Mauryan polish describes one of the frequent characteristics of architecture and sculptures of the Maurya Empire in India (325 to 185 BCE), which gives a very smooth and shiny surface to the stone material, generally of sandstone or granite. Mauryan polish is found especially in the Ashoka Pillars as well as in some constructions like the Barabar Caves. The technique did not end with the empire, but continued to be "used on occasion up to the first or second century A.D.", although the presence of the polish sometimes complicates dating, as with the Didarganj Yakshi. According to the archaeologist John Marshall: the "extraordinary precision and accuracy which characterizes all Mauryan works, and which has never, we venture to say, been surpassed even by the finest workmanship on Athenian buildings".

The Barabar caves are the first known and dated example of Mauryan polish, dedicated by Ashoka in several inscriptions, in the year 12 and the year 19 of his reign. The caves were carved from granite, an extremely hard rock, and finished with a very fine polishing of the inner surface, giving a mirror effect of great flatness, as well as an echo effect. This large-scale polish directly evokes polishing on smaller surfaces of the Maurya statuary, particularly visible on the pillars and capitals of the pillars of Ashoka.

The knowledge and skills for such polishing seems to have disappeared again after the Maurya period, as subsequent caves, such as the Ajanta Caves, do not have polished surfaces.

At Barabar Caves, some caves were dedicated through inscription by Ashoka (the caves of the Barabar group), and by his grandson and successor Dasaratha Maurya (the caves of the Nagarjuni group). Both group of caves have perfectly polished walls, suggesting that polishing techniques were not exclusive to Ashoka, and continued for some time after his reign.

After the Barabar Caves, the polishing of cave walls was abandoned, never to be revived, despite the huge efforts at building Buddhist and Jain caves until the 6th century CE. Such grandiose caves as Karla Caves (1st century CE) or the Ajanta Caves (5th century CE) do not have any polishing either. This may be due to the fact that Mauryan caves were dedicated and sponsored by the Mauryan Imperial government, allowing for huge resources and efforts to be spent, whereas later caves where essentially the result of donations by individuals, who could not afford as high a level of spending.

The pillars of Ashoka, made of sandstone, generally also exhibit a high level of Mauryan polish. Here again the mirror-like polish has generally been considered as an import from the Near-East, but some authors now consider the Son Bhandar Caves might constitute a precedent and an evolutionary step to this type of polish, although these caves are generally dated to a much later period (2-4th century CE).

All known Mauryan pillars have the characteristic mirror-like polish, although most were left unpolished over the surface of the bottom part meant to be buried in the ground.

Inscriptions were made over the polished finish, with the ungainly result that the polished stone is chipped around the letters. Normally, the text should be inscribed first, and only then should the stone be polished if a good result is to be obtained. This tends to suggest that the inscriptions were made as an afterthought, after the pillar has been properly completed.