Contents
who was Ashoka?
Samrat Ashok was also known as Ashoka the great. his full name according to the historical text is Ashoka Maurya. he was born around 304 – 232 BCE. was born in pataliputra which is modern day Patna. Patna comes in Bihar. pataliputra was a city in Magadha empire. he was the third ruler of the Maurya dynasty. his empire covered from present day Afghanistan in the west to the present day Bangladesh in the east. he was the son of the Bindusara. his land had a total range of 5 million square kilometers
The Mauryan Empire Under Ashoka
The Mauryan empire was started by Chandragupta Maurya 2300 years from now. Chandra Gupta tried to take over the land of Punjab, after alexander died, as the land was under the alexanders control. Chandra Gupta Maurya was very smart and this showed by how organised his empire was. his son Bindusara made his empire even bigger than it was before, so my the end of Chandragupta’s rule, his empire stretched over the most parts of the India.
Now the Bindusara’s son Ashoka added the Kalinga region to his empire which was already a vast empire. during his period, he was called as Chand Ashoka because of his evil acts. after Ashoka became the king, he did war on near surrounding regions, even the current day borders of Iran and Afghanistan, even the Bangladesh and Burma border in the east. the only regions which was out of his reach were the shri-Lanka and Kalinga. But after this In 265 BCE, Ashoka attacked the Kalinga, he gathers the largest force of people to attack on Kalinga, in the Indian history, Kalinga region gave it all, but was defeated in his hands.
Ashoka’s Transformation After Kalinga War
The kulinga war was the major factor in his life which turned him away from violence to accepting Buddhism. the Kalinga took place in 262 BCE and ended in 261 BCE. this war was fought with kalinga king. it was a independent kingdom in eastern region, which is located in the present day Odisha. it is taken into account that the battle happened in dhauli. The kalinga was is considered as one of the deadliest battles in the Indian history. its is estimated that nearly 250000 people died in the Kalinga war.
Samrat Ashok’s Religion and Influence of Buddhism
Many traditions say that Samrat Ashok was a cruel king before Buddhism. especially said by shri-Lankan and north Indian traditions. he was called by various names as the time went by.At first he was called as kamashoka, as first he spend years in pleasurable pursuits, and as time went on, he was called as Chand Ashoka as he did very evil acts, and as the time went on he was called as dhammahoka, after his conversion to Buddhism. when Kalinga war ended in 261 BCE, he saw that after the war many people lost their loved ones and suffering of people after the war, there he saw a monk who was unaffected by all the destruction of the war. this helped him to become curious about Buddhism and compassion.
it is also mentioned in some texts that he was already a buddhist follower before the kalinga war, it has shown that he had a gradual changes along the years, the main point was after the kalinga war.
The Story of Rebellion at Taxila
The city of Taxila was a famous city, in the maurya empire. it is located in present day Pakistan. Taxila in its time was known as major learn center in india, also known for its culture and trade.
this story of rebellion goes this way – that peoples of Taxila were not happy with the officials of their city, for which they revolted heavily against their officials. When king Bindusara got to know about this problem, and to solve this he sent his son to solve the problem.
his Ashoka, the legend of ashokavadana, also goes this way that the king gave Ashoka the army to go solve problem, but he didn’t gave any weapons. the Ashoka said that if he was a truly worthy of being king the weapons would follow up to their hands, and then gods came from heaven and gave guns to the Ashoka.
when Ashoka reached there, the people of Taxila said to the Ashoka that they were not against the king Bindusara but
they were only against the local officials.
As the story of gods is mythcal in this case, but it also shows that his father might be against him so that he could fail.
Ashoka’s Legacy and Influence on Indian and World History
Ashoka expanded buddhism all around india. to gain publicity and to be known widely about buddhism, he engraved on rocks and pillars at proper sites. these inscriptions include the Indian national emblem, the lions facing the 4 ways, was made by the Ashoka. this pillar can be found at the place of sarnath.
these inscribed rocks had his messages those include about his life, his acts, his thoughts, about buddhism. his own inscribed stones shows that he had won and took the control of the kalinga region. after the war, as his mind was affected seeing so many dead bodies of the people, he inclined more in side of buddhism and decided to follow ahimsa from buddhism.
he also allowed other people to follow their religion and guaranteed them full freedom to live according to their own principles. he also said to the people in his empire to respect each others thoughts and differences and praise the good point of others and refrain from criticising the views of other people.
he built a a lot of stupas, monasteries and pillars, and on those pillars he inscribed his understanding of religious doctrines. Ashoka sent his children to shri-Lanka with this gem of dharma to be spread, so not only because of his it spread to the shri-Lanka, and almost all over Asia.
The Ashoka was one of the strongest emperors in Indian history. he left his mark on the Indian history as being a ruthless king to the most compassionate king and follower of buddhism. under his control, the Ashoka empire was the biggest in India one could ever had. the kalinga war was his addition to the already big empire from his father. after the kalinga war, he inclined more on buddhism and inscribed his thoughts and messages on the stones and pillars. he also said people in his religion to follow peace and harmony with each other and to respect each others views. his thoughts and views has inspired alot of people in modern india and in modern world. his story of showing the true strength lies not in evilness but in goodness of heart for oneself and for other.
for those who are eager to visit the places that are connected to the Ashoka, and how these places also helped transform the Ashoka. we Ariyotours offers an incredible 12 days tour package to the important places of the buddhist sites like Lumbini, Bodhgaya, sarnath, kushinagar, Vaishali, Varanasi, shravasti, rajgir, patna and Nalanda at just 14000 RUPPEES. these places played an important role in transformation of Ashoka. if you want you can visit these places, you can contact us and visit here for more info about the tours.
if you want to know about top 10 buddhist books you can visit this blog: https://ariyotours.com/top-10-buddhist-books/
