Administration during mauryan period

  The Mauryan Empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 321 BCE was the biggest empire in history that the country has seen. The Mauryan empire came forth after defeating the Nandas. Chandragupta defeat the Nandas with the guidance and help he received from Chanakya (Kautilya) his mentor and strategist. They were able to defeat the Nandas because the Nandas were unpopular due to heavy taxation and an oppressive rule which made it easier for Chandragupta to overthrow them and came into power. The Mauryan empire reached its peak under Ashoka the Great who ruled the empire from 268-232 BCE. His reign lasted about 36 years and is considered one of the remarkable periods in Indian history. The reason for Ashokas period came to be known as the greatest is because of his character transformation, the kalinga war in 261 BCE changed his entire life, though emerged as victorious Ashoka was deeply saddened because of massive destruction and loss of life he then renounced violence and adopt Buddhism focuses on peace, non-violence and social welfare.

  The Mauryan Empire was large covering almost entire subcontinent including India, Pakistan, Banglasdesh, Nepal and Afghanistan. Now the question is how did they manage to bring a vast empire under a single ruler and how are they able to maintain it accordingly. First the Empire was divided into four main Provinces Mangadha (Pataliputra- capital), Tosali (East- Odisha), Ujjain (West-Malwa region), Suvarnagiri (South- Karnataka region) then each of these provinces are governed by kumara (A Royal Prince or Governor), assisted by officials for law, revenue and security. For local administration system, there are two types one is a District Administration System and the other one is Village Administration. For district administration it is managed by officials like Pradeshikas (governors), Rajukas (justice officials), and Yuktas (treasures) but in the early Mauryan period only Pradeshikas title was in post so it handles all tax collection and law enforcement. For village administration there was a Gramikas (village Headmen) who handled daily governance and report any issues to the higher officials. During the early Mauryan period there was an espionage system where a vast network of spies (Gudhapurushas) looked onto officials, citizens and enemies. For many people the espionage system may seemed unnecessary and ridiculous system but during that time it was very important to monitor the higher officials and citizens to maintain political stability, security and efficient governance. The espionage system prevents the higher official to keep them from corruption, there could be enemy spies lurking around the kingdom and in order to stop that the espionage system steps up front. The espionage spies disguised as monks, traders and commoners. Ashoka introduced a new system Dhamma Administration, under this he appointed Dhamma Mahamatras (Special officers) to spread moral values, ensure justice and promote harmony among religion. The revenue system was simple farmers paid ¼ to 1/6 of their produce as tax, irrigation taxes are collected to be used on building infrastructures and developing them, trade and market taxes were levied on goods and merchants. As being the greatest empire in history they had a large military troops of infantry, cavalry, elephants, chariots, nay and logistics. The army and navy are managed by a special war office. The military troops of Mauryan empire are well trained mostly training everyday from dawn to sunset, they are well paid, whenever going to war they always carry enough food for the army and for travelling some sepoys moves ahead of time and build a bridge for the army to cross the land. However, there is a slight difference of law and justice during early and later Mauryan period in the early period the king was the supreme judge but in the later period the Rajukas a group of judicial officers handled justice at a provincial level. In the early Mauryan empires civil and criminal cases were handled by local courts with strict punishments including fines, imprisonment and even capital management to maintain order. But in the latter period Ashoka introduced and promoted forgiveness, fair trails and humane punishments and instead of harsh penalties he grants prisoners time for repentence before harsh penalties. As Ashoka adopt Buddhist religion he sends a lot of Buddhist missionaries around the empire and even outside the country, he builds a lot of stupas and puts a relics containing of buddhas remains.

  After the death of Ashoka the empire led by weak and ineffective rulers, lacking the leadership and qualities of maintaining the vast empire. There was also a lot of problems like downfall of administrative system, economic strain, foreign invasions etc. The last Mauryan ruler Brihadratha was assassinated by his own commander in chief, Pushyamitra Shunga and with that the Mauryan Empire comes to an end on 185 BCE