Ashoka
the great
Ashoka Maurya
commonly known as Ashoka and
also as Ashoka the Great, was an
Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE. One
of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over a realm that stretched from
the Hindu Kush mountains in the west to Bengal in the East and covered the entire Indian subcontinent except parts of present day Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The empire's capital was Pataliputra (in Magadha, present-day Bihar), with provincial capitals at Taxila and Ujjain.
In
about 260 BCE Ashoka waged a bitterly destructive war against the state of Kalinga (modern Odisha). He conquered Kalinga, which none
of his ancestors had done. He embraced Buddhism after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest.
"Ashoka reflected on the war in Kalinga, which reportedly had resulted in
more than 100,000 deaths and 150,000 deportations." Ashoka converted
gradually to Buddhism beginning about 263 BCE. He was later dedicated to the
propagation of Buddhism across Asia, and established monuments marking several
significant sites in the life of Gautama Buddha. "Ashoka regarded Buddhism as a doctrine that could
serve as a cultural foundation for political unity." Ashoka is now
remembered as a philanthropic administrator. In the Kalinga edicts, he addresses
his people as his "children", and mentions that as a father he
desires their good.
Ashoka
is referred to as Samraat Chakravartin Ashoka – the "Emperor of
Emperors Ashoka." His name "Aśoka" means "painless, without
sorrow" in Sanskrit (the a privativum and śoka "pain,
distress"). In his edicts, he is referred to as Devānāmpriya (Pali Devānaṃpiya or "The Beloved of the
Gods"), and Priyadarśin (Pali Piyadasī or "He who
regards everyone with affection"). His fondness for his name's connection
to the Saraca asoca tree, or the "Ashoka
tree" is also referenced in the Ashokavadana.
H.G. Wells wrote of Ashoka in his book The Outline of
History:
"Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns
of history, their majesties and graciousnesses and serenities and royal
highnesses and the like, the name of Ashoka shines, and shines, almost alone, a
star." Along with the Edicts of Ashoka, his legend is related in the
2nd-century Ashokavadana ("Narrative of Ashoka,"
a part of Divyavadana), and in the Sri Lankan text Mahavamsa ("Great Chronicle"). The emblem of the
modern Republic of India is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of
Ashoka.
