The Land of the Elephant Kings

International Order in Ancient India

“…Instead, the Seleucids met with Subhagasena, who was the ruler of a northwestern state that had heretofore been a part of the Magadhan Empire. 19 In the meantime, the Mauryan dynasty collapsed while the Magadhan Empire continued to shrink to its original core as many erstwhile polities that were annexed by Magadha, such as Kalinga, reappeared. 20 The Bactrian-Greeks then descended into northwestern India after 181 BCE, and as "Indo-Greeks" reached Malwa in the south and Mathura in the east.…”

“…As a result of this politico-military encounter, the Seleucids ceded their domains in the Northwestern Indic mandala-Gandhara, southern Afghanistan, and Baluchistan-to the Magadhan-Mauryan Empire. 64 Most importantly, peace was maintained along their common frontier in the northwest over the next century (until the next Seleucid encounter with Subhagasena in 205 BCE). 65 Relative peace around this frontier for almost one century is noteworthy because this had been the zone of expansion from the sixth "Far Northwestern" mandala into the subcontinent before the Treaty of the Indus (~550-305 BCE), and because this was also the pathway for the post-Mauryan expansion of the Bactrian-Greeks, Scythians, Parthians, and Kushans (~200 BCE-200 CE).…”

Bridging Two Worlds: Comparing Classical Political Thought and Statecraft in India and China

“…Global IR calls for developing whole new theories and perspectives from other societies on their own terms. " 64 I would like to propose that Chinese and Indian scholars develop universal IR theories covering both Western and non-Western historical realities. That means our thinking should travel beyond China and India and produce a general framework for both analyzing and forecasting international changes on major issues.…”

“…As a result of this politico-military encounter, the Seleucids ceded their domains in the Northwestern Indic mandala-Gandhara, southern Afghanistan, and Baluchistan-to the Magadhan-Mauryan Empire. 64 Most importantly, peace was maintained along their common frontier in the northwest over the next century (until the next Seleucid encounter with Subhagasena in 205 BCE). 65 Relative peace around this frontier for almost one century is noteworthy because this had been the zone of expansion from the sixth "Far Northwestern" mandala into the subcontinent before the Treaty of the Indus (~550-305 BCE), and because this was also the pathway for the post-Mauryan expansion of the Bactrian-Greeks, Scythians, Parthians,.…”

“…The Treaty of the Indus between Ashoka's grandfather Chandragupta and the Seleucids was a pact between "equals" 74 as the Seleucids ceded territory to the Mauryas (in the Northwest) in exchange for five hundred war elephants, while the two sides also entered into a marriage pact. The subsequent exchange of envoys between the Hellenistic world and the Mauryas created a world of "peer polities" in South-Western Eurasia.…”