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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Examine the importance of Ashoka’s Rock Edit XIII for determining the extent of the Maurya Empire. Did Ashoka’s policies and reforms contribute to the fall of the empire?

  • UPSC 1993
  • Mauryan Empire

Reconstructing the physical boundaries of an empire that left behind no maps and only fragmentary chronicles depends heavily on the find-spots and content of its inscriptions. Among these, Rock Edict XIII (RE XIII) occupies a singular place — it names, in a single breath, both the independent peoples on the empire's margins and the distant…

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What the full answer covers

  • RE XIII as a Map of Exclusion
  • The Pacifism Thesis and Its Limits
  • The Wider Decline Debate

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