Powerful Empires Emerge in India

Powerful Empires Emerge in India

Learning Objectives
Analyze how Mauryan rulers created a strong
central government for their empire.
Explore the kingdoms that arose across the Deccan.
Explain why the period of Gupta rule in India is
considered a golden age.
Understand how family and village life shaped
Indian society.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Terms and People

Chandragupta Maurya founder of the first

Indian empire

dissent ideas that oppose those of the

government

Asoka the most honored Maurya emperor, who

turned his back on conquest and converted to
Buddhism

missionary a person sent on a religious mission

golden age a period of great cultural

achievement

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Terms and People

(continued)

decimal system system of numbers based on

ten digits

joint family a family in which parents, children,

and their offspring shared a common dwelling

dowry a marriage custom of payment to the

bridegroom from the brides family

The Maurya Empire Builds

a Strong Government
Northern India was often a battleground
where rival rajahs fought for control of the
rich Ganges valley. But in 321 BCE., a young
adventurer, Chandragupta Maurya (chun
druh GUP tuh MOWR yuh), forged the first
Indian empire.

The Maurya Empire Builds a Strong Government

These are the remains of a stupa in Bihar, India, built during the Maurya period.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Rival rajahs fought

for control of northern
India. Chandragupta
Maurya gained power
in the Ganges valley
in 321 B.C.
The Maurya dynasty
he forged lasted from
321 B.C.E. to 185 B.C.E.
His rule was orderly
but harsh.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Chandraguptas grandson Asoka was the

most honored Maurya emperor.

After fighting a bloody war, he converted to

Buddhism, rejected violence, and sought to lead
by moral example.

Asoka sent missionaries to spread Buddhism,

and he united diverse peoples.
He built hospitals, shrines, and roads.

The Maurya Empire Builds a Strong Government

The Mauryan government was a monarchy that used a well-organized royal

bureaucracy to manage government services in the empire.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

After Asoka died, Maurya power declined,

and India once again became disunited.
The Deccan plateau
was divided into
many kingdoms.
One of these was
the Tamil kingdom,
which highly valued
trade and literature.

Deccan Kingdoms Arise

Tamil literature is the oldest in India. Early writings were often

epics and poems with religious themes. This image shows the
blue-skinned Vishnu, one of the three major Hindu gods.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

500 years after the Mauryas, the Gupta

dynasty once again united India.
The Guptas ruled from C.E. 320 to C.E. 540.

Gupta emperors organized a strong central

government that promoted trade and agriculture.
Gupta rule was looser than Maurya rule, leaving
most power at the local level.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Learning flourished under Gupta rule.

At universities, students learned religion,

philosophy, math, medicine, and other subjects.
Mathematicians devised the numerals we use
today and developed the decimal system.
Doctors set broken bones and may have
vaccinated people against smallpox.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Gupta rule brought about a

golden age of cultural achievement.
Writers recorded
Sanskrit folktales and
fables.
The greatest Gupta
writer was the poet and
playwright Kalidasa.
Painting, sculpture, and
dance flourished.
Buddhist carvings in a cave

A Golden Age Under Gupta Rulers

Maurya and Gupta emperors united much of India under their rule.

How did geography limit the northward expansion of both empires?

What region of the Indian subcontinent remained separate from both empires?

A Golden Age Under Gupta Rulers

The ruins of the ancient Buddhist monastery-university at Nalanda. Once a

great center of learning in mathematics, medicine, physics, literature, and
religion, it was formed about 700 to 600 B.C.E.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Indus

civilization

Aryan

civilization

Maurya

Gupta

2600 B.C.
to 1900 B.C.

1500 B.C.
to ?

321 B.C.
to 185 B.C.

A.D. 320
to A.D. 550

empire

empire

Gupta rule declined in 550 A.D. due to foreign

invaders, civil war, and weak rulers.

India split again into many separate kingdoms.

Family and Village Life Shape Indian Society

Most Indians were probably not aware of the
dazzling courts of the Mauryas or Guptas. The vast
majority were peasants who lived in the villages
that dotted the Indian landscape. In Indian society,
everyday life revolved around the rules and duties
associated with caste, family, and village.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Most Indians
knew nothing
of Maurya or
Gupta court life.
Instead, family
and village
roles shaped
everyday life.

The ideal family

was a joint family
in which parents,
children, and
grandchildren
shared a dwelling.
The oldest male in
a family headed
the household.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Families performed certain duties, including

arranging marriages.
The brides family provided a payment, known as
a dowry, to the bridegroom.
The daughter left home and became part of her
husbands family.
Womens roles changed over time. One belief was
that devotion to a husband gave women rebirth into
a higher existence.

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Throughout Indian history, the village

was at the heart of daily life.
Village decisions were made by the village
headman and council.
Villages varied in size, and each person had a
different role based on caste.

People depended on agriculture to survive;

monsoon rains often made this difficult.
Villages produced most of what they needed but
traded with other villages for certain goods. Trade
helped unite the subcontinent.

Family and Village Life Shape Indian Society

The ancient Indian ideal of a joint familyseveral generations of family

members living under one roofemphasizes the cultural importance of
obligations within families.