330 - 184 BC

• 326 BC Alexander enters India In 326 BC the Greek 'world conqueror' Alexander, defeats the persians under Darius III and passes the hindu kush pass, to enter India. He is welcomed by the ruler of Taxila (near present islamabad) but resisted elsewhere. Across the river Jhelum, he faced the indian rajah Porus. Alexander defeats Porus and is eagar to push on to conquer prosperous Magadha in the east. But before he gets there his tired and homesick soldiers revolt and force Alexander to turn back. Seleucus Nicator, one of the Generals is left in charge of the the Gandharan region (afghanistan and north-western India)

• 324 - 184 BC Mauryan Empire - the first true Empire of India

• 324 - 301 BC - Reign of Chandragupta Maurya With Seleucus caught up in interanal politics, India sees the rise of the first 'empire' of the subcontinent. Chandragupta Maurya, with the help of his advisor Kautilya (Chanakya), overthrows the Nanda ruler of Magadha and assumes power. He takes control of the Ganges region and continues to bring the Greek states of western India under his control. By 303 BC, the Mauryan king has control over a vast area of north India.. streching from Indus to Bay of Bengal. When Seleucus turned to regain the lost Greek states in India, he was defeated convincingly. This ended the Greek power in India. Chandragupta Maurya maintains good diplomatic relations with Greeks, sealing the treaty with marriage to Seleucus' daughter. Chandragupta lived in constant fear of revolt and assasination. Towards the end of his life he retired as a Jain monk in Jain monastry of Sravana Belgola. It is said there he fasted to death. His son Bindusara, takes over as king of Mauryas.

• 301 - 269 BC Bindusara as Mauryan king Bindusara does good as king, but will be eclipsed by the brilliance of his father and son. Bindusara not only maintains the boundries of the empire but also, expands it down south, all the way to Mysore. This brings almost the whole of Indian subcontinent under the Mauryan rule. Only exception are probably the tamil rulers of the south and the Kalinga empire (Orrisa).

• 269 - 232 BC Reign of Ashoka Probably the most well known ruler of ancient India. The highlight of his career happens in 261 BC - the Kalinga war. When Ashoka attacks Kalinga, it is told, 100,000 people are killed in the battlefield alone. The horror of this bloody war changes Ashoka.. he converts to Buddhism soon afterwards and switches from the path of war to dharma. Tolerance and mutual respect was to be the way of life in his empire. Under Ashoka, Buddhism grew to become a major religion and it spread beyond the boundries of his empire. He even sent his own son and daughter to Srilanka to spread the teachings.

• 232 BC - 184 BC Decline of Mauryan empire With the death of Ashoka in 232 BC, the empire begins to decline. Maintaining such a vast kingdom was too much of a task for the Mauryan successors. The remote states of the empire begin to operate ndependently, with the Mauryas maintaining a hold on the gangetic area. The end somes in 184 BC when the last emperor Brihadratha is murdered by his own commander Pushyamitra Shunga.