1. The Mauryan and The Guptas
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The Mauryan and The Guptas

2. Basic Information The Mauryan Empire
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The Mauryan Empire
Rose in the Ganges Plain from 324 B.C.E. to 184 B.C.E.
Was expanded from the kingdom of Magadha by Chandragupta Maurya.
After his death, control was extended by Bindusara and Ashoka. (Bulliet, 160)
Ashoka taught Buddhism, making the Mauryans Buddhist. Was politically fragmented (Bulliet, 161)
The Arthashastra was the political manual for the Mauryans (Website 1)
The Guptas
Also rose in the Ganges Plain, but from 320 C.E. to 550 C.E., and its capital was Pataliputra
Was established by Chandra Gupta, influenced by the Mauryans
Samudra Gupta, Chandra Gupta II, and Kumara Gupta were Chandra Gupta’s successors.
Relied on monopolies in metals, salt, and agriculture. (Bulliet, 162)
The major religion was Hinduism (Website 1)

3. Geography The Mauryan Empire
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The Mauryan Empire
Very politically fragmented because of different terrains.
Is the expanded area of the kingdom of Magadha
South of the Ganges river
Eventually expanded over the entire continent except the southern tip
Capital was Paliputra where 5 tributaries join the Ganges (Bulliet, 160)
The Guptas
Grew out of Magadha and on the Ganges Plain
Exploited agricultural productivity of Ganges
Mined metals and salt to raise revenue.
Irrigation networks, roads, and trade routes ran through
The state owned extensive tracts of farmland. (Bulliet, 162)

4. Military The Mauryan Empire
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The Mauryan Empire
They had a large imperial army, control of mines, shipbuilding, and armaments.
The imperial establishment was funded by a 25% tax on all agriculture (Bulliet, 160)
Ashoka was an emperor famous for his military campaigns
The battle at Kalinga was won but with many losses (Bulliet, 161)
Their militarism ended after that, and Ashoka converted to buddhism.
The Guptas
Less military-based, but more intellectuality. (Website 1)
A powerful army had tight control of only the core of the empire. (Bulliet, 162)
They had to make up for their inability to enforce through military with intellectual persuasion. (Bulliet, 163)
Relied heavily on infantry archers and the bow (Website 2)
The fall of the Guptas was caused by the defeat by the Hunas.

5. Religion The Mauryan Empire
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The Mauryan Empire
Ashoka converted to Buddhism and made it popular
Inscribed edicts on rocks spread Buddhism. (Bulliet, 161)
Buddhism was common among traders because of nonviolence.
Buddhism might have been influenced by Christianity, as suggested by Maitreya Buddha
Buddhism split into Mahayana Buddhism and Hinyana Buddhism (Website 1)
The Guptas
The Gupta monarchs were mainly Hindus
Hindu temples evolved (Bulliet, 165)
Hinduism was popular and unifying because of its flexibility.
It was polytheistic, but believed in only one most supreme god, Brahma.
Hinduism maintains the old Vedic religion, and Buddhist beliefs, but with slight changes. (Website 1)

6. Technological and Intellectual Advances
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The Mauryan Empire
Kautilya helped develop the mandala theory of foreign policy
Standard coinage was issued (Bulliet, 160)
Networks of roads and towns fostered trade (Bulliet, 161)
Mahabharata was a story 8 times the length of the Illiad and the Odyssey combined
Indian doctors developed many herbal remedies, and scholars made big steps in linguistics (Bulliet, 162)
The Guptas
Built roads, wells, and irrigation networks (Bulliet, 162)
They were known as a theater-state
They developed the number zero, and place-value notation (Bulliet, 163)
The concept of Pi was developed
Negative numbers, and quadratic equations were also developed and impacted Arabic numerals. (Website 1)

7. Bibliography
Books
Bulliet, Richard. The Earth and Its Peoples. Third Edition. New York City: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
Websites
Butler, Chris. “FC51: “India from the Maurya to the Gupta Dynasties”. The Flow Of History flowofhistory.com <
Unknown Author. “Gupta Empire: Facts”. Absolute Astronomy absoluteastronomy.com <

8. Picture Sources
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9. Questions Who was the third leader of the Mauryan Empire?
Chandra Gupta
Chandragupta Maurya
Ashoka
Bindusara
Samudra Gupta

10. Questions Why was the Mauryan Empire mainly Buddhist?
Because Ashoka had many losses in a battle and converted to Buddhism
Because Ashoka wanted the Mauryans to keep old traditions by remaining Buddhist
Because the Mauryans were pacific merchanters who were trade-based, and found no reason for violence
Because the Mauryans were influenced by the religion of the Chinese civilizations to the east through trade and communication
Because the Mauryans did not want to take any part of, or interfere with any wars.

11. Questions
What was the name of the story that was 8 times longer than the Iliad and Odyssey?
Magadha
Bhagavad-Gita
Mandala
Arthashastra
Mahabharata

12. Answers to Questions C A E