Chandragupta Maurya can be truly considered one of the greatest Empire builders in the history of India. His achievements, however, span more than mere Empire building. Here are some of his achievements.
- Built the first truly Pan Indian Empire- It was Chandragupta Maurya who truly laid the foundation of the Mauryan Empire. Bindusara did build upon his father’s achievement, but given that Chandragupta, towards the close of his reign, went to the present day Karnataka region, to retire suggests that the area was under his control. Asoka has only the Kalinga campaign to his credit. So Chandragupta can be assumed to be the real Empire builder in the Mauryan lineage.
- Administrative System: If we are to believe the “Arthashastra”, then the Mauryan State was administered by an elaborate bureaucracy. Most of this must have been in place from the time of Chandragupta Maurya himself.
- Patronising heterodox sects: The Mauryan tradition of patronising heterodox sects and not merely Brahmanism, began with Chandragupta. He himself is believed to have followed the Jaina tradition and to have performed Santhara towards the close of his reign.
- Patronising Arts: We haven’t received much evidence on the arts and sculpture from the time of Chandragupta. However, Mauryan art seems to have been fairly advanced during the time of Asoka, and this would mean that it was well patronised by his predecessors also. Thus Chandragupta Maurya could be credited with this.
- Contacts with outside powers: We know of the Mauryan contacts with powers outside the subcontinent. Though there is no evidence for this from Chandraguptas period, he must have begun the tradition.
Historical evidence doesn’t leave much to be desired from the period of Chandragupta Maurya. Information is scarce for Bindusara’s period and it is only when we reach Asoka’s time that information abounds. Thus we have to infer a lot based on the evidences we receive from the Asokan time. Even then Chandragupta Maurya seems to have achieved a lot for his time.