NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 6 The break-up of the Maurya empire — LET'S EXPLORE
Book page 118 Updated on2026-09-05
Q1.
Create a timeline on a sheet of paper marking the period from the first year of the 2nd century BCE and ending in the last year of the 3rd century CE. How many years does this period cover? As we progress through the chapter, mark the key individuals, kingdoms and events on the timeline.
Answer
The period covers 500 years.
First year of the 2nd century BCE = 200 BCE (BCE years count backwards: 200 → 101 BCE)
Last year of the 3rd century CE = 300 CE (CE years count forwards: 201 → 300 CE)
Years BCE: 200 + Years CE: 300 = 500 years
Check it yourself: do not subtract 200 from 300 and write 100. And do not add a year for ‘year 0' — there is no year 0. The count runs … 2 BCE, 1 BCE, 1 CE, 2 CE …
Here is the timeline of the chapter, drawn the way the book's own Fig. 6.28 (page 142) draws it. Copy the scale on your sheet — 1 cm for every 25 years works well — and add each name as you meet it.
The 500 years of the chapter, 200 BCE to 300 CE. Bars are approximate — the exact limits of each dynasty are debated, and the book's own timeline uses dashed ends for the same reason.
Try This: as you read on, add the events too — the Bharhut railings, the Naneghat toll caves, the Hāthīgumphā inscription, the building of the Kallaṇai, the Heliodorus pillar, and Kaṇiṣhka's coins.