MCQ
Q.
A type of court called 'Kantakasodhana' was prevalent in the ______ Empire.
Correct Answer: D
The correct answer is Mauryan Empire.
Key Points
- In the Mauryan empire Kautilya refers to two types of courts :
- Dharmasthiyas (dealt with civil matters).
- Kantakasodhana(dealt with criminal matters).
Additional Information
- Mauryan Empire (321 BCE - 185 BCE):
- Chandragupta Maurya (321 BCE - 297 BCE):
- Founder of the Maurya Dynasty and credited with the setting up of the first (nearly) pan-Indian empire.
- Known as Sandrakottos to the Greeks and Androkottus by Aerian and Plutark.
- William Jones was the 1st scholar who recognized Sandrokottos as Chandragupta Maurya.
- Kautilya mentored Chandragupta and prepared him for a takeover of Magadha.
- Set up a vast centralized empire (details of whose functioning, society, military, and economy are well preserved in Kautilya's Arthashastra).
- Defeated the invading army of the Eastern part of Alexander's empire Seleucus (305 BCE).
- Megasthenese was a Greek ambassador sent to the court of Chandragupta Maurya.
- Chandragupta in his later years accepted Jainism.
- Accompanied Bhadrabahu to Karnataka and later died by following the ritual of sallekhana, i.e., fasting till death.
- Bindusara (297 BCE - 273 BCE):
- 2nd Mauryan Emperor of India and he was the son of Chandragupta Maurya.
- Known as Amitrochates to the Greeks. In Jain texts, he was known as Simhasena.
- Antiochus sent Deimachus as an ambassador to Bindusara's court.
- Chanakya also remained the chief advisor of Bindusara.
- Bindusara was an able monarch who was successful in consolidating the empire established by his father.
- Bindusara patronized the Ajivikas.
- Ashoka the Great (268 BCE - 232 BCE):
- 3rd king of the Mauryan Empire.
- He was known for:
- Renunciation of war after the Kalinga war.
- Development of the concept of Dhamma (pious social conduct, welfare of humanity).
- Promotion of Buddhism.
- Effective reign of a nearly pan-Indian political entity.
- Under Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire stretched from modern-day Iran through almost the entirety of the Indian subcontinent.
- Ashoka initially rules this vast empire through the political treatise's precepts known as the Arthashastra.
- In his inscriptions, he was called Devanampriya or Devanapiyadasi.
- Most of the inscriptions were written in Prakrit language in Brahmi script except only two which were in Kharoshti script.
- In 1837, James Prinsep become the 1st scholar who deciphered Ashoka's inscription.
- Brihadratha:
- Last Mauryan ruler.
- Assassinated by Pushyamitra Sunga and established his own Sunga dynasty.
- Chandragupta Maurya (321 BCE - 297 BCE):