Kings, Farmers and Towns: Early States

Around 2,500 years ago, India changed dramatically. Small village societies gave way to powerful kingdoms, coins began to circulate, towns grew, and eventually a single dynasty, the Mauryas, built the subcontinent's first great empire. This rise of early states, and the remarkable reign of Ashoka, is a cornerstone of ancient Indian history.

From about the sixth century BCE, northern India was divided into sixteen large states called mahajanapadas. Some were monarchies, some were republics (ganas). They competed for land and power, building fortified capitals and standing armies funded by taxes.

Among them, Magadha (in modern Bihar) steadily became the most powerful. It had fertile land, iron mines, and control of the Ganga for trade. Its ambitious rulers used these advantages to absorb rivals and build the base for empire.

The Mauryan empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya around 321 BCE. His adviser Chanakya (Kautilya) played a key role. Chanakya authored the Arthashastra, a famous treatise on statecraft.

The Mauryas built India's first great empire, stretching across most of the subcontinent. It had:

• a strong, centralised administration run from the capital Pataliputra,
• provinces governed by officials, and
• a large army and an elaborate system of spies and revenue collection.

The empire reached its height under Chandragupta's grandson, Ashoka.

Ashoka (reigned c. 268–232 BCE) is one of the most remarkable rulers in history. Early in his reign he fought a terrible war to conquer Kalinga. The immense bloodshed filled him with remorse, and he renounced war for ever.

Ashoka then devoted himself to dhamma, a moral code of righteousness, non-violence, tolerance, respect for elders and kindness to all living beings. He had his message carved on rocks and pillars across the empire. These are the famous Ashokan edicts. He also appointed special officers to spread dhamma and promoted the welfare of his people. His Lion Capital is today India's national emblem.

After the Mauryan empire declined in the second century BCE, a series of Central Asian peoples entered India through the north-western passes. Each group set up kingdoms in the north-west before being displaced or absorbed by the next. Their correct chronological order is Indo-Greeks, then Sakas, then Kushans.

The first were the Indo-Greeks, descendants of Greek settlers in Bactria, the region of northern Afghanistan around the Oxus river. When the Seleucid empire, the Greek successor state to Alexander's conquests in Asia, lost its grip on its eastern provinces, Bactria broke away. This Greco-Bactrian kingdom, established by the early second century BCE, pushed into north-western India. Its most famous ruler was Menander (Milinda), remembered for his dialogues with the Buddhist monk Nagasena. The Indo-Greeks were the first rulers in India to issue coins definitely attributable to individual kings.

• Indo-Greeks (second century BCE): Bactrian Greeks from north Afghanistan; first to issue clearly attributed royal coins; Menander was the best-known king.
• Sakas (first century BCE): Central Asian nomads, also called Scythians, who displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled in the north-west and western India; the western Saka ruler Rudradaman is famous for repairing the Sudarshana lake.
• Kushans (first century CE): the last and most powerful of these dynasties; Kanishka was their greatest king, a patron of Buddhism whose empire linked India to the Silk Route trade.

These states and empires rested on a growing economy:

• agriculture expanded with iron ploughs, irrigation and the clearing of new land, producing surpluses,
• coinage (punch-marked coins) made trade easier,
• towns grew as centres of craft and commerce, and
• trade routes linked different regions and reached distant lands.

This prosperity provided the taxes and resources that powered the great kingdoms.

The sea trade of the south ran through famous ports. Three deserve special attention:

• Korkai: a Pandya port on the south-eastern coast, renowned for its pearl fisheries.
• Poompuhar (Kaveripattinam): the great Chola port at the mouth of the Kaveri, a hub of overseas commerce.
• Muchiri (Muziris): a port on the Kerala coast, the chief gateway for trade with the Roman world.

Remember these as ports, not capitals or iron-working centres. Through them, South India exported pepper, pearls and fine textiles. Roman merchants paid in gold coins, hoards of which have been found in South India.

This Roman trade declined from the third century AD. The Roman Empire weakened, battered by invasions, including those of the Huns, nomadic raiders from Central Asia. As the western markets shrank, Indian merchants relied increasingly on trade with South-East Asia. Indian goods, traders and cultural influences now flowed eastward across the Bay of Bengal.