Political+India

=Pre-Mauryan=
 * ===Local Kingdoms===
 * Tribal groups developed small states that were based on agriculture and livestock, they were independent. (125)
 * Located on the foothills of the Himalayas(125)
 * The settlements/states spread to the plains of the Ganges River
 * The majority of the states were republic governed by a council of free warrior elite, individual leaders claimed the title of king (acted as a tribal chieftain)(125)
 * The king was elected or removed by the vote of the warrior elite on the council.(125)
 * Different tribes frequently fought each other(125)
 * Bringing wealth and honor to the warrior elite(125)


 * ===Roles of Leaders===
 * There was no real power check of the kings at the time(126)
 * The power and the privileges of the kings were “justified by the duties they performed and the services they provided for their subjects.” (126)
 * They were to protect the people from external threats and internal conflicts (the different tribes frequently fought each other)(126)
 * Leaders were supposed to respect the Brahmans and listen to their advice (Brahmans were like advisors)(126)
 * Kings lived in fear of being over thrown if not killed for their power.(126)
 * “A ruler’s survival depended on the extensive use of spies and informers, a strong and loyal palace guard, and his courage and skill as a military commander.”(126)


 * ===Brahman Power===
 * They held positions of educating princes who would someday rule à making them “influential figures in the ruling circles”(126)
 * Only a small portion of Brahman’s, they were either:
 * Personal priests
 * Physicians of wealthy families
 * Village priests
 * School teachers
 * Wandering ascetics-“persons who had renounced the pleasures of the material world”
 * They were able to read and write, and they were the only ones who knew how to perform sacred rituals (like crowning the prince) “they alone knew the rites that conferred divine status on a monarch mans without divine status a ruler’s legitimacy was in doubt.”(126)
 * They had the power to mediate between the gods and humans
 * They were at the top of the caste system (which was the social order within India)

=Mauryan Empire (322-185 B.C.E)=
 * ===Chandragupta Maurya (322-298 B.C.E) ruled with the caste system and Brahmans===
 * He was a regional lord who drove out the last of Alexander the Greats successors. (134)
 * His original base was located in the Ganges Plain (134)
 * After driving out the Greeks, he and his armies began to conquer the kingdoms located on the Ganges plain à later to become the heartland of the Mauryan Empire(134)
 * He adopted the Persian example (134)
 * He claimed himself emperor
 * Had lavish courts and gardens
 * He was very careful, followed the **Arthashastra** compiled by Kautilya (an respected advisor to Chandragupta Maurya) à a book on political theory and political advice, best ways to obtain and hold power.(135)
 * Servants would first taste test his food (for poison)
 * Had palace spies
 * Lots of personal guards
 * Tried with some success to replace the regional lords with his administration(135)
 * ===Bindusara===
 * Chandragupta Maurya’s son (135)
 * He extended the empire to the east along the Ganges plain and far to the south of the continent (135)
 * Once requested wine, figs and a philosopher (135)


 * ===Ashoka (268-232 B.C.E.)===
 * Binudsara’s son
 * In his early years as ruler he didn’t show much wisdom or tolerance, he was bad tempered and impulsive(135)
 * He won the throne by killing several of his brothers(135)
 * He was delighted by conquest, until he saw the suffering that it caused à which lead him to convert to **Buddhism**(135)
 * After he converted he “stove to serve his people and promote their welfare.”(135)
 * He began to use his money to build roads, hospitals and rest houses instead of conquering as much. (135)
 * Buddhism in Ashoka’s life began to “spill over into his state policy”(135)
 * The Brahmans tried to stir up resistance to Ashoka’s Buddhism(135)
 * They didn’t have as much power as they used too
 * They wanted the control they once had
 * Buddhism was an alternative to the caste system giving more people freedom or power (the lower class and women) (136)

=Decline of Mauryan (232-185 B.C.E.)=
 * After Ashoka’s death there was a succession of weak rulers
 * The empire first was divided between the Mauryan household à then was pulled apart by “internal strife and local lords who attempted to reestablish the many kingdoms that had been absorbed into the empire”(136)
 * Turned into the Pre-Mauryan again

=Pre-Gupta (504 years passed) (local kingdoms prospered)= =Gupta Empire (319-540 C.E.)=
 * Buddhist monks began to retreat into their monasteries
 * Brahman’s rose in power
 * Made some changes the their religion to make it more appealing
 * Originally a family of wealthy landholders in the eastern Ganges plain took the throne
 * Chandragupta was the first emperor
 * It was not as big as the Mauryan and had less control over regional lords and villages
 * A tribute Empire collected money and taxed people, but little involvement
 * They would protect the other smaller kingdoms if need be
 * They did not create a bureaucracy
 * Supporters of Hinduism, Caste system and Brahmans
 * The caste system intensified

=Gupta Decline=
 * There was growing danger from the northwest set by the nomadic Huns (143)
 * The Gupta “failed to crush resistance from their vassals and challenges from states to the south of the Gupta domains.”(143)
 * The death of the last “truly able Gupta monarchs” à Skanda Gupta, allowed for the nomadic Huns to invade(143)
 * They went back to lots of local kingdoms and small warring states. (143)

Asialy Bracey-Gardella