| A | B |
|---|
| How did Chandragupta Maurya seize power? | He killded the Nanda family king and in 321 B.C., Chandragupta took the throne as his own. |
| How and when was north India united politically for the first time? | In 303 B.C., Chandragupta Maurya won enough battles so that the Mauryan Empire stretched more than 2000 miles and united the area for the first time. |
| How did Maurya finance his vast army? | The government levied heavy taxes: farmers paid up to 1/2 value of crops to the king; income from trading, mining, & manufacturing was taxed heavily, too. |
| Who was Kautilya and what was his importance to the Mauryan Empire? | He was an adviser to Chandragupta. He wrote the Arthasastra, telling how to hold a big empire together. |
| What advice did Kautilya give Chandragupta re: running a bureaucratic government? | He carefully chose officials & supervised them closely, divided the empire into 4 provinces headed by a royal prince, divided each province into local districts whose officials assessed taxes & enforced the law. |
| Who was Seleucus I? | He was one of Alexander the Great's generals. He had some problems with Chandragupta. |
| Who was Megasthenes? | He was an ambassador sent by Seleucus I to Chandragupta, and Megasthenes described the palace & lives of farmers. (173-74) |
| Who was Asoka? | Chandragupta's grandson who brought the Mauryan Empire to its greatest glory when he became king in 269 B.C.. |
| Why did Asoka turn to Buddhism? | He could not accept the deaths of 100,000 soldiers and even more civilians when he warred with Kalinga. He turned to nonviolence as a result. |
| How did Asoka improve travel along roads for his people? | Built roads, had trees planted on roads to provide shade, had wells dug every nine miles (with rest houses), watering places were made for animals. |
| What happened after Asoka died in 232 B.C.? | The empire began to break up. |
| What was the Andhra Dynasty? | This dynasty held the kingdoms of central India together for hundred of years. |
| How were new languages and customs added to the Indian culture in northern India? | Greeks, Persians, and Central Asians poured into northern India bringing new languages & customs with them. |
| By whom was India's second empire headed? | Chandra Gupta headed the Gupta Empire. |
| How did the first emperor of the Gupta Empire come to power? | Chandra Gupta I married the daughter of an influential royal family. In A.D. 320, he took title, "Great King of Kings". |
| Who was Samudra Gupta and what did he contribute to the Gupta Empire? | He was Chandra Gupta I's son; he became king in A.D.335; he expanded empire with 40 years of war. |
| How did most Indians in northern India live in India during the Gupta Empire? | They lived in small villages; craftspeople & merchants lived in special districts; most were farmers; most were patriarchal; highly taxed. |
| What was the pattern of life in southern India? | Some were matriarchal; sometimes throne passed on through female line. |
| What was the result of Chandra Gupta II's defeat of the Shakas? | It allowed the Guptas to be part of the trade between India and the Mediterranean area. |
| After Chandra Gupta II died, who threatened northern India? | The Hunas--fierce fighters--threatened the area. |
