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| Home > Indian Sculptures > Development of Sculptures > Maurya Empire
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| | Sculpture in Maurya Empire
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The Ancient Sculptures of Maurya Empire
Maurya is the ancient Indian dynasty started from 321 BCE, founded by Chandragupta  Maurya. After conquering the Magadha kingdom he established the capital of his reign at Pataliputra (now the Patna). Ashoka, the most notable and famous ruler from ancient India was from the Mauryan dynasty. During the reign of Bindusara, the son of Chandragupta Maurya, and his son, Ashoka for the first time in the history all India brought together with Afghanistan, under one rule. The cultural set-up of the Mauryan Empire represents in all respects the first great flowering of Indian civilization, until the coming of the Gupta dynasty.
The Mauryan Empire is marked for its great achievements in art, culture architecture and literature. It is said that during the reign of Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire reached at its zenith covering a large area under the rule. This period is also marked for the discovery of coins in all the regions, which cover modern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan Truly, this represents the glory of the mighty Mauryan empire. Although, the war of Kalinga had proved to be a turning point in the Indian history due to the far reaching consequence that were produced after it.
The rule of the Mauryan Empire regarded for the period of promotion in the Field of art and architecture. This mainly includes,
Stupa
Building stupa became an identity of Buddhist art in later period. But stupas were created first as symbol of artistic tradition in Mauryan dynasty. The stupas are solid dome like structure built with bricks and stones. Most of the stupas contain the relics of Buddha on it.
Pillars
 The Pillars were one of the major works done by Ashoka of Maurya dynasty. The monument at Sarnath having four lions on it is also a kind of pillar structure only. Besides these works of art, rock-cut caves, palaces and buildings constructed in Mauryan dynasty are also noted for the creative artwork.
At some of the places, Mauryan art reflected an influence of the sprit of the Persian and Hellenistic art, but while executing the sprit a perfect craftsmanship was acquired by the artist to being solely a Mauryan art. Using art for religious purpose, seen to be exhibited through the edicts on stone pillars, was new in that period. But acquired by Mauryan and it seems to be followed till today`s date. The outstanding level of craftsmanship & sculpturing highly denotes the success of Mauryan art. The pillars of monolithic and smooth columns having more than 50 ft (15 m) height and are carved with lotus capitals and animal figures on it denotes the artistic features of the period.
 Emperor Ashoka had prepared a code of laws that are noted even today for their humanity context. King Ashoka was very much influenced by Buddhist philosophy. Ashoka also erected hundreds of stone pillars that are marked for the sculptural beauty and built magnificent Buddhist stupas, which are dome shaped monuments. It is believed that Ashoka in total had erected almost 85,000 stupas and pillars. All these monuments are carved in stone and teachings of Buddhism engraved on them. After two thousand years from the period of its construction, today one can see ruins of them in most states of India including Gujrat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Tamilnadu.
Some of Ashoka`s edicts carved on pillars and rocks represent the earliest known epigraphs in our country. These pillars employs the architectural beauty is made out of shafts of sandstone. At most of the sculptures Buddhist symbols such as the wheel and the lion are carved. These pillars can be said as some of India`s earliest stone sculptures.
An another example of Mauryan period is the great stupa at Sanchi. It is perhaps the finest surviving relic of the Mauryan Empire. This great stupa is constructed as 54 feet in height and it is surrounded by exquisitely carved stone railings. But it is famous and notable due to the four gateways. Before this there was no such tradition of carving gateways. So, construction of gateways can be said as the unique architectural technique used by Mauryans.
 These gateways are elaborately carved and depicts various scenes from the life of Buddha and also about the lifestyle of people in that era. But among these, the most famous Lion-Capital (pillar of showing four-lions) in sandstone realistically represents the artistic achievements of Indian artists and patronage of their masters.
The Lion-Capital erected by Ashoka at Sarnath in Madhya Pradesh has become the national emblem of republic India. All the coins and currency notes of modern India have a four-lion symbol on it, is the same symbol.
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