Aryans
Guptas
Greeks and Persians
Regional Rulers
Mauryans
Regional Rulers
NOTE: From Aryan societies to the kingdom period of the Mauryans, the prestige of the 4
main castes changed. The lower two castes became as influential if not more so that the
upper castes because traditional Aryan values pointed to the upper castes as being more
important for their role in ruling a primarily agricultural society. Mauryan society had
become quite urbanized so that there were many more merchants and craftsmen
accumulating wealth and prestige.
With the departure of Alexander the Great from North West India a power vacuum was created.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Chandragupta Maurya—expansion, harsh rule
a. Kautalya
Ashoka—expansion then administration; encouraged agriculture with irrigation; encouraged trade with road building that included inns, wells, and shade trees
along the way
a. Conversion to Buddhism
b. Edicts
400 years of small kingdoms
Guptas—smaller; similar to Persian administration that left governance of the provinces in the hands of local allies
a. Stability for 2 centuries
Economic
a. Manufacturing production in workshops
b. Cities became marketplaces for manufactured goods
c. Long distance trade mostly on roads created by Persians that connected China with Persia
Society
a. Nuclear families
b. Patriarchal with women seen as weak—evidence is increase in child brides
c. Caste now included merchants with guilds
Religion
a. Hinduism
b. Buddhism
i. Siddartha Gautama
ii. Appealed to lower castes because it did not need the priestly caste
iii. Spread through missionaries and trade