Theme Two: Kings,

Farmers
And Towns
 “Contents”
1. Introduction
2. Some Developments
3. The 6th century BCE as a turning point in Indian history
4. Features of Mahajanapadas
5. Factors responsible for the rise of Magadha
6. The Mauryan Empire
7. Asoka's Dhamma
8. Features of Mauryan administration
9. New notions of kingship
10. Strategies for increasing agricultural production
11. Differences in rural societies
12. Land grants and new rural elites
13. Towns and trade
14. Coins and kings
15. Historical evidence from inscriptions
16. Limitations of inscriptional evidence
 There were several changes in economic and political
life between
600 BCE and 600 CE. There were other changes as
well like growth in agricultural production, emergence
of new towns,etc. Historians tried to understand these
changes by using a variety of sources-inscriptions,
texts, coins,etc. This is a complex process and sources
do not tell the entire story.
There were several developments that took place in india during
the long span of 1500 years. They are:

• Rig-veda was composed along the Indus and its tributaries.

• Agricultural settlements emerged in many parts of the
subcontinent.
• Emergence of new mode of disposal of the dead like Megaliths
in central and south India.
• Emergence of new towns and kingdoms.
4. Features of Mahajanapadas
6. The Mauryan Empire
• The rise of Magadha culminated in the emergence of the Mauryan
Empire.
• Chandragupta Maurya (c.321 BCE) was the founder of the empire who
extended control upto Baluchistan and Afghanistan.
• His grandson, Ashoka, the mamous ruler conquered Kalinga.

Variety of sources to reconstruct the history of Mauryan Empire:

The variety of sources used by the historians are:

 archaeological finds especially sculptures, Asoka's inscriptions.

 literary sources like Indica account of Magasthanese, Arthashastra of
Kautilya, and Buddhist, Jaina and Puranic literature.
8. Features of Mauryan administration as
mentioned in the inscriptions
10. Strategies for increasing agricultural
production
11. Differences in rural society
15. Historicakl evidence from inscriptions
16. Limitations of inscriptional evidences