Bindusara

The second Mauryan emperor was Bindusara, who came to the throne about 297 BC. Greek sources refer to him as Amitrochates, the Greek for the Sanskrit amitraghata, the "destroyer of foes." This name perhaps reflects a successful campaign in the Deccan, Candra Gupta having already conquered northern India. Bindusara's campaign stopped in the vicinity of Karnataka, probably because the territories of the extreme south, such as those of the Colas, Pandyas, and Ceras, were well-disposed in their relations toward the Mauryas.

Ashoka and his successors

Bindusara was succeeded by his son Ashoka, either directly in 272 BC or, after an interregnum of four years, in 268 BC (some historians say c. 265 BC). Ashoka's reign is comparatively well documented. He issued a large number of edicts, which were inscribed in many parts of the empire and were composed in Prakrit, Greek, and Aramaic, depending on the language current in a particular region. Greek and Aramaic inscriptions are limited to Afghanistan and the trans-Indus region.

The first major event in Ashoka's reign, which he describes in an edict, was a campaign against Kalinga in 260 BC. The suffering that resulted caused him to reevaluate the notion of conquest by violence, and gradually he was drawn to the Buddhist religion. About 12 years after his accession, he began issuing edicts at regular intervals. In one he referred to five Greek kings who were his neighbours and contemporaries and to whom he sent envoys--these were Antiochus II Theos of Syria, the grandson of Seleucus I Nicator; Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt; Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedonia; Magas of Cyrene; and Alexander (of either Epirus or Corinth). This reference has become the bedrock of Mauryan chronology. Local tradition asserts that he had contacts with Khotan and Nepal. Close relations with Tissa, the king of Sri Lanka, were furthered by the fact that Mihinda, Ashoka's son (or his younger brother according to some sources), was the first Buddhist missionary on the island.

Ashoka ruled for 37 years. After his death a political decline set in, and half a century later the empire was reduced to the Ganges Valley alone. Tradition asserts that Ashoka's son Kunala ruled in Gandhara. Epigraphic evidence indicates that his grandson Dasharatha ruled in Magadha. Some historians have suggested that his empire was bifurcated. In 185 BC the last of the Mauryas, Brhadratha, was assassinated by his Brahman commander in chief, Pusyamitra, who founded the Shunga dynasty.