Photograph of the army Maurya in DBA version with the complement of troops drawn from the army Chola:
It is not strictly speaking an army. These are specific figures (heavy tanks) which allow me, in addition to figures of the Chola army of Quentin, to align a DBA army of Indians Mauryas.
The Maurya are a dynasty that ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent from about 321 to 185 BC. BC Formed from the kingdom of Magadha and the town of Pataliputra in the Ganges plain by Chandragupta, this state later extended westward taking advantage of the retreat of the troops of Alexander the Great Grand, then, under the reigns of the two following rulers, Bindusara and Ashoka, to the south and east of the subcontinent, without ever dominating the latter in its totality. These sovereigns formed what is seen as the first great empire in Indian history, succeeding a period of division of the subcontinent between several rival kingdoms. However, this political construction, whose history is almost unknown, proved to be unsustainable. The empire gradually broke up, and its last sovereign was overthrown by the founder of the Shunga dynasty around 185 BC. AD
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| Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the dynasty |
Undoubtedly by Indian tradition, probably because its rulers were not supporters of Hinduism, the Maurya empire was rediscovered by British and Indian historians essentially from three written sources: the Arthashastra, A political treaty attributed to Kautilya, who would be the prime minister of the founder of the dynasty; The Indica, an account of the journey to India from the beginnings of Maurya left by a Greek ambassador named Megasthenes; The rediscovery and translation of the edicts of King Ashoka. However, Maurya India remains very poorly known, despite the progress of archaeological research. Its administrative, social and economic organization remains obscure, and the architectural and artistic testimonies of this period are few.
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| Sharukh khan embodying King Açokha in the eponymous film. |
OHe can nevertheless discover one of the most powerful empires of his time, founded by remarkable personalities, first and foremost Ashoka, who played a crucial role in the expansion of Buddhism and professed an original political ideology based on the rejection of violence. It became an important figure in Indian history, with the capital of the Sarnath pillar bearing the inscription of one of its edicts being chosen as the national emblem of India at independence.
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| Empire maurya at its peak (under Açokha) |
