In 322 BCE, following the disruption left in the wake of Alexander the Great’s incursions into the Indian subcontinent, Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire. This marked the beginning of one of India’s largest and most powerful empires, stretching at its zenith from the Himalayas to the Deccan Plateau. The reign of Chandragupta and his successors, most notably Ashoka the Great, was characterized by significant advancements in political organization, economic development, and the spread of Buddhism both within the empire and beyond its borders. The Maurya Empire’s legacy of unification, administration, and cultural proliferation left an indelible mark on the history of South Asia.
In the shadowed forests of the Late Carboniferous, long before mammals, birds, or even dinosaurs,
