The Mauryan Empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 321 BC and conquered Northern India. It reached its peak under the rule of Emperor Asoka in the 3rd century BC, who converted to Buddhism and promoted tolerance. The Gupta Empire arose in the 4th century CE and ruled during a Golden Age of arts and sciences. Ancient Indian society was divided by caste, and women faced restrictions. However, India also achieved advancements in fields like mathematics, medicine, and vaccination.

1. Indian Empires

2. Mauryan Empire
• 321 BC-184 BC
• Founded by
Chandragupta Maurya
– Builds grand palaces
– Huge Army! Over
600,000 soldiers
– Standardized weights
and measures
– Conquered Northern
India up to the Hindu
Kush

3. Mauryan Empire
• Greatest ruler- Asoka
(Chandragupta’s grandson)
– Strong army- Bloody wars to
increase size
– Converted to Buddhism! Orders
the fighting to stop!
– Sent missionaries to spread
Buddhism
– Rock Edicts- explaining rules
and Buddhist teachings
– Built hospitals for people and
animals
– Built roads with rest houses,
and shade trees
– Religious tolerance for Hindus
– Empire declined after his death

4. Gupta Empire
• 310-600 CE
• United by Chandragupta I
• Under Chandragupta II =
India’s Golden Age
– Arts and sciences
flourished
– Encouraged learning using
Hindu Upanishads
– People had freedoms
– Status of women declined
– Achievements in math,
astronomy, physics,
medicine

5. Life and Culture in Ancient India
• Raja- controlled land and collected taxes. Most
people barely got by.
• Women
– Obey males!
– Can’t read the Vedas
– Polygamy- men can have more than 1 wife
– Suttee: Widows commit suicide with husbands die
(normally at the funeral)
• Education- advanced in Ancient India
– Higher caste received formal education

6. Achievements
• Math
– Understood abstract and negative #s
– Concept of zero and infinity
– ALGEBRA
• Medicine
– Advanced
– Importance of spinal cord
– Surgery- bone setting and plastic surgery
• Inoculation: vaccination, giving a weakened
disease to a person to build up anti-bodies for the
disease. Prevention and control