Medieval History

Brihadratha Maurya was killed in 180 BCE and power usurped by his general, Pushyamitra Shunga, who then took over the throne and established the Shunga Empire.

Sher Shah is regarded as one of the greatest figures in Indian history, chiefly on account of his administrative reforms. He was the first Muslim ruler of India who displayed a real aptitude for civil government. His short rule was marked by many beneficent reforms in every branch of administration.

Din-i-Ilahi was a syncretic religious doctrine propounded by the emperor Jalalu d-Din Muhammad Akbar in year 1582 A.D., who ruled the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1605, intending to merge the best elements of the religions of his empire, and thereby reconcile the differences that divided his subjects.

The Battles of Tarain were fought in 1191 and 1192 between a Turkic Ghurid raiding force led by Sultan Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghauri and a Rajput army led by Prithviraj Chauhan. In the first of the two battles, Muhammad Ghauri was defeated, but left to flee by the Chauhan king.

The Sadak-e-Azam ('great road') is universally recognized as having been the precursor of the Grand Trunk Road. The road was initially built by Sher Shah to connect Agra, his capital, with Sasaram, his hometown.

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Seleucus dispatched an ambassador, Megasthenes, to Chandragupta, and later Antiochos sent Deimakos to his son Bindusara, at the Maurya court at Pataliputra (modern Patna in Bihar state).

Chandragupta Maurya was born in 340 BC in Pataliputra, in modern-day Bihar. His background is, however, uncertain. Some claim that he was born to a Nanda prince and his maid-servant, Mura, from the Shudra caste, while others state that he belonged to the Moriya tribe of Peacock-tamers.

The Mahavamsa suggests that Bindusara appointed his son Ashoka as the viceroy of Ujjayini. Ashokavadana states that Bindusara sent Ashoka to lay siege to Takshashila. The Emperor refused to provide any weapons or chariots for Ashoka's expedition.

The rock edict XIII gives a clue that Kalinga was a country previously unconquered, thus Ashoka's declaration of war was that of unprovoked aggression. The Kalinga war witnessed terrible manslaughter and destruction. Asoka’s victory in the Kalinga war followed by remorse. Victory of morality in India and among the Greeks (Yonas), as far as where the Greek kings Antiochus, Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas and Alexander rule.

And it is after Alexander's death in 323 B.C., that Chandragupta is said to have put an end to the Greek rule in northwest India, returned to Magadha, killed the Nanda king, and proclaimed the Maurya dynasty in 322 BC.

During his last days Chandragupta accepted Jainsim and spent his last days at Sravanabelagola with Bhadrabahu.

Bindusara was the second Mauryan emperor of India. He was the son of the dynasty's founder Chandragupta, and the father of its most famous ruler Ashoka.

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