Later Mauryas Explained | Complete Ancient Indian History for UPSC 2026-27 | Class 11

Hello and welcome hardworking aspirants. Today we are going to talk about later mauryan period. In our previous classes we have seen the great mauryan empire, we have seen the great leaders like chandragupta maurya, then vindusar and obviously asoka the great. But what happens after the death of asoka that's what we are going to see and as they say nothing is going to last forever and so will be the case of mauryan empire too. These are a few of the emperors after asoka that will be seeing them. This is the image related to ajivikas. Yes, ajivika sect was supported by one of the successor of asoka and that is something important for you to remember and then we will see after the mauryan empire have the start of sungha dynasty which will be started by kusha mithra sungha. But before we do that a quick info for all of you mansons writing foundational bootcamp 2025 is live guys and what you are getting here 30 power pack live sessions. This is something you can't miss. You need to have it if you are a serious aspirant and the price is just kept very petty for you. It's a value packed something which you should not miss. So, please call on the numbers given below and get your seats booked for it and we are also running the batches for UPSC CSE 2026-2027. If you are an aspirant and going to appear in 26 or 27, this is the opportunity for you because we are also giving you 50% straight off. You can call on the numbers given below and talk to us. Thank you so very much and let's get started with the later maurya's period. So, if you remember mauryan empire was founded by chandragupta maurya somewhere the other 322 before common era with the help of chanakya he overthrew nanda dynasty and specially dhananand okay and then later on it was expended by his son bindusar and then his chandragupta's grandson asoka and it will begin to decline after the death of asoka in the year 232 before common era. Asoka's commitment to non-violence and as he was the big patron of buddhism this will slowly and gradually decline and his successors will obviously fail to hold together the mauryan empire. So, the mauryan empire will be basically divided into two parts one will be eastern part and one will be the western part. So, this is the eastern part that we are seeing the dasaratha maurya he was the grandson of asoka son of suyasa ruled from patliputra controlled the eastern part of the empire his inscriptions are there in the nagarjuni hills that is near the barbara caves mentions his devotion to the ajivika sect now what is ajivika the sect was contemporary to jainism and buddhism and it believed in niyati what's niyati niyati means the fate okay so they believed everything is pre-written and whatever is going to happen will happen okay this is the brief i'm giving you if someday we'll try to discuss it in very comprehensive manner he attempted to maintain asoka's legacy but lacked the charisma and you cannot match someone else rather you can be yourself that's what is possible he possibly ruled concurrently with other members of the maurya family yes there was the division in the empire and he was ruling the eastern side let's talk about the ruler who was in the western side so on the western side you have the son of punala okay asoka's blind son punal and his son he is ruling there according to jain text he was a devout jain patron of jainism he is credited with spreading jainism to karnataka andhra pradesh and gujarat built temples stupas and saint jain missionaries to southern india this is something which you should remember about samprati maurya and then we have a sally sukha maurya okay mentioned in puranas and yuga purana that is also known as the yuga purana he is described as someone who was unrighteous and ill-suited to kingship okay not a very favorite person for everybody back then during his time foreign incursion began that is indo-greek in northwest india started to attack then we also see dev varman maurya also known as the dev dharman was the seventh emperor of the maurya empire he succeeded sally sukha maurya and was followed by sat dha sat dhanvan okay dev varman's rule is mainly remembered as a transitional phase reflecting the struggle of late mauryan rule nothing very substantial you're going to find here but these are the names that you should remember so that if it ever comes to maintain the chronology you should remember this then we have this sat dhanvan maurya that was the eighth emperor of the maurya dynasty okay he succeeded dev varman maurya and was followed by brihadarath maurya brihadarath maurya will be the last mauryan king or last mauryan emperor sat dhan's rule is remembered as a period of instability and territorial loss again something which is of not very much of importance for you to remember so let's see the last mauryan ruler brihadarath maurya brihadarath was the ninth and the final ruler of the mauryan dynasty presiding over a rapidly shrinking empire that was losing its glory day by day the greco-bacterian king demetrius now please remember this greco-bacterian first they were the part of the seleucid empire the very same seleucid empire where the governor general was sallicus nicator one with whom chandragupta maurya had marital alliances and then after chandragupta maurya we saw that antiochus one the seleucus nicator's son had very good relations with bindu sar also okay but now we are seeing that these parts after the death or the decline of the seleucid empire now we are seeing that this greco-bacterian part have come out as an open independent territory and now they are trying to capture the parts of india so this greco-bacterian king demetrius he invaded the north western part and it is said to be believed that brihadarath reportedly forced a marital alliance because he was in no position to defeat them so it was better to have a diplomatic relationship and it is also said that brihadarath was assassinated by his commander-in-chief that was a pushyamitra sungha during military parade pushyamitra then will be founding the sungha dynasty and this will mark the end of mauryan empire so please remember this name brihadarath maurya was the last maurya king and he was followed by pushyamitra sungha here you can see the approximate dates of mauryan dynasty and the emperors which were there we have already discussed let's see the administration part then so the central administration the provincial administration what was happening there so what will happen to the central administration it is common sense the king remained the supreme authority holding executive legislative and judicial power but after asoka his successes were weaker that led to what that led to decline in the central control central will not hold a lot of control now maybe in the paper but not on the ground the council of minister that is the structure bureaucracy continued but efficiency will be dropped down and departments were headed by officials called adhyaksha but the central authority became less effective so what continually we are seeing that the central authority has become less effective now let's see the provincial administration obviously the provincial administration will grow okay when the central is getting weak the provincial administration grows the empire was divided into provinces is governed by royal family members or trusted officials to maintain control provinces were further divided into districts and smaller units but after asoka provincial governors gain more autonomy okay and central power will weaken the eastern and western part of the empire sometimes operated semi-independently so what we'll also see at once that after the decline of this mauryan empire starts okay while the mauryan period itself there will be few of the territories who will claim themselves to be independent the one of the very first will be kalinga then you will see the punjab promise then you will see the karnataka promise they will say that now we are no more under the mauryan empire so this also shows that how weak at that time the mauryan empire became well you should also understand this then at that time the mauryan empire was divided into different parts the five basic parts that we can see here the central province was known as the magadha then the eastern province that was the prashya patha okay its capital was tosali or kalinga central province was the magadha was the capital that you can say northern that is the uttar pata tatsila was the capital there western that is the vantipatha ujjain and then the southern that is was the capital back then or you can say not the capital rather the control center at those all the directions okay so let's see the spinach and law spinach was a key feature that is a network of spies at that time chanakya believed in it that you should know what your enemy king or neighboring king is doing and you should be aware of it but that will also slowly and gradually lose its power law and justice were based on king's authority and the principle of dharma but with weaker rulers law enforcement will be an issue now and the king's role as the chief lawmaker judge continued in theory but in practice disorder and corruption increased as the empire declined what about the economy everything will decline okay everything will have a decline but let's see one by one what about the agriculture agriculture remained the backbone of the mauryan economy with asoka with most people living in villages and engaged in farming the state supported agriculture by providing financial assistance land grants and helping to clear forest for new cultivation and land revenue was the main source of income collected through taxes on land and produce so agriculture is good at that point of time trade and commerce the period saw extensive internal and international trade boosted by political unity and improved infrastructures like roads and waterways will be there asoka emphasized a lot in building in the roads and all if you remember major trade routes connected india to central asia west asia and southeast asia with exports including textiles spices and luxury goods that will be there and the gills very famous this have been asked in the upse prelims also please remember gills or the of craftsmen and traders these are the groups of the craftsmen the traders they played a significant role in economic activities and sometimes issued their own coins please remember that also so the trade at that time if you can see the india is having trade to alexandria then you have antioch then the athens and then here if you see tarim basin burma sri lanka all these places mauryan empire had the trade routes what about the coinage system the mauryan period established a uniform currency system with the silver panna or panna sometimes as the main coin and its smaller denomination in circulation were there a standardized weight and measures will be followed and some gills also issued their own coins now what it will do it will indicate a complex monetary system because the mauryan empire itself is having its coin that is the panna and the gills are also giving their own monetary uh coins or monetary system so that is something which will make it complex but then it was for them to follow not for us culture art and religion what at that time were being followed let's see what was the condition of jainism at back then after asoka jainism continued to be influential especially in eastern india and the deccan the mauryan rulers particularly chandragupta maurya had already shown patronage to jainism and this trend will persist jain monks were granted caves such as some in the barber hills for meditation and monastic activities jain communities strived and religious practices and art were there what about buddhism buddhism will remain as a major force after asoka who had been its greatest loyal patron and the construction and expansion of stupa such as sanchi and baharut this will continue and the tradition of rock cut caves for buddhist monks was further developed these caves were used for meditation and monastic living reflecting the buddhist emphasis on asceticism and retreat that is something that we can see ajivika is another sect ajivika i have already said you it was a sect which was contemporary of jainism and buddhism and it also received royal patronage during and after asoka's reign other religious traditions including early form of brahmanism began to reassert themselves especially as the mauryan empire declined and regional power rose and sungha pushyamutra sungha was a brahmin this period saw the beginning of temple construction and the rise of sev and vashnav sect in the post mauryan period that we'll see this is the image related to the ajivikas wars revolts and foreign invasion that happened let's see them so internal revolts will happen i told you provinces like kalinga andhra punjab and karnataka began declaring themselves independence now we are no more under the mauryan empire the rise of regional powers like the satvahanas kharwila of kalinga etc will start what about the foreign invasion after the fall of the celestiate empire the indo-greeks yavanas indo-greeks were also known as the yavanas under demetrius invaded northwest india later mauryan ruler could not mount an effective resistance though we saw that there was a marital alliance build up assassination of brihadaratha the last mauryan ruler general pushyamitra sungha assassinated him and took over the empire he re-established vedic tradition and sacrifices starting the sungha dynasty because i just repeat again he was an brahmin so we will emphasize on this vedic tradition and sacrifices okay now there is a study related to sungha dynasty it is also said that while this period manusmriti was also compiled and it is also said that pushyamitra sungha was someone who was the destroyer of buddhism and he has destroyed more than thousands of stupas but when we talk about the evidences there are some kind of contrary things to notice like the sachi stupa and the beharut stupa at that time this were renovated at the period of pushyamitra sungha and we also see that there is no proper evidence to support so i just gave you this contrary statement so that if it ever comes so you can follow it in your own way let's see some of the key terms and their meaning mahamatra means the high ranking official handling and moral edicts law provincial control then you have the kumara kumara means the royal prince appointed as governor of a province then you have the sreni guilds of merchants artisans played major role in economy and civic life rajuka rajuka means the judicial officer responsible for law enforcement in provinces punch marked coins that is the early indian silver coins with multiple symbols and animal trees and all the janapadas 16 janapadas had their own punch marked coins ajivika a heterodox sect emphasized on faith that is the niyati and this was supported by the mauryas vindusara was the one who was a great patron of it describing mauryan decline and indo-greek invasion so we can say yuga purana is a document from where we have come to know about the mauryan decline and indo-greek invasion let's see a few of the questions now in which one of the following relief scriptures uh sculpture inscription is rania asoka mentioned along with the stone portrait of asoka what is the correct answer here the correct answer is kanganahalli okay so that is the correct answer let's see the next question the decline of the mauryan empire is attributed to several factors which of the following is not a reason for the downfall of the mauryan empire failure of asoka successor this is internal revolt yes this is decline of trade and commerce as the updated decline strengthening of military power how strengthening of military power can be the reason for the downfall of the mauryan empire it should have been weakening of the military power so d is the correct answer here which of the following mauryan ruler was associated with the rock cut cave at nagarjuni hills if you remember we have talked about it and what is the correct answer the correct answer here is dasaratha okay and let's see the last question now which of the following features was a hallmark of mauryan empire's economy during the later period during the later period what was the hallmark decline of centralized revenue collection rise of state-sponsored long distances the flourishing of large urban centers introduction of paper currency what's the correct answer decline of centralized revenue collection because there was trade going on we saw that there is international trade also going on okay internal trade is also boosting but as the central has lost its power lot of revenue will not not go to the center okay so that is something which we should remember and with that we have period we'll meet again in the post-mauryan period class and before you go guys this is an information for the mentorship program for upsc tspsc and appsc one-on-one live mentorship by deepika ma'am who has 20 plus years of experience who has trained thousand plus students and under whom hundreds of students have got selected so if you also want uh to get a bit more enlightened through her experiences this is an opportunity for you you can call on the numbers given below and get your mentorship seat booked so we'll meet again till then keep working hard for success