Emperor Ashoka

1. One of the greatest emperors of all times, Emperor Asoka was a Mauryan ruler whose empire spread across the Indian subcontinent, stretching from the present day Pakistan and Afghanistan to Bangladesh and the Indian state of Assam to Kerala and Andhra in south India, thus covering a vast area. He is known as Asoka the Great since he was one of the most able rulers who ruled India. Under his rule, the entire India was united as one single entity wi .....

Early Life

2. Asoka was born in 304 BC, to Mauryan Emperor Bindusara and a relatively lower ranked queen, Dharma. The legend associated with the emperor goes that his birth had been predicted by Buddha, in the story of The Gift of Dust. Buddhist Emperor Ashoka had only one younger sibling, Vitthashoka, but, several elder half-brothers. Right from his childhood days Ashoka showed great promise in the field of weaponry skills as well as academics. .....

Accession to the Throne

3. Asoka quickly grew into an excellent warrior general and an astute statesman. His command on the Mauryan army started growing day by day and because of this, his elder brothers became suspicious of him being favored by Bindusara as the next emperor. The eldest son of Bindusara, Prince Susima, convinced him to send Asoka to Takshashila province (in Sindh) to control an uprising caused by the formation of different militias. However, the moment Ash .....

The Battle of Kalinga

4. The battle of Kalinga (now Orissa) became a turning point in the life of Asoka the Great. The exact reason for the battle is not known. However, it is believed that one of Ashokas brothers took refuge at Kalinga and this enraged Asoka, who launched a brutal assault on the province. The whole of the province was plundered and destroyed and thousands of people were killed. .....

Embracing Spreading Buddhism

5. It is said that after the battle of Kalinga was over, King Asoka went on a tour of the city. He could see nothing except burnt houses and scattered corpses. This was the first time in his life that Emperor Ashoka realized the consequences of wars and battles. It is said that even after he had returned to Patliputra, he was haunted by the scenes he saw in Kalinga. Even his queen, Devi, who was a Buddhist, left him after seeing the brutality at Kal .....

Policy

6. Buddhist Emperor Asoka built thousands of Stupas and Viharas for Buddhist followers. One of his stupas, the Great Sanchi Stupa, has been declared as a World Heritage Site by UNECSO. The Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath has a four-lion capital, which was later adopted as the national emblem of the modern Indian republic. Throughout his life, Asoka the Great followed the policy of nonviolence or ahimsa. Even the slaughter or mutilation of animals was aboli .....

The Life of Ashoka the Great

7. In the history of the world there have been thousands of kings and emperors who call themselves their highnesses, their majesties, and their exalted majesties and so on. They shone for a brief moment, and as quickly disappeared. But Ashoka shines and shines brightly like a bright star, even unto this day.Ashoka was the first ruler to unify all of India. He was also the first Buddhist King who after his conversion to Buddhism attempted to embrace .....

A Talented Military Leader

8. Ashoka was born in 304 BC. He was the son of the Mauryan Emperor Bindusara. He had one younger brother and also older half-brothers. Early on, he showed great promise. When he started showing success as a military leader, his older brothers began to fear that Ashoka would ascend to the throne.When an uprising occurred in the Takshashila province, Prince Susima suggested to his father that Ashoka would be the best person to deal with it. When news .....

Exile

9. In Kalinga, Ashoka fell in love with Kaurwaki who worked as a fisherwoman. She would later be one of his many wives.His exile was soon ended when there was an uprising in Ujjain Province. Emperor Bindusara now called Ashoka back from exile and sent him to Ujjain. This time there was a great battle and Ashoka was seriously hurt.During his recovery, he was overseen by Buddhist monks and nuns. It was during this time that he first learned about .....

Battle of Kalinga

10. So, when Ashoka was in his eighth year of rule, his wife Devi gave birth two twins: Prince Mahindra and Princess Sanghamitra.He also learned that one of his brothers was hiding in Kalinga. Ashoka was outraged that any place would aid his brother. He launched a full invasion of the province. In the fighting, thousands of people were killed and large areas of land were ravaged.After the battle, Ashoka decided to look over the destruction. The place .....

Conversion to Buddhism

11. It is said that his wife Devi accompanied him at Kalinga. She was so bothered by what she saw that she left his side. She ran away and never returned.Devi was Buddhist and perhaps this in combination with Ashokas memory of learning about Buddhist principles led him to change his ways.From this point on, he embraces Buddhism. He took on the Buddhists Radhaswami and Manjushri as his teachers. He decided that he would base the rest of his rule on Bu .....

The First Buddhist King

12. Ashoka now reversed course. He set free all of his prisoners and returned their property.There is a story that the pregnant wife of one of his brothers escaped the palace before she could be killed. The baby survived and was brought up by Buddhist monks and nuns. When the boy was 13, he was discovered by Ashoka who learned the boys identity. Ashoka, at this time, felt so much shame that he moved the boy and his mother to live in the palace.At thi .....

Great Public Works Projects

13. Ashoka now begins a massive public works project where he orders the creation of thousands of Buddhist buildings. He builds stupas which are mounds that house Buddhist relics and he builds viharas which are Buddhist monasteries. He orders the construction of roadhouses for travelers which are free of charge.He created edicts which protect wildlife against sport hunting and he promotes the vegetarianism. He initiates the building of universities, .....

Equality for All

14. Ashoka takes the very innovative position of protecting minority interests in India. He required nonviolence as well as loerance of all other religions and all opinions.Dharmashoka also defined the main principles of dharma as nonviolence, tolerance of all sects and opinions, obedience to parents and other religious teachers and priests, liberality toward friends, humane treatment of servants, and generosity towards all. .....

Legacy of Ashoka

15. The reign of Ashoka Mauryan could easily have disappeared into history as the ages passed by, and would have, if hadnt he left behind a record of his trials. The testimony of this king was discovered in the form of magnificently sculpted pillars and boulders with the actions and teachings he wished to be published etched into the stone. What Ashoka left behind was the first written language in India since the ancient city of Harrapa. Rather than .....

Ashoka the Terrible

16. For the first eight years of his reign, Ashoka waged near-constant war. He had inherited a sizable empire, but he expanded it to include most of the Indian subcontinent, as well as the area from the current-day borders of Iran and Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh and the Burmese border in the east. Only the southern tip of India and Sri Lanka remained out of his reach, plus the kingdom of Kalinga on the northeast coast of India.In 265, Ashok .....

Lion Capital of Asoka

17. The Lion capital of Ashoka is a sculpture of four Indian lions standing back to back. It was originally placed atop the A?oka pillar at Sarnath, now in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The pillar, sometimes called the A?oka Column is still in its original location, but the Lion Capital is now in the Sarnath Museum. This Lion Capital of Ashoka from Sarnath has been adopted as the National Emblem of India and the wheel Ashoka Chakra from its base .....

Ashokstambha

18. The pillars of Ashoka are a series of columns dispersed throughout the northern Indian subcontinent, and erected by Ashoka during his reign in the 3rd century BCE. Originally, there must have been many pillars of Ashoka although only ten with inscriptions still survive. Averaging between forty and fifty feet in height, and weighing up to fifty tons each, all the pillars were quarried at Chunar, just south of Varanasi and dragged, sometimes hundre .....

Ashoka Chakra

19. The Ashoka Chakra (the wheel of Ashoka) is a depiction of the Dharmachakra (see Dharmacakra) or Dhammachakka in Pali, the Wheel of Dharma (Sanskrit: Chakra means wheel). The wheel has 24 spokes which represent the 12 Laws of Dependent Origination and the 12 Laws of Dependent Termination. The Ashoka Chakra has been widely inscribed on many relics of the Mauryan Emperor, most prominent among which is the Lion Capital of Sarnath and The Ashoka Pilla .....

As Administrator

20. Ashokas military power was strong, but after his conversion to Buddhism, he maintained friendly relations with three major Tamil kingdoms in the South namely Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas, the post Alexandrian empire, Tamraparni, and Suvarnabhumi. His edicts state that he made provisions for medical treatment of humans and animals in his own kingdom as well as in these neighbouring states. He also had wells dug and trees planted along the roads for .....

Rise to Power

21. The Buddhist text Divyavadana describes Ashoka putting down a revolt due to activities of wicked ministers. This may have been an incident in Bindusaras times. Taranathas account states that Chanakya, one of Bindusaras great lords, destroyed the nobles and kings of 16 towns and made himself the master of all territory between the eastern and the western seas. Some historians consider this as an indication of Bindusaras conquest of the Deccan whil .....

Perceptions

22. The use of Buddhist sources in reconstructing the life of Ashoka has had a strong influence on perceptions of Ashoka, as well as the interpretations of his Edicts. Building on traditional accounts, early scholars regarded Ashoka as a primarily Buddhist monarch who underwent a conversion to Buddhism and was actively engaged in sponsoring and supporting the Buddhist monastic institution. Some scholars have tended to question this assessment. The on .....

Foci of debate

23. Recently scholarly analysis determined that the three major foci of debate regarding Ashoka involve the nature of the Maurya empire; the extent and impact of Ashokas pacifism, and what is referred to in the Inscriptions as dhamma or dharma, which connotes goodness, virtue, and charity. Some historians have argued that Ashokas pacifism undermined the military backbone of the Maurya empire, while others have suggested that the extent and impact of .....

Death of Ashoka

24. Ashoka ruled for over 40 years. 50 years after his death, the Mauryan Empire came to an end. He had numerous wives and many heirs but most of their names are lost. Buddhism did not, of course, stay the state religion of India. Still, empowered by Ashoka, Buddhism quickly spread outside of Indias borders into Southeast Asia.Today, the Ashokra Chakra, the Wheel of Dharma, is featured on the national flag of India. Ashoka used this image on many of .....