The Mauryan Polity c6.s3.t2.1

c6.s3.t2.1

What the terms ‘Empire’ and ‘Imperial sway’ connoted in those ancient days is too intricate a question to answer with any satisfaction. The remarks of a recent writer seem apposite. “The connotation of the word Empire is such that it cannot be used in Indian history without giving a misleading view of the course of that history. The Roman Empire meant the establishment of the *Pax Romana*, the gradual extension of Roman citizenship, the institution of Roman jurisprudence, and the spread of the Latin tongue. The British Empire means the establishment of British methods of the maintenance of law and order, the use of the English language for purposes of administration, the spread of English schools and universities, the wide extension of British commerce, the starting of Christian propaganda, and the slow development of British democratic institutions. The establishment of empire in ancient India meant none of these things."¹