The Advent of Mauryan Rule and the Sangam Period

The Nanda dynasty is overthrown by the Mauryas, who proceed to expand the Gangetic region’s influence through campaigns into present-day  Afghanistan, and Punjab and Gujarat in India. South of the Narmada River in India, however, their authority is transient, with independent polities existing in present-day Odisha. 

Iron Age settlements in the Deccan begin to enter global trade. Further south, the earliest Sangam texts begin to take shape in Tamil. These lay the foundation for many centuries of Tamil literature and aesthetics; and a number of groups participate in their making — from wandering bards to Buddhist and Jain monks, lay practitioners, and minor chiefdoms and small urban kingdoms.