File:Maurya Empire, c.250 BCE.png

This is based on the map provided on p. 69 of Kulke, H.; Rothermund, D. (2004), A History of India, 4th, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-32920-0.

• According to the authors, the empty areas within the boundaries of the empire were the "autonomous and free tribes".
• For individual edicts, see also: Schwartzberg, J. E. (1992), A Historical Atlas of South Asia: University of Oxford Press; and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Edicts_of_Ashoka
• According to both Kulke & Rothermund (p. 68-71), as well as Stein (p. 74), large areas, especially in the Deccan peninsula, were probably occupied by fairly autonomous or even unconquered tribes.

  "Of course, it is not impossible that some may be still discovered but after more than a century of intensive research in this field it seems highly unlikely that the regional pattern mentioned above would have to be completely revised. This means that large parts of present Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh as well as Kerala and Tamil Nadu were not actually included in the Maurya empire. South of the Vindhya mountains the Mauryas mainly controlled the coastal areas and some of the interior near present Mysore which they probably coveted because of the gold which was found there (Suvarnagiri means ‘gold mountain’). For the empire it was essential to control the major trade routes. Most important was certainly the northern route which led from Pataliputra through the Gangetic plain and the Panjab to Afghanistan. Another led from Pataliputra west via Kausambi and then along the northern slope of the Vindhya mountains via Vidisha (Sanchi) and Ujjain to the port of Bharukacha (Broach). There was a further route from there along the west coast to the area of present Bombay where the great rock edicts of Sopara were found. Southern parts could be reached along the east coast or via a central route from Ujjain via Pratishthana (Paithan near Aurangabad) to Suvarnagiri."

• "The major part of the Deccan was ruled by [Mauryan administration]. But in the belt of land on either side of the Nerbudda, the Godavari and the upper Mahanadi there were, in all probability, certain areas that were technically outside the limits of the empire proper. Asoka evidently draws a distinction between the forests and the inhabiting tribes which are in the dominions (vijita) and peoples on the border (anta avijita) for whose benefit some of the special edicts were issued. Certain vassal tribes are specifically mentioned." (Raychaudhuri & Mukherjee pp. 275-6)
• "Desert of Gedrosia [...] was left an unclaimed wilderness." —Kosmin, Paul J. (2014), The Land of the Elephant Kings Space, Territory, and Ideology in the Seleucid Empire, Harvard University Press, p.16
• See also --Stein, Burton (1998). A History of India (1st ed.), Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. --Raychaudhuri, H. C.; Mukherjee, B. N. (1996). Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty. Oxford University Press.
• Background from http://www2.demis.nl/mapserver/mapper.asp
• Made with GIMP