It has been seen in the earlier chapters that the underlying principle of the Indian politico-social system was a synthesis of communal autonomies, the autonomy of the village, of the town and capital city, of the caste, guild, family, religious community, regional unit. The state or kingdom or confederated republic was a means of holding together and synthesizing in a free and living organic system these autonomies.

At the time of the Buddha and later when Chandragupta and Chanakya were building the historic Indian empire, the country was still covered with free kingdoms and republics - there was as yet no united empire.

At the same time, the invasion of Alexander created the necessity of a strong and centralized rule in the country. This took the form of an imperial rule which resulted in the Mauryan empire.

With the success of the Mauryan empire, the whole country came under a united rule. This empire extended right till eastern Afghanistan, Baluchistan and the area west of the Indus.

Chandragupta

Under Chandragupta Maurya, the whole of northern India was united. Trade flourished, agriculture was regulated, weights and measures were standardized. Money first came into use. Taxation, sanitation and famine relief became the concerns of the State. His son and successor, Bindusara (296 BC - 273 BC), extended the kingdom further and conquered the south as far as Mysore.

His son Ashoka followed him and under him the Mauryan empire reached its climax. However, this was done by the famous battle of Kalinga in Orissa. It is said that the conquest of Orissa resulted in the death of a very large number pf persons causing extreme suffering to the people. For the first time the whole of the sub-continent, except the extreme south, came under imperial control. Ashoka, after the battle of Kalinga was struck by remorse and embraced Buddhism. He propagated it all over India and even in the neighbouring countries of Burma (Suvarnabhumi)and Sri Lanka(Ceylon).

Ashoka maintained direct contact with his people through various edicts. These edicts were engraved on rocks, pillar and caves  and were aimed at moulding the general behaviour of the people. The emblem of the Indian Republic has been adopted from the four-lion capital of one of Ashoka's pillars

King Ashoka

The Mauryan administration was a highly centralized monarchy. The State maintained a huge standing army. Taxes were collected from various sources. The state brought new lands under cultivation and developed irrigation facilities. The entire sub-continent was criss-crossed with roads. A royal highway connecting Taxila and Pataliputra was built - a road which according to some was the  precursor to the  Grand Trunk road.  Mauryan artisans started the practice of hewing out caves from rocks for the monks to live in. The earliest examples are the Barabar hill caves near Gaya. Stupas were built throughout the empire to enshrine the relics of Buddha. Of these, the most famous are at Sanchi and Barhul.

The Stupa at Sanchi

The creation of the empire inevitably brought about the need of a new political system and structure faithful to the Indian political genius. The imperial problem was to synthesize the states, peoples, nations, effecting their unity but respecting their autonomy, into a larger free and living organism. A system had to be found that would maintain peace and oneness among its members, secure safety against external attack and totalize the free play and evolution, in its unity and diversity, in the uncoerced and active life of all its constituent communal and regional units; a system was needed that would respect the soul and body of Indian civilization and culture and the functioning of the Dharma on a grand and total scale.

The Mauryan empire lasted a little over a century and broke up fifty years after the death of Ashoka. It was the weak successors of Ashoka and the centrifugal forces that brought about its dismemberment. The various princes of the empire began to break away and set up independent kingdoms. One of the most serious consequences of the disintegration of the Mauryan empire was the loss of the north western parts; these areas fell into the hands of foreign powers and became the route for all future invaders.

We shall note this phenomenon repeatedly in Indian history. There is first the building of an empire, thus creating a political unity; it is almost inevitably    followed by its breaking up, due to centrifugal forces and invasions. And yet after every attempt of empire building, unity seems to come nearer.

In 185 BC, the Mauryan king was overthrown by Pushyamitra Sunga, an ambitious Commander-in-Chief of armed forces. He started the Shunga dynasty in

Magadha.

The next empire in India was the Gupta empire.

In the fourth century a new Indian dynasty, the Guptas arose in Magadha and established a large kingdom over the greater part of Northern India. It is from Fa-hien, a Chinese traveller, that we get our information of the Gupta empire. According to these writings, India was far ahead of any country in the world at that time.

The Guptas, a family of the wealthy landowners gradually gained political control in the region of Magadha. The founder of the Gupta dynasty, Chandragupta I ascended the throne in about 320 AD. The kingdom was enlarged by his son, Samudragupta, who fought against a number of kings and annexed territories in the northern part of the sub-continent. However, his direct political control was only over the Ganges valley, unlike the Mauryas whose empire extended into the south of India. It was during the reign of Samudragupta's successor, Chandragupta II (also known as Vikramaditya), that the Gupta ascendancy was at its peak. He conducted a victorious campaign in western India against the Shakas (338 AD - 409 AD). He made a matrimonial alliance with the Vakataka dynasty, the successors to the Satavahana power, thus ensuring friendly relations to the south of his domain. Chandragupta II is also remembered for his patronage of learning and the arts. This period is known as the Classical Age of India.

It was a period of great cultural and scientific development. Kalidasa, one of the greatest dramatists in Sanskrit literature belongs to this period. The Panchatantra, a collection of tales was also composed at this time. In astronomy there was spectacular progress. In AD 499, Aryabhatta calculated pi as 3.1416 and the length of the solar year as 365.358 days. He explained the causes of eclipses.  He also postulated that the Earth was a sphere rotating on it's own axis and revolving around the Sun.  There was a great Buddhist university at Nalanda in Bihar, which attracted students from all over the world.

In the Gupta administration, the governors of the provinces were more independent as compared to the Mauryans. Land taxes increased in number. Trade with the Roman empire declined after the third century AD. Indian merchants began to rely more heavily on the south-east Asian trade. Buddhism no longer received royal patronage. Jainism remained unchanged and continued to be supported by the merchant communities of western India. Christianity remained confined to the region of Malabar. In Hinduism, image worship emerged and replaced the Vedic sacrifice.

Examples of Gupta architecture are found in the Vaishnavite Tigawa temple at Jabalpur (415 AD) and another temple at Deogarhnear Jhansi (510 AD). Bhita in Uttar Pradesh has a number of ancient Gupta temples. Some of the caves at Ajanta may be assigned to the period of the Guptas.

The Ajanta Caves

Kumara Gupta succeeded Chandragupta II; Kumara Gupta was succeeded by Skanda Gupta. During the reign of these last two kings, the Huns invaded north-western India and the Gupta power rapidly weakened.

The next attempt at empire followed a few centuries later. It came with the advent of Harshavardan.

In the second half of the seventh century, efforts at empire building were made by Harshavardhana (or Harsha). He belonged to the Pushabhukti family, who ruled in Thaneshwar, north of Delhi. His reign is comparatively well-documented, thanks to his court poet, Bana, who composed an account of his rise to power, Harshacharita. The Chinese buddhist pilgrim, Hieun Tsang, who visited India during his reign, also left a lengthy account of his travels.

Harsha moved his capital from Thaneshwar to Kanauj. The area under his control covered many parts of northern India, including the Punjab, eastern Rajasthan and the Ganga valley as far as Assam. His empire included territories of distant feudal kings too. Harsha governed his empire on the same lines as the Guptas. The kings he conquered paid him revenue and sent soldiers when he was fighting war. They accepted his sovereignty, but remained rulers over their own kingdoms. Harsha's ambition of extending his power to the Deccan and southern India were stopped by Pulakesin II, the Chalukya king of Vatapi in northern Mysore.

Hieun Tsang noticed that at the time of Harsha, Buddhism was losing its hold in most parts of India, although in some parts of eastern India, it was still popular. The Nalanda university was still a famous centre of Buddhism.

Soon after Harsha's death, the empire died with him. He had left no heirs to his throne and the kingdom disintegrated rapidly into small states. The succeeding period is obscure, but it marks the culmination of a process which had begun with the invasion of the Huns in the last years of the Gupta empire. Meanwhile, the kingdoms of the Deccan and the south became powerful.