Ashoka was born in medieval India’s first great dynasty
---the Mauryan Dynasty, founded by Chandragupta Maurya. The nane Ashoka means ‘the
sorrowless one’. After the death of Ashoka’s father Bindusara in 272 BC, a
power struggle broke out among his sons. Ashoka, known for his terrible temper
and cruelty, overthrew his eldest stepbrother and ascended the throne of
Magadha. In the beginning, Ashoka ruled cruelly. He built a prison where
prisoners were subjected to unimaginable torture. This came to be known as
Ashoka’s hell.
Soon Ashoka had to suppress a revolt in the frontier
region of Taxila (in present-day Pakistan). Later, Ashoka led a bloody war
against Kalinga (modern-day Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh). This was one
of the bloodiest wars ever fought. Over 1,00,000 soldiers were killed and
1,50,000 were made prisoners. Despite being victorious, Ashoka was filled with
remorse at the killings and finally understood the need for peace.
Ashoka turned towards Buddhism with its teachings of non-violence, tolerance and openness. His thoughts were directed towards reducing the sufferings of people. People who used to refer to him as Chanda-Ashoka (Ashoka the fierce), now started to call him Dharma-Ashoka (Ashoka the noble). It was usual in those times for kings to spread their ideas by force, but Ashoka spread the message of Buddhism through moral persuasion.
Ashoka turned Buddhism from a local Indian tradition
into a world religion. He took his message to the people through dozens of
edicts carved in rocks in all the corners of the country. These edicts were in
the Brahmi script, which fell out of use after Ashoka’s time, and his edicts
were forgotten in India, though remembered in other countries where Buddhism
had spread. A story about two of Ashoka’s pillars illustrates this.
King Firoz Shah of Delhi had these pillars transported to
Delhi. He asked the scholars of his kindom to decipher them. Having no idea of
what was written on the pillars, the scholars told the king that the
inscription stated, ‘No one would be able to move these pillars until the later
day when there is a king called Firoz Shah.’ The local population believed the
pillars to be the walking sticks of Bheem, one of the five Pandavas in
Mahabharat.
In the 19th century, British scholar James Prinsep deciphered the Brahmi script and re-discovered Ashoka. After this re-discovery, Ashoka became a favourite of Indian nationalists. Ashoka’s wheel and lion capital were adopted for the national flag and national emblem.
Ashoka was perhaps the first ruler ever to establish a welfare state. He abolished the sacrificial slaughter of animals for the royal kitchen. He established hospitals for both humans and animals. Along highways, wells were dug, and banyan and mango trees were planted at every kilometre for the comfort of travellers. Ashoka built an extensive road network including the Uttarapath or Northern Route, which began in Taxila and ended 2,000kms away at Pataliputra, the Mauryan capita. The road was later remade by the Mughals and the British as the Grand Trunk Road, now called National Highway 1.
Ashoka ruled for 36 years. He created an empire that
covered almost the whole of India except for a small region in India’s Southern
tip. Such a huge empire was not created again in India for nearly 2,000 years
till the British colonized India. Under his rule, the kingdom enjoyed peace and
prosperity. Unfortunately, his empire declined very rapidly after his death as
his successors could not maintain such a huge empire.
Famous writer H. G. Wells paid tribute to Ashoka in the following words:
“Amidst the tens of
thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns of history, the name of
Ashoka shines and shines almost alone, a star. From the Volga to Japan, his
name is still honoured. China, Tibet and even India, though it has left his
doctrine, preserve the tradition of his greatness.”
Ashoka’s Architectural
Legacy
* Lion capital at
Sarnath
* Pillars at Firoz
Shah Kotla, Delhi
* Buddha’s birthplace, Lumbini, in Nepal and Sarnath in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
* Champaran, Bihar
* Sanchi, Madhya
Pradesh and Vaishali, Bihar
* Ashokan rock inscriptions in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan
Lessons to learn from
King Ashoka
* Through willpower one can overcome one’s faults
* Peace is better
than war
* Love and respect
all forms of life on Earth
