Mauryan: Did you mean...?

Ashoka's pillar erected in the district of Vaishali, located in the Bihar state, India. This is one of the nineteen surviving columns erected or at least inscribed with edicts by the Emperor Ashoka during his reign in the 3rd century BCE...

Coping stone fragment depicting a scene from the Sasa Jataka, identified by the inscription at the top. Now housed at the Allahabad Museum, Allahabad, this narrative sculpture is about a story where the Bodhisattva is born as a rabbit and...

The Arthashastra (or Arthaśāstra) is one of the oldest surviving treatises on statecraft. There is considerable debate about the dating and authorship of the text; it underwent compilation, recension, and redaction several times over the...

The rock-cut caves at Barabar were built by the Mauryan kings Ashoka and his successors by hollowing out the hillside. These caves were used by Buddhist monks as retreats. The insides of the caves are so highly polished as to gleam like mirrors...

Ashoka riding a chariot in a relief from the Sanchi Stupa, Madhya Pradesh, India. Emperor Ashoka the Great (sometimes spelt Aśoka) lived from 304 to 232 BCE and was the third ruler of the Indian Mauryan Empire.

Map showing the extent of the Mauryan Empire at its furthest extent, c. 322 - 185 BCE.

Siddhartha Gautama (better known as the Buddha, l. c. 563 - c. 483 BCE) was, according to legend, a Hindu prince who renounced his position and wealth to seek enlightenment as a spiritual ascetic, attained his goal and, in preaching his path...

Buddhism is a non-theistic religion (no belief in a creator god), also considered a philosophy and a moral discipline, originating in the region of modern-day India in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. It was founded by the sage Siddhartha Gautama...

The Seleucid Empire (312-63 BCE) was the vast political entity established by Seleucus I Nicator ("Victor" or "Unconquered", l. c. 358-281 BCE, r. 305-281 BCE), one of the generals of Alexander the Great who claimed a part of his empire after...

War was the chief means by which territory was annexed or rulers defeated in ancient India, which was divided into multiple kingdoms, republics and empires. Often one empire predominated or different empires co-existed. The Vedic literature...