మౌర్య సామ్రాజ్యం: కూర్పుల మధ్య తేడాలు

[[దస్త్రం:Emblem of India.svg|thumb|200px| A representation of the [[Lion Capital of Ashoka]], which was erected around [[250 BCE]]. It is the [[emblem of India]].]]

[[దస్త్రం:MauryaStatuettes.jpg|thumb|400px|Statuettes of the Maurya period, 4th-3rd century BCE. [[Musée Guimet]].]]

[[File:MauryanStatuette2ndCenturyBCE.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Maurya statuette, 2nd century BCE.]]

For the first time in [[South Asia]], political unity and military security allowed for a common economic system and enhanced trade and commerce, with increased agricultural productivity. The previous situation involving hundreds of kingdoms, many small armies, powerful regional chieftains, and internecine warfare, gave way to a disciplined central authority. Farmers were freed of tax and crop collection burdens from regional kings, paying instead to a nationally administered and strict-but-fair system of taxation as advised by the principles in the ''Arthashastra''. Chandragupta Maurya established a single currency across India, and a network of regional governors and administrators and a civil service provided justice and security for merchants, farmers and traders. The Mauryan army wiped out many gangs of bandits, regional private armies, and powerful chieftains who sought to impose their own supremacy in small areas. Although regimental in revenue collection, Maurya also sponsored many public works and waterways to enhance productivity, while internal trade in India expanded greatly due to new-found political unity and internal peace.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}