Who was the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty?
- A.Dasharatha
- B.Samprati
- C.Brihadratha
- D.Shalishuka
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Brihadratha. He was the last of the Mauryas and was killed about 185 BCE by his own commander-in-chief Pushyamitra Sunga, who then founded the Sunga dynasty with its capital at Pataliputra. The event closes the Mauryan period in every standard chronology.
Option A, Dasharatha, was a grandson of Ashoka who ruled soon after him and who, like his grandfather, granted caves in the Nagarjuni hills to the Ajivikas. Option B, Samprati, is remembered in Jain tradition as a patron of that faith and is placed among the later Mauryas. Option D, Shalishuka, was another of the weak successors named in the Puranic lists. All three belong to the decline of the dynasty, but the ruler on the throne when it ended was Brihadratha.
Read the full article: Mauryan Empire: Ashoka, Edicts and Administration
Practice Questions
View allWho was sent by Seleucus Nicator as his ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya?
- A.Deimachus
- B.Megasthenes
- C.Dionysius
- D.Ptolemy
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After the treaty of about 305 BCE between Chandragupta Maurya and Seleucus Nicator, the Greek ruler sent Megasthenes to Pataliputra as his ambassador.
Read the full explanation →The Kalinga war and its aftermath are described in which of Ashoka's inscriptions?
- A.Major Rock Edict XII
- B.Major Rock Edict XIII
- C.Pillar Edict VII
- D.Minor Rock Edict I
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It is the longest of the fourteen major rock edicts and the only source in Ashoka's own words for the war on Kalinga, the number of people killed, deported and dead of other causes, and the remorse that turned him from conquest by arms to conquest by Dhamma.
Read the full explanation →The Brahmi script of the Ashokan inscriptions was deciphered in 1837 by
- A.Alexander Cunningham
- B.James Prinsep
- C.John Marshall
- D.William Jones
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Prinsep, an official of the mint at Calcutta and secretary of the Asiatic Society, worked out the values of the Brahmi letters in 1837 and so made Ashoka's edicts readable.
Read the full explanation →The Lion Capital adopted as the State Emblem of India was originally erected by Ashoka at
- A.Sanchi
- B.Sarnath
- C.Vaishali
- D.Lauriya Nandangarh
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The Sarnath capital has four lions standing back to back on an abacus that carries an elephant, a bull, a horse and a lion separated by wheels, the whole resting on an inverted lotus.
Read the full explanation →In Mauryan administration, the officer described as the chief collector of revenue was the
- A.Sannidhata
- B.Samaharta
- C.Rajuka
- D.Pradeshika
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In the Arthashastra the Samaharta is the officer in charge of assessing and collecting the revenue of the realm from land, mines, forests, trade routes and city dues, and of keeping the accounts of income and expenditure on which the state ran.
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