He further reported that agriculture was healthy, water abundant and mineral wealth was in plenty. Speaking of the general prosperity, Megasthenes wrote, "the Indians, dressed in bright and rich colors, they liberally used ornaments and gems." He also spoke of the division of society according to occupation and the large number of religious sects and foreigners in the empire.

 

India attained political unity for the first time under Chandragupta. He laid the foundations of a powerful empire. Chandragupta was, according to folklore, assisted by a Brahmin called Vishnugupta, also known as Kautilya or Chanakya, who is credited with the authorship of Arthashastra the famous work on ancient Indian statecraft. Meghasthenes, a Greek traveller visited India at this time and although only fragments of his travelogue - Indica are available to us, his account supplements the information provided by the Arthashastra and the other literary sources about governance and social life during the Maurya period.

Maurya empire was the first really large and powerful centralised state in India. It was very well governed, with tempered autocracy at the top and democracy at the city and village levels. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador at the court of Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, had expressed his admiration for the efficient administration of the empire. His book 'Indica' is a collection of comments of other Roman & Greek travelers, and Megasthenes wrote about the prosperity of the Mauryan cities.

Chandragupta Maurya's son Bindusara became the new Mauryan Emperor by inheriting an empire including the Hindukush, Narmada, Vindhyas, Mysore, Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Baluchistan & Afghanistan.

Photo courtesy of Amar Chitra Katha.


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