
Candragupta had spent the previous few years in Greek-
controlled territory, planning his revolt. He was not only a
careful planner but an inspiring leader. By 305 b.c.e. he had
conquered all of northwestern India, including the Indus River
valley and lands to Bactria, in modern Afghanistan. He estab-
lished a government bureaucracy that kept tight control of the
empire’s subjects. His government increased trade by building
roads and improved crop yields by building irrigation systems.
He was succeeded by his son Bindusāra, who reigned
from 297 to 272 b.c.e. Bindusāra conquered lands south of
the Godavari River, leaving only the southern tip of India
unconquered. His son Asoka, who reigned until 233 b.c.e.,
expended the empire farther by conquering the southeastern
coastal kingdom of Kaling in 261 b.c.e. Asoka was deeply
troubled by the suff ering he had caused in Kaling, and this
resulted in his conversion to Buddhism.
Asoka spread Buddhist values throughout his empire. He
built tens of thousands of monuments to the Buddha all over
the land. He reorganized the government to be less oppressive
and made edicts on how government should conduct itself in
a moral way. He had these edicts carved on monuments scat-
tered about the country. Declaring that the Maurya Empire
would embrace peace, Asoka assured his neighbors that he
would do them no harm. He sent Buddhist missionaries into
China, southeastern Asia, and the island of Ceylon. His re-
forms of government, his advocacy of peace, and his sending
of Buddhist missionaries to foreign lands made him one of the
most infl uential and remarkable rulers in India’s history.
He had hoped to rule by moral authority rather than mil-
itary authority, but this meant that aft er his death more mili-
tant people encroached on Mauryan territory. In 185 b.c.e.,
when the Maurya Empire was overthrown, its territory had
shrunk to about the same as that of Magadha in 320 b.c.e.
India would not see another empire until 320 c.e.INDIA’S GUPTA EMPIRE
Th e Gupta Empire lasted from 320 to 499 c.e. It was founded
by Chandragupta I (r. 320–ca. 330 c.e.), who was unrelated
to Chandragupta Maurya. During his reign he conquered
enough territory to form a new nation in the heart of what
had been the Magadha kingdom. He gave himself the title
Maharajadhiraja, meaning “great raja of rajas.” His son Samu-
dragupta was the great empire builder in the family. During
his reign from 330 to about 380 c.e. he conquered the rest of
northeastern India and drove his territory south through the
eastern half of India. He established a feudal government in
which he allowed some of the kings he had conquered to rule
their lands while paying him tribute. Th us, he made most of
central India acknowledge his supremacy over them and ex-
acted tribute from them, but he chose not to absorb them into
his empire. His government built roads that improved trade
within the empire.
He was succeeded by Ramagupta, whose military in-
eptitude caused him to be replaced by his brother Chandra-
gupta II (r. ca. 380–415 c.e.). By 409 c.e. he had conquered
much of northwestern India and had forced the rest of north-
western India to pay him tribute. Chinese visitors recorded402 empires and dynasties: Asia and the Pacific