1 101 X Caves in the Barabar Hills were excavated on Ashoka's orders as rainy season shelters for members of the Ajivika sect (part of the movement of religious reform that had produced the more enduring Buddhist and Jain sects). These are among the earliest examples of rock-cut architecture, faithfully mirroring details of wooden structures.
#Barabar Hills, Facade/entrance of Lomas Rishi cave
2 101 X A kingdom brought into the Mauryan Empire when Ashoka conquered it around 260 BC. The scale of the destruction involved in the conquest so moved Ashoka that he abandoned warfare, seeking thereafter to conquer by virtue and morality.
#Kalinga
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#Pataliputra CM
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#Taxila in After the Mauryans KC-Bhir Mound entries only CM
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#IW Brahmi script
6 101 X In 327 BC, Alexander the Great conquered the Indian satrapy (province) of the Persian Empire. The climax was a battle at Nikaia against King Porus whose army typically included elephants. On Alexander's death in 323 BC the region regained its independence but being weakened by Alexander's wars it was an easy target for the expanding Mauryan Empire.
#Nikaia, Coin struck by Alexander to celebrate his victory here
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#The Mauryan Empire IW
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#Ashoka EW
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#Ashokan pillars IW
10 101 X In 321 BC Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the Nanda dynasty who ruled the great kingdom of Magadha. He then gained control of the north-west up to the Indus river. After defeating Seleucus, the successor to Alexander the Great in the east, he negotiated a peace settlement in 305 BC, trading elephants for possession of Alexander's lands east of Kabul. Megasthenes, Seleucus' ambassador, wrote a fascinating account of life in Chandragupta's court at Pataliputra. Around 297 BC, Chandragupta, a Jain convert, abdicated in favour of his son Bindusara, who continued to enlarge the Mauryan Empire. Chandragupta spent the remaining twenty-five years of his life as a wandering ascetic.
