Maurya Empire

State · 318–171 BCE · at its largest around 256 BCE

Chandragupta's minister Kautilya is credited with the Arthashastra, a shrewd manual of statecraft. After the bloody Kalinga war, Ashoka embraced Buddhism, carving edicts of tolerance on rocks and pillars; his lion capital is now India's national emblem.

On its lands while it lasted

Ujjain (c. 600 BCE – c. 405 CE): Capital of Janapada of Avanti (600 BCE–405 BCE), Western Satraps (43–405).
Chandragupta Maurya (c. 350 BCE – 295 BCE): Founder of the Maurya Empire, who overthrew the Nanda dynasty and gained the north-west from Seleucus I.
Maurya Empire founded (c. 322–185 BCE): Chandragupta Maurya seized Magadha around 322 BCE and founded the Maurya Empire, the first to unite most of the Indian subcontinent; it lasted until about 185 BCE.
Ashoka (c. 304 BCE – 232 BCE): Maurya emperor who, after the bloody Kalinga War, embraced Buddhism and promoted non-violence and dharma through inscribed edicts across his empire.
Amaravathi (301 BCE): Capital of Satavahana Dynasty (225 BCE–220).
Brahmi script (c. 300 BCE): Brahmi, known from Emperor Ashoka's inscriptions, is the ancestor of nearly all the scripts of South and Southeast Asia, from Devanagari and Tamil to Thai and Tibetan.
Ai-Khanoum (c. 280–145 BCE): Hellenistic city on the Oxus in northern Afghanistan with a theatre, gymnasium and Greek inscriptions; it was destroyed around 145 BCE.
Kalinga War (c. 262 BCE): Ashoka's conquest of Kalinga on India's east coast; its enormous casualties, recorded in his own edicts, led him to renounce war of conquest.
Edicts of Ashoka (c. 260–232 BCE): Inscriptions on rocks and pillars across the Indian subcontinent in which Ashoka proclaimed his policy of dharma; they are among the earliest deciphered Indian texts.
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (c. 256–120 BCE): Hellenistic kingdom established when the satrap Diodotus broke away from the Seleucid Empire around 256 BCE, centred on Bactra (Balkh).
Great Stupa at Sanchi (c. 250 BCE): Buddhist stupa complex in central India begun under Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, later enlarged with elaborately carved gateways.
Lion Capital of Ashoka (c. 250 BCE): Polished sandstone sculpture of four lions from an Ashokan pillar at Sarnath; it was adopted as the national emblem of India in 1950.
Balkh (c. 247 BCE): Capital of Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (247 BCE–127 BCE), Sasanian Empire (215–643), Indo-Sasanian Empire (260–357).
Ajanta Caves (c. 200 BCE): Rock-cut Buddhist monasteries and prayer halls in Maharashtra built in two phases, from the 2nd century BCE and in the 5th century CE, famed for their murals.