Ashoka the Great

Ashoka From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Asoka redirects here. For new(prenominal) uses, seeAshoka (disambiguation). Ashoka the peachy MauryanSamrat pic A Chakravatin (possibly Ashoka) first century BC/CE.Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati. Preserved at Musee Guimet loom 273-232 BC Coronation 270 BC Full call Ashoka Bindusara Maurya Titles Samrat.Other titles include Devanampriya Priyadarsi, Dhammarakhit, Dharmarajika, Dhammarajika, Dhammaradnya, Chakravartin, Samrat, Radnyashreshtha, Magadhrajshretha, Magadharajan, Bhupatin, Mauryaraja, Aryashok, Dharmashok, Dhammashok, Asokvadhhan , Ashokavardhan, Prajapita,Dham mankindayak, Dharmanayak innate(p) 304 BC Birthplace Pataliputra,Patna Died 232 BC (aged 72) Place of death Pataliputra,Patna Buried Ashes immersed in theGangesRiver, possibly atVaranasi,Cremated232 BC, less than 24 hours after death Predecessor Bindusara surrogate Dasaratha Maurya Consort Maharani Devi Wives RaniTishyaraksha RaniPadmavati RaniKaurwaki Offspring Mahendra,Sanghamitra,Teevala, Kunala lofty House Mauryan dynasty Father Bindusara Mother Rani Dharma or Shubhadrangi Religious Buddhism,Humanism beliefs Ashoka(Devanagari ,IASTAsoka,IPAa o? k? , 304232 BC), touristedly known asAshoka the Great, was anIndianemperorof theMaurya Dynastywho command almost on the whole of theIndian subcontinentfrom 269 BC to 232 BC. One of Indias greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned everyplace most of presend-day India after a number of military conquests. His conglomerate stretched from present-dayPakistan,Afghanistanin the west, to the present-dayBangladeshand the Indian postulate ofAssamin the east, and as far-off s asideh as northernKeralaandAndhra. He conquered the soil namedKalinga, which no virtuoso in his dynasty had conquered starting fromChandragupta Maurya. His reign was headquartered inMagadha(present-dayBihar, India). 1He embracedBuddhismfrom the prevalentVedictradition after witnessing the fortune dea ths of thewar of Kalinga, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest. He was ulterior dedicated to the propagation of Buddhism acrossAsiaand established monuments marking several authoritative sites in the life ofGautama Buddha. Ashoka was a devotee ofahimsa(nonviolence),love,truth,toleranceandvegetarianism. Ashoka is remembered in history as aphilanthropicadministrator. In thehistory of IndiaAshoka is referred to asSamraatChakravartinAshoka- the Emperor of EmperorsAshoka. His name asoka inwardness without sorrow inSanskrit(a= no/without, soka= sorrow or worry).In hisedicts, he is referred to as Devanampriya (Devanagari )/Devana? iyaor The Beloved Of The Gods, and Priyadarsin (Devanagari )/Piyadassior He who regards every ane with affection. A nonher title of his is Dhamma (prakrit ), Lawful, Religious, moral. RenownedBritishauthor andsocial criticH. G. Wellsin his bestselling twain-volume work,The Outline of History(1920), wrote of emperor Ashoka In the history of the world in that respect drive home been thousands of kings and emperors who called themselves t heritor highnesses, their majesties, and their exalted majesties and so on. They sh champion for a brief moment, and as quickly disappe atomic number 18d. But Ashoka shines and shines brightly like a bright star, even unto this day.Along with the revises of Ashoka, his falsehood is related in the later second centuryAsokavadana(Narrative of Asoka) andDivyavadana( overlord narrative), and in theSri LankantextMahavamsa(Great Chronicle). subsequently two thousand years, the influence of Ashoka is seen inAsiaand especially theIndian subcontinent. An emblem excavated from his imperium is today the nationalEmblem of India. In theHistory of BuddhismAshoka is considered upright afterGautama Buddha. content show Biography Early life pic This nameneeds additionalcitationsforverification. ravish helpimprove this articleby addingreliable references.Un semend material whitethorn bechallengedandremoved. (January 2009) Ashoka was born to theMauryanemperorBindusaraand his Queen Dharma (although she was aBrahminor Shubhadrangi, she was beneathvalued as she wasnt of royal blood). Ashoka had several elderberry bush siblings (all half-brothers from other wives of Bindusara). He had right one younger sibling, Vitthashoka (a much loved brother from the same mother). Because of his symbolic intellect and warrior s pop outs, he was tell to redeem been the favorite of his grand yieldChandragupta Maurya. As the legend goes, when Chandragupta Maurya left his empire for aJainliving, he threw his makeaway. Ashoka ound the s al-Quran and kept it, in spite of his grandfathers warning. Ashoka, in his adolescence, was rude and naughty.He was a fearsome hunter. He was akshatriyaand was given all royal military trainings and otherVedicknowledge. According to a legend, he killed a Lion with just a wooden rod. Ashoka was very well known for his sword fighting. He was very a dventurous and this make him a terrific fighter. Ashoka was a terrorization warrior and a heartless familiar. Because of this quality he was sent to destroy the tumult ofAvanti. Rise to power pic pic Maurya Empireat the age of Ashoka. The empire stretched fromIrantoBangladesh/Assamand from key Asia(Afganistan) toTamil Nadu/South India.Developing into an impeccable warrior general and a shrewd statesman, Ashoka went on to command several regiments of the Mauryan army. His growing popularity across the empire made his elder brothers wary of his chances of being favored byBindusarato become the near emperor. The first of them,Susima, the traditional heir to the throne, persuaded Bindusara to send Ashoka to quell an uprising inTaxshila, a urban center in the north-west District of Pakistani Punjab region, for which Prince Susima was the Governor. Taxshila was a highly volatilisable place because of the war-like Indo-Greek population and mismanagement by Susima himself. This had le d to the formation of unalike militias causing unrest. Ashoka complied and left for the troubled area.As news of Ashokas visit with his army trickled in, he was welcomed by the revolting militias and the uprising ended without a conflict. (The province revolted one time more during the rein in of Ashoka, exclusively this time the uprising was crushed with an squeeze fist) Ashokas success made his stepbrothers more wary of his intentions of becoming the emperor and more incitements from Susima led Bindusara to send Ashoka into exile. He went intoKalingaand stayed on that point incognito. There he met a fisher woman namedKaurwaki, with whom he fell in love. Recently demonstrate inscriptions indicate that she would later become either his second or terzetto queen. Mean mend, there was again a violent uprising inUjjain.Emperor Bindusara summoned Ashoka out of exile after two years. Ashoka went into Ujjain and in the ensuing battle was injured, nevertheless his generals quelle d the uprising. Ashoka was toughened in hiding so that loyalists of the Susima theme could not harm him. He was treated byBuddhistmonks and nuns. This is where he first gibeed the teachings of theBuddha, and it is overly where he met Devi, who was his personal nurse and the daughter of a merchant from adjacent Vidisha. subsequently recovering, he married her. It was quite unimaginable to Bindusara that one of his sons should marry a Buddhist, so he did not suffer Ashoka to stay inPataliputrabut kind of sent him back to Ujjain and made him the governor of Ujjain.The following year passed quite peacefully for him, and Devi was about to come back his first child. In the meanwhile, Emperor Bindusara died. As the news of the unborn heir to the throne spread, Prince Susima planned the execution of the unborn child however, the assassin who came to kill Devi and her child killed his mother instead. Ashoka beheads his elder brother to ascend the throne. In this cast of his life, A shoka was known for his unquenched thirst for wars and campaigns launched to conquer the lands of other rulers and became known as Chandashok (terrible Ashoka), the Sanskrit wordchandameaning cruel, fierce, or rude,Chandi-devi being associated withKali.Ascending the throne, Ashoka expanded his empire over the next eight years, from the present-day boundaries and regions ofBurmaBangladeshand the state ofAssamin India in the east to the territorial dominion of present-dayIran/PersiaandAfghanistanin the west from thePamirKnots in the north almost to the peninsular ofsouthern India(i. e. Tamilnadu/Andhra pradesh). Conquest of Kalinga Main articleKalinga warfare While the archeozoic part of Ashokas reign was apparently quite bloodthirsty, he became a accomplice of theBuddhas teaching after his conquest of Kalinga on the east coast of India in the present-day state ofOrissa. Kalinga was a state that prided itself on its sovereignty and democracy. With its monarchical parliamentary dem ocracy it was quite an exception in antediluvian Bharata where there existed the concept ofRajdharma. Rajdharma inwardness the duty of the rulers, which was intrinsically entwined with the concept of bravery andKshatriyadharma.The pretence for the start of theKalinga War(265 BC or 263 BC) is uncertain. One of Susimas brothers might have fled to Kalinga and found official refuge there. This enraged Ashoka immensely. He was advised by his ministers to attack Kalinga for this act of treachery. Ashoka hence asked Kalingas royalty to submit before his supremacy. When they defied this diktat, Ashoka sent one of his generals to Kalinga to make them submit. The general and his forces were, however, completely routed through the skilled discretion of Kalingas commander-in-chief. Ashoka, baffled at this defeat, attacked with the greatest invasion ever recorded in Indian history until then.Kalinga put up a stiff resistance, but they were no match for Ashokas brutal strength. The whole of K alinga was plundered and destroyed. Ashokas later edicts state that about 100,000 people were killed on the Kalinga side and 10,000 from Ashokas army. Thousands of men and women were deported. Buddhist diversity pic This articleneeds additionalcitationsforverification. Please helpimprove this articleby addingreliable references. Unsourced material may bechallengedandremoved. (March 2009) pic pic A exchangeable four-spot Indian lion Lion Capital of Ashoka atop an ntactAshoka towboatat Wat U Mong near Chiang Mai,Thailandshowing another largerDharma Chakra/Ashoka Chakraatop the four lions thought to be missing in the Lion Capital of Ashoka atSarnath Museumwhich has been adopted as theNational Emblem of India. As the legend goes, one day after the war was over, Ashoka ventured out to roam the city and all he could see were burnt houses and scattered corpses. This sight made him toss and he cried the famous monologue What have I done? If this is a victory, whats a defeat then? Is this a victory or a defeat? Is this justice or injustice? Is it gallantry or a rout? Is it valor to kill innocent children and women? Do I do it to widen the empire and for prosperity or to destroy the others kingdom and lustre?One has lost her husband, soul else a father, someone a child, someone an unborn infant. Whats this debris of the corpses? Are these marks of victory or defeat? Are these vultures, crows, eagles the messengers of death or evil? The brutality of the conquest led him to adopt Buddhism and he used his position to propagate the comparatively new religion to new heights, as far as ancient Rome and Egypt. He made Buddhism his state religion around 260 BC, and propagated it and preached it inwardly his do important and worldwide from about 250 BC. Emperor Ashoka undoubtedly has to be credit with the first serious attempt to develop a Buddhist policy. pic pic Ashokan lynchpin atVaishaliProminent in this cause were his son VenerableMahindraand daughterSanghamit ra(whose name means friend of the Sangha), who established Buddhism in Ceylon (nowSri Lanka). He built thousands of Stupas and Viharas for Buddhist followers. The Stupas of Sanchi are world famous and the stupa namedSanchi Stupawas built by Emperor Ashoka. During the remaining plenty of Ashokas reign, he pursued an official policy ofnonviolence(ahimsa). Even the needless slaughter or mutilation of people was immediately abolished. Everyone became protected by the kings practice of lawagainst sport hunting and branding. Limited hunting was permitted for consumption reasons but Ashoka also promoted the concept of vegetarianism.Ashoka also showed mercy to those imprisoned, allowing them leave for the outside a day of the year. He attempted to raise the professional ambition of the common man by building universities for study, and water transit and irrigation systems for trade and agriculture. He treated his subjects as equals regardless of their religion, politics and caste. The kin gdoms surrounding his, so easily overthrown, were instead made to be well-respected allies. He is acclaimed for constructing hospitals for animals and renovating major roads end-to-end India. After this transformation, Ashoka came to be known as Dhammashoka (Sanskrit), meaning Ashoka, the follower of Dharma.Ashoka defined the main principles of dharma (dhamma) as nonviolence, tolerance of all sects and opinions, obedience to parents, respect for the Brahmans and other spiritual teachers and priests, liberality towards friends, gentlemane treatment of servants, and generosity towards all. These principles suggest a general ethic of behaviour to which no religious or social group could object. Some critics say that Ashoka was afraid of more wars, but among his neighbors, including theSeleucid Empireand the Greco-Bactrian kingdom established byDiodotus I, none could match his strength. He was a contemporary of bothAntiochus I Soterand his successorAntiochus II Theosof the Seleucid d ynasty as well asDiodotus Iand his sonDiodotus IIof the Greco-Bactrian kingdom.If his inscriptions and edicts are well studied one finds that he was familiar with the Hellenic world but never in awe of it. His edicts, which talk of friendly relations, give the label of both Antiochus of the Seleucid empire andPtolemy IIIofEgypt. The fame of theMauryanempire was widespread from the time that Ashokas grandfatherChandragupta MauryadefeatedSeleucus Nicator, the founder of the Seleucid Dynasty. pic pic Stupa ofSanchi. The source of much of our knowledge of Ashoka is the legion(predicate) inscriptions he had carved on pillars and rocks throughout the empire. Emperor Ashoka is known as Piyadasi (inPali) or Priyadarshi (inSanskrit) meaning good feeling or favored by the gods with good blessing.All his inscriptions have the regal touch and show compassionate loving. He addressed his people as his children. These inscriptions promoted Buddhist morality and encouraged nonviolence and adher ence to Dharma (duty or neat behavior), and they talk of his fame and conquered lands as well as the neighboring kingdoms h greying up his might. One also gets some primary information about the Kalinga War and Ashokas allies plus some useful knowledge on the civilian administration. The Ashoka Pillar atSarnathis the most popular of the relics left by Ashoka. do of sand play off, this pillar records the visit of the emperor to Sarnath, in the third century BC.It has a four-lion capital (four lions standing back to back) which was adopted as the emblem of the in advance(p) Indian republic. The lion symbolizes both Ashokas imperial rule and the kingship of theBuddha. In translating these monuments, historians learn the bulk of what is assumed to have been true fact of the Mauryan Empire. It is difficult to mend whether or not some actual causes ever happened, but the stone etchings clearly depict how Ashoka wanted to be thought of and remembered. Ashokas own dustup as known fro m hisEdictsare All men are my children. I am like a father to them. As every father desires the good and the happiness of his children, I wish that all men should be happy always. Edward DCruz interprets the Ashokan dharma as a religion to be used as a symbol of a new imperial unity and a cementing force to weld the diverse and heterogeneous elements of the empire. Also, in the Edicts, Ashoka mentions Hellenic kings of the period as converts to Buddhism, although no Hellenic historical record of this event remain The conquest byDharmahas been won here, on the borders, and even 6 hundredyojanas(5,4009,600 km) away, where the Greek kingAntiochosrules, beyond there where the four kings namedPtolemy,Antigonos,MagasandAlexanderrule, in addition in the south among theCholas, thePandyas, and as far asTamraparni(Sri Lanka). Edicts of Ashoka,Rock Edict13 (S. Dhammika)Ashoka also claims that he encouraged the development ofherbal medicine, for human and nonhuman animals, in their territori es Everywhere within Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasis Ashokas domain, and among the people beyond the borders, theCholas, thePandyas, the Satiyaputras, the Keralaputras, as far asTamraparniand where the Greek kingAntiochosrules, and among the kings who are neighbors of Antiochos, all over has Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, made provision for two types of medical exam treatment medical treatment for humans and medical treatment for animals. Wherever medical herbs competent for humans or animals are not available, I have had them import and grown.Wherever medical roots or fruits are not available I have had them imported and grown. Along roads I have had come up dug and trees planted for the benefit of humans and animals. Edicts of Ashoka,Rock Edict2 The Greeks in India even seem to have played an dynamic agency in the propagation of Buddhism, as some of the emissaries of Ashoka, such asDharmaraksita, are described inPalisources as leading Greek (Yona) Buddhist monks, ac tive in spreading Buddhism (theMahavamsa, XII2). Death and legacy Ashoka ruled for an estimated forty years. After his death, the Mauryan dynasty lasted just lambert more years. Ashoka had many wives and children, but many of their names are lost to time.MahindraandSanghamitrawere twins born by his first wife, Devi, in the city ofUjjain. He had entrusted to them the job of making his state religion, Buddhism, more popular across the known and the unknown world. MahindraandSanghamitrawent intoSri Lankaand converted the King, the Queen and their people to Buddhism. They were by nature not handling state affairs after him. In his old age, he seems to have come under the spell of his youngest wifeTishyaraksha. It is said that she had got his sonKunala, the regent inTakshashila, blinded by a chancefulstratagem. The official executioners spared Kunala and he became a wandering singer accompanied by his favourite wifeKanchanmala.InPataliputra, Ashoka hears Kunalas song, and realizes tha t Kunalas misfortune may have been a penalty for some past sin of the emperor himself and condemns Tishyaraksha to death, restoring Kunala to the court. Kunala was succeeded by his son,Samprati, but his rule did not last long after Ashokas death. The reign of Ashoka Maurya could easily have disappeared into history as the ages passed by, and would have had he not left can buoy a record of his trials. The testimony of this wise king was discovered in the form of magnificently sculpted pillars and boulders with a variety of actions and teachings he wished to be published etched into the stone.What Ashoka left behind was the first written verbiage in India since the ancient city ofHarappa. The language used for inscription was the then current spoken form calledPrakrit. In the year 185 BC, about fifty years after Ashokas death, the last Maurya ruler,Brhadrata, was assassinated by the commander-in-chief of the Mauryan armed forces,Pusyamitra Sunga, while he was taking the Guard of Ho nor of his forces. Pusyamitra Sunga founded theSunga dynasty(185 BC-78 BC) and ruled just a fragmented part of the Mauryan Empire. Many of the northwestern territories of the Mauryan Empire (modern-day Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan) became theIndo-Greek Kingdom.When India gained independence from theBritish Empireit adopted Ashokas emblem for its own, placing theDharmachakra(The Wheel of Righteous Duty) that crowned his many columns on theflagof the newly independent state. In 1992, Ashoka was ranked 53 onMichael H. Hartslist of the most influential figures in history. In 2001, a semi-fictionalized portrayal of Ashokas life was produced as a motion picture under the titleAsoka. King Ashoka, the third monarch of the Indian Mauryan dynasty, has come to be regarded as one of the most exemplary rulers in world history. The British historian H. G. Wells has written Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns of history the name of Asoka shines, and shines a lmost alone, a star.