Emperor Ashoka, also known as Chandashoka, Ashoka the Great, or Ashoka Maurya, was a significant figure in ancient Indian history. His life, achievements, and the legacy he left behind continue to intrigue historians and scholars alike. Let’s delve into the life and times of this illustrious ruler through various facets of his life.
Early Life and Lineage
Emperor Ashoka was born in 304 BCE in Pataliputra, which is present-day Patna. He was the son of Bindusara, the Mauryan emperor, and Queen Subhadrangi (Queen Dharma). From a young age, Ashoka showed promise as a prince destined for leadership, groomed amidst the opulence and political intrigue of the Mauryan court.
The real name of Emperor Ashoka was Ashoka. Chakravarti Emperor Ashoka was born in Pataliputra in 304 AD. Emperor Ashoka’s father’s name is Bindusara and mother’s name is Dharma. Emperor Ashoka had 4 wives, whose names are Devi, Padmavati, Tishyaraksita and Karuvaki.
Emperor Ashoka had five children, including 4 sons and a daughter. Emperor Ashoka had four sons named Mahendra, Sanghamitra, Teeval and Kanal. He had a daughter Charumati.
Education of Emperor Ashoka
Emperor Ashoka was very skilled and knowledgeable since childhood. Emperor Ashoka had knowledge of mathematics and economics. He was a powerful ruler who spread education to every corner of the country. Emperor Ashoka was called a great scholar of economics and mathematics.
Emperor Ashoka started his primary education from his home itself. Mother Dharma was the first to impart knowledge and education. After that Ashoka received his education in Pataliputra itself. Here he acquired proper knowledge of mathematics and economics from his teacher, after which he became a great scholar.
When Ashoka became emperor, he also did many years of work in the field of education, so that people could develop by acquiring education.
According to history, Ashoka had established many small and big educational institutions, so that people could gain knowledge. Emperor Ashoka established a very large educational institution in Bihar in 284 AD. Emperor Ashoka is called great because of his work in the field of education and knowledge.
Early life of Emperor Ashoka
Emperor Ashoka’s early life was spent with many difficulties and troubles. Emperor Ashoka had to face a lot of sorrow and troubles from his own royal family in his early life, because Emperor Ashoka’s mother Dharma was not from the Kshatriya clan, that is why he was called untouchable.
Many types of taunts were given, the taunts given by the family for his mother not being of Kshatriya clan always hurt Ashoka. Emperor Ashoka fought many wars in his early life and mingled with the common people. The common people loved Ashoka a lot.
Emperor Ashoka’s father Bindusara used to rule. At that time Takshila used to be a very prosperous and easy-going state. At that time the number of Greek people here was equal to that of Indians. Let us tell you that even at that time foreigners used to come to India, whose main reason was to do business. But they also had an eye on capturing power.
At that time Sushil was made the Prime Minister of Takshila, who was the elder brother of Emperor Ashoka. At that time people of different castes and religions lived in Takshila and foreigners also lived here. Therefore, due to not being able to do the work of administration properly, a huge rebellion arose here in no time.
To stop the burning fire of rebellion, King Bindusar sent his younger son Chakravarti Emperor Ashoka to Takshila. Where he ended the rebellion in a short time. During this time, Emperor Ashoka became a favorite among the people and he had started earning his name by now.
Emperor Ashoka ended the rebellion in Takshila without any war and killed the rebels. Seeing his increasing fame, Emperor Ashoka’s elder brother Sushil got scared. He started fearing for his power. Sushil requested father Bindusar in a few days and Emperor Ashoka was sent to Kalinga. Where Emperor Ashoka fell in love with Princess Korvaki.
When Emperor Ashoka was living in Kalinga, rebellion started rising in Ujjain. As soon as Bindusar came to know about this, he called Ashoka back and sent him to Ujjain. Emperor Ashoka established peace in Ujjain by killing the rebels with his wisdom and power.
People started considering him as their emperor. Once again Emperor Ashoka started ruling in the hearts of the people. Soon, people started talking about Emperor Ashoka everywhere.
Seeing the growing fame of Emperor Ashoka, his elder brother Sushil made many plans to kill him and he even tried many times. But Emperor Ashoka survived. When Emperor Bindusar came to know about this, he separated both the brothers Emperor Ashoka and Sushil.
At the same time, Emperor Ashoka’s fame started increasing in the whole of India in such a way that the people there started considering Emperor Ashoka as their king, started talking about making him emperor. According to experts, it was absolutely right to make Emperor Ashoka the king at that time, he was worthy of becoming an emperor.
But his elder brother Sushil was creating obstacles in his path, he himself wanted to become an emperor. On the other hand, his father and the then emperor Bindusar was declining with many diseases and age. His health was deteriorating day by day.
Works of Emperor Ashoka
Emperor Ashoka has done many works throughout India during his reign. Emperor Ashoka expanded educational institutions in the early days of his rule, which included small and big educational institutions of all kinds. So that more and more people could gain knowledge and receive education.
Emperor Ashoka adopted many new war policies and did many experiments in the field of war. Emperor Ashoka built many palaces, forts and buildings during his reign.
After having a change of heart after the Kalinga war, Emperor Ashoka built religious buildings, monasteries, stupas and pillars at many places across India. Among the stupas built by Emperor Ashoka, the famous stupa of Sanchi and the stupa located in Rajasthan are famous.
Kalinga War of Emperor Ashoka
After Emperor Ashoka came to power, the famous Kalinga War of history took place, in which Emperor Ashoka attacked Kalinga. Let us tell you that Emperor Ashoka wanted to create a united India, and the kings and states that did not agree with his creation had to fight with Emperor Ashoka.
On the strength of war, Emperor Ashoka subjugated almost all the kings and states. While he was creating a united India, the Kalinga state refused to accept Ashoka’s subordination.
Let us tell you that Emperor Ashoka was very powerful at that time and he had made both the borders and the army of his kingdom very strong. When Kalinga did not accept Emperor Ashoka’s subordination, Emperor Ashoka waged a war, in which it is reported that about 100,000 people died. Emperor Ashoka had caused a lot of bloodshed in this. Emperor Ashoka was also very shocked by the death of about 100,000 people.
Let us tell you that almost half of India was ruled by the “Nanda dynasty”, which was left with only Kalinga at the end. That is why Kalinga was also a powerful state, with which Emperor Ashoka also had to discuss before going to war. But when the war took place, there was so much bloodshed that no one had even imagined.
Emperor Ashoka’s 13th inscription describes the death of about 100000 people and immense loss during such a war. Lakhs of people were injured in this war. After this war, about two lakh soldiers were taken prisoner by Emperor Ashoka.
Let us tell you that this war fought between Kalinga and Emperor Ashoka was the biggest “first and last” war of Emperor Ashoka’s life, in which lakhs of soldiers participated.
Seeing the blood of so many people flowing, Emperor Ashoka had announced never to fight a war in his life. After the Kalinga war, Emperor Ashoka had a change of heart, after which he could never recover. After this, he started propagating religion.
After seeing the massacre in the Kalinga war, Emperor Ashoka became very sad. His lifestyle, food habits, thinking, personality, appearance etc. everything had changed.
After the Kalinga war, Emperor Ashoka also reduced the punishment given to the culprits during his rule. Emperor Ashoka had said that as many people as possible should be given life. In this way, information about Ashoka’s conversion is found in Emperor Ashoka’s inscriptions.
Emperor Ashoka’s religious conversion
After the immense loss in the Kalinga war and the death of millions of soldiers, Emperor Ashoka started showing compassion, he became the protector of humans and animals. He started preaching and spreading religion. During this time, he did many religious works and made every possible effort to protect animals.
The horrific scene of the Kalinga war was visible in front of Emperor Ashoka’s eyes day and night. That horrific scene changed the heart of Emperor Ashoka so much that he left his religion and adopted Buddhism. Emperor Ashoka became a follower of Buddhism and he preached and spread Buddhism everywhere. During this time, he urged people to have compassion towards humans and animals.
You can get an idea of how Emperor Ashoka propagated and spread religion from the fact that the inscriptions of the emperor have been found not only in India but also in many countries around India.
Death of Emperor Ashoka
Emperor Ashoka spent his last days in Pataliputra. Pataliputra is currently known as Patna, which is located in Bihar. Here Emperor Ashoka breathed his last after successfully ruling the Maurya Empire for 36 years.
Emperor Ashoka said goodbye to this world in 232 AD. Emperor Ashoka has done many great works in his life, for which he is remembered even today.
Inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka
The great emperor of India, Emperor Ashoka Maurya, had many inscriptions engraved during his reign, which Indian history knows as “Ashoka’s inscriptions”. Emperor Ashoka has given detailed information about the Maurya dynasty through inscriptions.
Let us tell you that out of all the inscriptions that Emperor Ashoka had built during his lifetime, 40 inscriptions have been found by historians from India and neighboring countries like Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, etc. All these inscriptions describe the construction work done during Ashoka’s reign, the dissemination of knowledge and the genealogy of his Maurya dynasty.
In Ashoka’s inscriptions, it is described that after leaving the Kshatriya religion and adopting Buddhism, he had given great emphasis to the promotion and propagation of Buddhism in the country and abroad. He had also sent many of his ministers and legislators to spread the religion in every corner of the country.
Emperor Ashoka always preached the lesson of compassion and non-violence. He became a great follower of Buddhism and later came to be known as the ruler of religious tolerance. Emperor Ashoka had also sent his son and daughter to the countries around India to propagate religion.
Emperor Ashoka had sent his son and daughter to India’s neighboring countries Sri Lanka, Iran, Syria etc., but among them, Ashoka’s eldest son Mahendra, who went to Sri Lanka, achieved success.
Mahendra asked the King of Sri Lanka to adopt Buddhism, in which he adopted Buddhism. After adopting Buddhism, the King of Sri Lanka converted Buddhism into a state religion and propagated Buddhism throughout the country.
Even today, many very ancient caves, mounds, stupas and buildings related to Buddhism remain in Sri Lanka. Ashoka’s inscriptions have also been found from Sri Lanka, which describe the propagation and spread of religion done by Ashoka. In Buddhism, after Lord Buddha, Emperor Ashoka’s name is mainly taken.
Emperor Ashoka Film and Serial
Emperor Ashoka’s inscriptions provide information about his life and reign. According to Emperor Ashoka’s inscription, from the written history, we get detailed information about his life, war, reign and history.
But to understand this information well, films and TV serials based on the life of Emperor Ashoka have also been made, by watching which you can understand the life of Emperor Ashoka.
The film based on the life of Emperor Ashoka was released in 1994, in which the biography of Emperor Ashoka is shown. Apart from this, a TV serial based on Emperor Ashoka has also been made.
The name of this serial is “Emperor Ashoka”. In this serial, you will get to know and understand about the life of Emperor Ashoka in great detail.