Mauryan Empire
There are remarkable similarities between the organizations of that great empire and the Mauryan empire of the third century BC, while Kautilya's Arthshastra also shows a strong Persian influence, Alexander of Macedonia after defeating Darius III in 330 BC had also marched through the South-Asian subcontinent up to the river Beas but Greek influence on the region appears to have been limited to contributing a little to the establishment of the Mauryan empire. Greek rule did not survive in northwestern India, although a school of art known as Indo-Greek developed and influenced art as far as Central Asia.
The expansion of two kingdoms in the northeast laid the groundwork for the emergence of India's first empire, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty (ca. 321-185 BC).15 The region of Gandhara was conquered by Chandragupta (ca. 321-ca. 297 BC), the founder of the Mauryan Empire, the first universal state of northern India, with its capital at present-day Patna in Bihar. By 303 BC, Chandragupta Maurya had gained control of an immense area ranging from Bengal in the east to Afghanistan in the west and as far south as the Narmada River. Much of his success is attributed to his prime minister and mentor, Kautilya (also known as Chanakya), author of the Arthashastra, a cool calculating realpolitik treatise on the acquisition and maintenance of power.
His son, Bindusara extended the empire into central and parts of southern India. His grandson, Ashoka, the third Mauryan emperor (ca. 273-232 BC) is one of the most famous rulers in Indian history. Ashoka's rule extended over much of what is todays Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India. After his conversion to Buddhism, Taxila became a leading centre of Buddhist learning. The great empire that Asoka built in the subcontinent included only that part of the Indus basin which is now known as the northern Punjab. The rest of the areas astride the Indus were not subjugated by him These areas, which now form a substantial part of Pakistan, were
virtually independent from the time of the Guptas in the fourth century AD until the rise of the Delhi Sultanate in the thirteenth century.
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