Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The Achaemenid legacy also had an indirect influence on the Mauryan Empire . . . In the late 300s, Chandragupta, starting from his base in eastern India, built an empire stretching all the way west into what are today parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. From the time of Chandragupta on, the Mauryan Empire adopted many Achaemenid practices, such as using Aramaic in official inscriptions and emulating the apadonas of Persian palaces." [Persian Empire, p. 169] "Under Chandragupta Maurya and his successors, internal and external trade, agriculture, and economic activities all thrived and expanded across South Asia due to the creation of a single and efficient system of finance, administration, and security. The Maurya dynasty built the Grand Trunk Road, one of Asia's oldest and longest trade networks, connecting the Indian subcontinent with Central Asia. After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced nearly half a century of centralized rule under Ashoka. . . . Ashoka's embrace of Buddhism and sponsorship of Buddhist missionaries allowed for the expansion of that faith into Sri Lanka, northwest India, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Egypt, and Hellenistic Europe." [Wikipedia]