1. Spinning and weaving, especially of cotton fabrics, relying on the universal availability of cotton throughout India.
2. A great variety of cloth was produced in the country, ranging from the coarse fabrics used by the ordinary people for everyday use, to the very fine textures worn by the upper classes and the royalty.
3. The Arthasastra refers to the regions producing specialised textiles - Kasi (Benares), Vanga (Bengal), Kamarupa (Assam), Madurai and many others.
4. Each region produced many distinctive and specialised varieties of fabrics.
5. Cloth embroidered with gold and silver was worn by the King and members of the royal court.
6. Silk was known and was generally referred to as Chinese silk, which also indicates that extensive trade was carried on in the Mauryan Empire.

The defining event of Ashoka's rule was his campaign against Kalinga (present-day Odisha) in the eighth year of his reign. This is the only recorded military expedition of the Mauryas. The number of those killed in battle, those who died subsequently, and those deported ran into tens of thousands. The campaign had probably been more ferocious and brutal than usual because this was a punitive war against Kalinga, which had broken away from the Magadha Empire (the Hathigumpha inscription speaks of Kalinga as a part of the Nanda Empire). Ashoka was devastated by the carnage advised and aided by Chanakya, known for political manoeuvring, in governing his empire.

Alexander's invasion led to the establishment of Greek satrapies in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent.
1. Trade routes opened up with the West.
2. The Greek accounts of India provide valuable information but with a bit of exaggeration.
3. There were four different trade routes in use, which facilitated the movement of Greek merchants and craftsmen to India.

1. The mahajanapadas on the Gangetic plains were all monarchies.
2. The king was also the sovereign ruler.
3. The king levied taxes out of agricultural surplus and redistributed it and ensured maintenance of law and order in a hierarchical society by force and coercion.
4. These features marked the formation of state in the Gangetic plains.

1. Archaeology and epigraphy are the tools that provide rich information periods of history.
2. The Brahmi script of the inscriptions at Sanchi was deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837.
3. Excavations reveal the nature of urban morphology, that is, layout of the city and construction of buildings.
4. Epigraphical evidence is scanty for the period.
5. The most widely known are the edicts of Ashoka.