Causes of the Decline of the Mauryan Empire

At a Glance

• Break-up begins After 232 BC
• End 185 BC; Brihadratha killed
• By Pushyamitra Shunga
• Chief causes Reaction, finance, oppression, frontier
• Misconception That pacifism alone destroyed the empire
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Ancient History: Mauryan Empire

Where Does It Fit?

This is the tenth topic of the category on the Mauryan Empire. The previous topic covered Mauryan art, and this one explains the empire’s decline. The next topic covers the Shungas and Kanvas. Previous topic: Mauryan Art and Architecture.

Did Ashoka’s Peace Policy Destroy the Empire?

In short: the empire broke up after Ashoka for several structural reasons, not mainly because of his peace policy.

The Magadhan empire, built by successive wars up to the conquest of Kalinga, began to disintegrate after Ashoka’s exit in 232 BC. It is said that Ashoka’s pacific policy destroyed the empire, but this is not true. Ashoka had many achievements, and he did not wage any war after Kalinga though he had sufficient resources and a huge army. However, his policy had no lasting effect on his viceroys and vassals, who declared themselves independent in their areas after he retired, and it did not convert his neighbours, who struck the north-west frontier within thirty years of his retirement. Another account says that after his death the empire slowly disintegrated and died out within fifty years, and that his revolutionary views were not in step with the realities of the times. The causes below are therefore structural. Ashoka’s policy itself is explained in Ashoka’s Dhamma and Internal Policy.

How Did Brahmanical Reaction and Finances Weaken the State?

Ashoka adopted a tolerant policy and asked people to respect brahmanas, but he issued edicts in Prakrit and not Sanskrit. He prohibited killing birds and animals and derided superfluous rituals performed by women. The anti-sacrifice attitude adversely affected the incomes of brahmanas. He appointed rajukas to introduce vyavaharasamata and dandasamata, meaning the same civil and criminal law for all varnas, but the Dharmashastras prescribed varna discrimination, which infuriated the brahmanas. Some kingdoms that arose on the ruins of the empire were ruled by brahmanas: the Shungas and Kanvas in central India and further east, and the Satavahanas in the western Deccan and Andhra, who claimed to be brahmanas. These dynasties performed Vedic sacrifices that Ashoka had discarded.

The enormous expenditure on the army and the payment to the bureaucracy created a financial crisis. The Mauryas maintained the largest army and the largest regiment of officers of the ancient period, and despite many taxes it was difficult to maintain this huge structure. Ashoka made large donations to Buddhist monks, which left the treasury empty, and towards the end the rulers were obliged to melt gold images to meet expenses. The fiscal system is described in Mauryan Economy and State Control.

How Did Provincial Rule, Knowledge and Frontiers Matter?

Oppressive rule in the provinces was an important cause. In Bindusara’s reign the citizens of Taxila complained against the misrule of wicked officials, and when Ashoka himself was emperor a similar complaint came from the same city. The Kalinga edicts show that Ashoka was concerned about oppression and told the mahamatras not to tyrannise townsmen without cause. He introduced rotation of officers in Tosali, Ujjain and Taxila and spent 256 nights on pilgrimage, which may have helped supervision. All this failed to end oppression in the outlying provinces, and after his retirement Taxila took the first opportunity to throw off imperial rule.

Magadha owed its expansion to material advantages, including iron. Once the knowledge of these elements spread to central India, the Deccan and Kalinga, the Gangetic basin lost its special advantage. The regular use of iron tools and weapons in the outlying provinces coincided with the fall of the empire, and this explains the rise of the Shungas and Kanvas in central India, the Chetis in Kalinga and the Satavahanas in the Deccan. The north-west frontier was neglected: Ashoka, busy with missionary work, did not safeguard the passes against the movement of tribes in Central Asia in the third century BC. The Scythians, a nomadic people reliant on the horse, were a danger to settled empires in China and India. The Chinese ruler Shih Huang Ti (247 to 210 BC) built the Great Wall of China in about 220 BC against them, but Ashoka took no such measures. The pressure pushed the Parthians, Shakas and Greeks towards India, and the Greeks of Bactria were the first to invade in 206 BC, followed by a series of invasions until the beginning of the Christian era.

The Mauryan empire was finally destroyed by Pushyamitra Shunga in 185 BC. A brahmana, he was a general of the last Mauryan ruler Brihadratha and is said to have killed him in public and seized the throne of Pataliputra. As an analytical point, the causes reinforce each other: a costly state needed heavy taxes, which fed provincial oppression, and weak control let provinces use the same material culture to build independent states. The successor dynasties are in Shungas and Kanvas – Post-Mauryan Rule in the Ganga Valley, and the invasions in Indo-Greeks in North-West India.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Standard Mains question Multi-cause answer
• Link To post-Mauryan states
• Balance Rejects single-cause view

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the Shungas and Kanvas and post-Mauryan rule in the Ganga valley. Next topic: Shungas and Kanvas – Post-Mauryan Rule in the Ganga Valley.

Key People and Terms

• Vyavaharasamata Uniformity of civil procedure
• Dandasamata Uniformity of penal law
• Brihadratha Last Mauryan ruler
• Bactria Greek kingdom in north Afghanistan
• Shih Huang Ti Chinese ruler, Great Wall
• Rotation of officers Transfers to curb oppression

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask for multiple causes. These points add depth.

• Political Weak control
• Economic Fiscal strain
• External Frontier