Abstract:

This dissertation questions conceptual definitions of pre-modern imperial polities as territorial entities, by examining the relationship the North Indian Mauryan polity (c. 320-180 BC) and the Southern Deccan through both archaeological and historical perspectives. In doing so, this project engages with a number of broader discussions concerned with early imperial models, the idea of the periphery, the construction of historical knowledge about early India, and the relationship between material and literary records in the South Asian context. The approach taken in this dissertation focuses on the processes and relationships of imperialism rather than the notion of concrete boundaries, and also provides a broader view of early empires that looks beyond individual dynastic sequences to consider long-term processes of social development and interregional interaction. The evidence presented in this work supports a view of Mauryan imperialism as a series of networks and relationships that extended from a core territory in the Ganga valley to remote parts of the Indian subcontinent such as the Southern Deccan. The presence of Asokan edicts, and some isolated numismatic finds attest to some form of interaction between agents of the Mauryan empire and certain locations in the Southern Deccan. However, it is clear that in general, inhabitants continued to follow previously established regional and local traditions of political, social and economic life, remaining largely independent of Mauryan influence or control. The network perspective presented in this dissertation suggests that the nature of Mauryan imperialism in the Southern Deccan consisted of--possibly tenuous--relationships between various Mauryan representatives and certain territorial polities in the region. These relationships may not have involved political domination but may instead have been composed of more informal networks of exchange and propaganda. At the same time, these autonomous territorial polities would have been engaged in their own regional networks that linked settlement centers or "nodes" into patterns that would endure for centuries. Over time, these networks and patterns extended to form relationships with other networks, eventually connecting parts of South Asia to one another, and to the wider world.