Ancient India - The Maurya Empire

​The Maurya Empire (321 - 185 BCE)

Multiple Choice

Which empire arose after the Vedic Age?

• Indus River Valley

• Maurya

• Gupta

• Sarwasti

• Magadha - strongest kingdom

• overthrown in 321 BCE by Chandragupta

Open Ended

Find Magadha on the map. Why would gaining power over Magadha be important?

Match

Match the following vocabulary terms with their correct definition.

• Strategy

• Province

• Bureaucracy

• Subjects

• Tolerance

a long-term plan for achieving a goal

a region with its own government

a system of offices that carries out government rules

people under the rule of a king/queen

a willingness to respect different beliefs and customs

• a long-term plan for achieving a goal

• a region with its own government

• a system of offices that carries out government rules

• people under the rule of a king/queen

• a willingness to respect different beliefs and customs

Chandragupta Maurya

• trained by an educated Brahmin (Kautilya)

• seized power through military

• ruled most of Indian subcontinent

• 1st time one state controlled all of northern India

• united into 1 empire

  • split 4 regions into provinces

Fill in the Blanks

To solve the problem of ruling such a large area, Chandragupta divides his empire into

regions

Chandragupta

• set up a bureaucracy

  • officials in each region carried out orders

• set up tax system

  • supported large army/gov.

• peace treaty with neighbors

• constant fear - servants/guards/spies

• gave up being emperor to become a monk

Multiple Choice

Why is Chandragupta significant?

• He wrote India's first legal code

• He was a fearful military leader

• He united India into one empire

• He was an educated Brahmin

Asoka's Rule

• Chandragupta's son, Bindusara, took over

  • expanded empire farther

• after he died, Asoka took over

  • killed his brother for the thrown

• waged war, then turned to peace

• followed Buddhist values

• rule based on dharma (moral law)

• 1 - ahimsa (not hurt living things)

• 2 - tolerance (respect differences)

• 3 - well being of people

Multiple Choice

What religion did Ashoka turn to that changed the way he ruled the Maurya Empire?

• Christianity

• Jainism

• Buddhism

• Hindusim

Asoka's Legacy

• spread of Buddhism

• set up hospitals/dug wells

• built excellent road system

• Royal Road - 1,000 miles used for travel

• India prospered w/ his efforts

• country at peace - little crime

• empire struggled after death

Multiple Choice

Ashoka improved communication throughout the empire by...

• Constructing roads and rest houses

• Inventing the first telegraph

• Morse code

• New smoke signal technique

Multiple Choice

The first emperor of the Mauryan Dynasty was...

• Chandragupta

• Ashoka

• Siddhartha Gautama

• Aryan

Open Ended

Write a sentence using the term "tolerance" to describe the rule of Asoka.

Draw

Put the events in chronological order within the flow chart.