🔆 Mauryan Period: Important Texts and Inscriptions 📍 Arthashastra ✅ Polity/Statecraft ✅ Author: Chanakya ✅ Description: Ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy, written in Sanskrit. 📍 Natural History ✅ Author: Pliny ✅ Description: Tells us about the strength of CGM’s army (600K infantry, 30K cavalry, 9K elephants) and about the flora, fauna, minerals, geography, etc., of India. 📍 Milind Panha ✅ Author: Nagasesena ✅ Description: Dialogue between Indo-Greek king Menander I and Nagasesena discussing Buddhism. 📍 Indica ✅ Author: Megasthenes ✅ Description: Survived in fragments, detailing Mauryan administration and military organization, particularly in Patliputra. 📍 Vinaya Pitaka ✅ Author: Upali ✅ Description: Written in Pali, deals with monastic rules for monks and nuns. 📍 Abhidhamma Pitaka ✅ Author: (Unknown) ✅ Description: Deals with philosophy and metaphysics. 🔆 Other Texts and Inscriptions 📍 Sutta Pitaka ✅ Author: Ananda ✅ Description: Written in Pali, deals with dialogues and discourses on morality and Dharma. 📍 Kalpasutra ✅ Author: Bhadrabahu ✅ Description: Written in Prakrit, deals with the life stories of the last two Jain Tirthankaras. 📍 Junagarh Rock Inscription ✅ Author: Rudradaman I ✅ Description: Credited with the first long inscription in chaste Sanskrit, mentions repairs to the Sudershana Lake. 📍 Shalihotra Samhita ✅ Author: Shalihotra ✅ Description: Deals with the anatomy of horses.