The last Mauryan king was _____.

The correct answer is Brihatratha.

Key Points

• Chandragupta Maurya (321 BCE - 297 BCE):
  • Founder of the Maurya Dynasty and credited with the setting up of the first (nearly) pan-Indian empire.
  • Known as Sandrakottos to the Greeks and Androkottus by Aerian and Plutark. 
  • Kautilya mentored Chandragupta and prepared him for a takeover of Magadha.
  • Set up a vast centralized empire (details of whose functioning, society, military, and economy are well preserved in Kautilya's Arthashastra).
  • Defeated the invading army of the Eastern part of Alexander's empire Seleucus (305 BCE).​
  • Megasthenese was a Greek ambassador sent to the court of Chandragupta Maurya.
  • Chandragupta in his later years accepted Jainism.
• Bindusara (297 BCE - 273 BCE):
  • 2nd Mauryan Emperor of India and he was the son of Chandragupta Maurya.
  • Known as Amitrochates to the Greeks. In Jain texts, he was known as Simhasena.
  • Antiochus sent Deimachus as an ambassador to Bindusara's court.
  • Chanakya also remained the chief advisor of Bindusara.
  • Bindusara was an able monarch who was successful in consolidating the empire established by his father.
  • Bindusara patronized the Ajivikas.
• Ashoka the Great (268 BCE - 232 BCE):
  • 3rd king of the Mauryan Empire.
  • He was known for:
    • Renunciation of war after the Kalinga war.
    • Development of the concept of Dhamma (pious social conduct, welfare of humanity).
    • Promotion of Buddhism. 
    • Effective reign of a nearly pan-Indian political entity.
  • Under Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire stretched from modern-day Iran through almost the entirety of the Indian subcontinent.
  • Ashoka initially rules this vast empire through the political treatise's precepts known as the Arthashastra.
  • In his inscriptions, he was called Devanampriya or Devanapiyadasi.​
  • Most of the inscriptions were written in Prakrit language in Brahmi script except only two which was in Kharoshti script.
  • In 1837, James Prinsep become the 1st scholar who deciphered Ashoka's inscription.
• Brihadratha:
  • Last Mauryan ruler.
  • Assassinated by Pushyamitra Sunga and established his own Sunga dynasty.