402 empires and dynasties: Asia and the Pacific MAGADHA One of the mahajanapadas was Magadha, the kingdom that would create the first Indian empire (684–26 b.c.e.) By 400 b.c.e Magadha and another mahajanapada, Koshala, were conquering their neighbors Both King Bimbisāra (ca 543– 491 b.c.e.) of Magadha and King Prasenajit of Koshala became patrons of Siddhartha Gautama (ca 563–ca 483 b.c.e.), who became the Buddha When Bimbisāra died, he was succeeded by his son Ajatashatru, who spent the first few years of his reign fighting off challengers to his rule In the meantime, one of Bimbisāra’s widows died; she was a daughter of Prasenajit Land that Prasenajit had given to Bimbisāra as a dowry was reclaimed by Prasenajit Ajatashatru went to war to reclaim the land and was defeated Later, Prasenajit was overthrown by his son and fled to Magadha’s capital of Rajagriha, where he died of exhaustion outside the city gates Ajatashatru swore to avenge the fallen king, and through good luck and intelligence he led a successful military campaign that put a permanent end to Koshala Ajatashatru went on to wage war against Licchavi, a republic ruled by several thousand knights He lost some battles, but eventually he conquered Licchavi, and he made Magadha the dominant power in northern India Dates are very uncertain for India in the 300s, but Ajatashatru died probably sometime between 380 and 330 b.c.e Ajatashatru’s death was followed by chaos in Magadha’s government Apparently, numerous people claimed the throne The man who eventually made the kingdom his own was Mahapadma Nanda, who in about 424 b.c.e founded the Nanda Dynasty, which lasted only until about 321 b.c.e Mahapadma Nanda was the son of a barber, a member of the Sudra caste This made him intolerable to the warriors of the Kshatriya caste, who tried to kill him Nanda retaliated by defeating his enemies in many battles He built an army of more than 200,000 troops and used it to establish himself as the supreme power in northern India INDIA’S MAURYA EMPIRE In 326 b.c.e Alexander the Great (356–323 b.c.e.) of Greece entered northwestern India, where he won over some Indian leaders as allies and defeated in battle those who opposed him He was poised to battle the army of the Nandas when his own army refused to continue to fight It is unlikely that Alexander gave up his ambition to conquer India, but he died in 323 b.c.e., before he could reasonably build a new army for a war By then Aggrames, son of Mahapadma Nanda, was the Nandan king His government was very wealthy, and its riches became legendary in its time Its taxes were high, creating resentment throughout his kingdom and making him very unpopular Also, there was the matter of his father being a Sudra Thus, in 321 or 320 b.c.e one of his generals, Candragupta Maurya (r ca 321–ca 297 b.c.e.), overthrew him and founded the Maurya Empire, which lasted from 321 to 185 b.c.e Candragupta had spent the previous few years in Greekcontrolled territory, planning his revolt He was not only a careful planner but an inspiring leader By 305 b.c.e he had conquered all of northwestern India, including the Indus River valley and lands to Bactria, in modern Afghanistan He established a government bureaucracy that kept tight control of the empire’s subjects His government increased trade by building roads and improved crop yields by building irrigation systems He was succeeded by his son Bindusāra, who reigned from 297 to 272 b.c.e Bindusāra conquered lands south of the Godavari River, leaving only the southern tip of India unconquered His son Asoka, who reigned until 233 b.c.e., expended the empire farther by conquering the southeastern coastal kingdom of Kaling in 261 b.c.e Asoka was deeply troubled by the suffering he had caused in Kaling, and this resulted in his conversion to Buddhism Asoka spread Buddhist values throughout his empire He built tens of thousands of monuments to the Buddha all over the land He reorganized the government to be less oppressive and made edicts on how government should conduct itself in a moral way He had these edicts carved on monuments scattered about the country Declaring that the Maurya Empire would embrace peace, Asoka assured his neighbors that he would them no harm He sent Buddhist missionaries into China, southeastern Asia, and the island of Ceylon His reforms of government, his advocacy of peace, and his sending of Buddhist missionaries to foreign lands made him one of the most influential and remarkable rulers in India’s history He had hoped to rule by moral authority rather than military authority, but this meant that after his death more militant people encroached on Mauryan territory In 185 b.c.e., when the Maurya Empire was overthrown, its territory had shrunk to about the same as that of Magadha in 320 b.c.e India would not see another empire until 320 c.e INDIA’S GUPTA EMPIRE The Gupta Empire lasted from 320 to 499 c.e It was founded by Chandragupta I (r 320–ca 330 c.e.), who was unrelated to Chandragupta Maurya During his reign he conquered enough territory to form a new nation in the heart of what had been the Magadha kingdom He gave himself the title Maharajadhiraja, meaning “great raja of rajas.” His son Samudragupta was the great empire builder in the family During his reign from 330 to about 380 c.e he conquered the rest of northeastern India and drove his territory south through the eastern half of India He established a feudal government in which he allowed some of the kings he had conquered to rule their lands while paying him tribute Thus, he made most of central India acknowledge his supremacy over them and exacted tribute from them, but he chose not to absorb them into his empire His government built roads that improved trade within the empire He was succeeded by Ramagupta, whose military ineptitude caused him to be replaced by his brother Chandragupta II (r ca 380–415 c.e.) By 409 c.e he had conquered much of northwestern India and had forced the rest of northwestern India to pay him tribute Chinese visitors recorded