An Indian dynasty which established an empire which flourished from the 4th to the 2nd century bc. The first Mauryan leader, Chandragupta, king of Magadha, was responsible for driving the Greeks out of India; his grandson Asoka who reigned from c270-232 bc is the ruler about whom most is known. At the height of its power the Mauryan empire extended over most of the Indian subcontinent except for the far south. Its capital was at Pataliputa (modern Patna) in northeast India.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied