State · 322 – 185 BCE

Maurya Empire

A state of 322 – 185 BCE — 137 years in South Asia. It replaced Mahajanapadas and Nanda Empire. It was replaced by Indo-Scythian Kingdom, Shunga Empire and Satavahana dynasty and 1 more. The atlas records 5 things within it — people 5. Its line of rulers holds 9 people.

Wikidata's English label: Maurya empire.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 137 years; 322 BCE – 185 BCE
Rulers: 9; the Mauryan Emperor
Most ground: 3.95 million km²; in 256 BCE
Within it: 5; recorded rows

Map: Maurya Empire in 256 BCE, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Maurya Empire in 256 BCE, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 3.95 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Maurya Empire in 318 BCE, first mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Maurya Empire in 256 BCE, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

Mahajanapadas · replaces · 600 – 345 BCE
Nanda Empire · replaces · 345 – 321 BCE

After it

Indo-Scythian Kingdom · replaced by · 200 BCE – 400 CE
Satavahana dynasty · replaced by · 230 BCE – 220 CE
Shunga Empire · replaced by · 185 – 75 BCE
Mahameghavahana dynasty · replaced by · 250 BCE – 500 CE

Rulers

The line of Mauryan Emperor.

killed, executed or dead in battledied in officeending not on record

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Chandragupta Maurya	321 BCE – 297 BCE	24 years	died by suicideWikidata's manner of death
Bindusara	297 BCE – 273 BCE	24 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Ashoka	268 BCE – 232 BCE	36 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Dasharatha Maurya	232 BCE – 224 BCE	8 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone
Samprati	224 BCE – 215 BCE	9 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone
Salisuka	215 BCE – 202 BCE	13 years	ending not on record
Devavarman	202 BCE – 195 BCE	7 years	ending not on record
Satadhanvan	195 BCE – 187 BCE	8 years	ending not on record
Brihadratha Maurya	187 BCE – 180 BCE	7 years	killedWikidata's manner of death

9 rulers, 9 with terms dated as terms, covering 321 BCE – 180 BCE. Median reign 9 years. 0 of 8 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

2.12 million km² in 312 BCE, 1.14 million km² in 185 BCE; at its largest 3.95 million km² in 252 BCE. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

400 BCE – 301 BCE3 rows

Ashoka · ruler · 304 – 232 BCE
Chandragupta Maurya · ruler · 340 – 297 BCE
Bindusara · ruler · 320 – 273 BCE

300 BCE – 201 BCE2 rows

Dasharatha Maurya · ruler · 252 – 224 BCE
Brihadratha Maurya · ruler · 252 – 180 BCE

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood137 years
stood longer than 53% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held3,954,600 km²
held more ground at its peak than 96% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per centurynone
had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median9 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 31% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record9
has more rulers on record than 78% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 2 causes the record names and 4 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

linked

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Theories that apply to its ending

Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending and 2 some of them; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.

Dynastic cycle and the decay of group feeling
Ibn Khaldun 1377 · Turchin & Nefedov 2009
Applies by its own logic: the condition it names held here, and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — adverse regime change or the state's ending.
- the state 90 to 160 years old — ageBand 137

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 336 BCE – 171 BCE, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 256 BCE, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q62943 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.