1 / 9

Ashoka The Great

Ashoka The Great. By Dr. Rajesh Garg , Associate Professor ,Dept. of History , D.A.V (PG) college ,Bulandshahr, U.P. , India. Source- WIKiPEDIA. Content. Ashoka’s early life Rise to the power Conquest of Kalinga Buddhist conversion Death and Legacy Symbolism.

juliestewart
Download Presentation

Ashoka The Great

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Ashoka The Great By Dr. Rajesh Garg , Associate Professor ,Dept. of History , D.A.V (PG) college ,Bulandshahr, U.P. , India Source-WIKiPEDIA

  2. Content • Ashoka’s early life • Rise to the power • Conquest of Kalinga • Buddhist conversion • Death and Legacy • Symbolism

  3. Ashoka’s early life Ashokawas born to the Mauryan emperor, Bindusara and Subhadrangī (or Dharmā). He was the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya dynasty. Broadly, Chandragupta was born in a humble family, abandoned, raised as a son by another family, then with the training and counsel of Chanakya of Arthashastra fame ultimately built one of the largest empires in ancient India. Ashoka's grandfather Chandragupta renounced it all, and became a monk in the Jain tradition. According to Roman historian Appian, Ashoka's grandfather Chandragupta had made a "marital alliance" with Seleucus; there is thus a possibility that Ashoka had a Seleucid Greek grandmother. Source-WIKiPEDIA

  4. Rise to power The Buddhist text Divyavadana describes Ashoka putting down a revolt due to activities of wicked ministers. This may have been an incident in Bindusara's times. Taranatha's account states that Chanakya, Bindusara's chief advisor, destroyed the nobles and kings of 16 towns and made himself the master of all territory between the eastern and the western seas. Some historians consider this as an indication of Bindusara's conquest of the Deccan while others consider it as suppression of a revolt. Following this, Ashoka was stationed at Ujjayini as governor. Source-WIKiPEDIA

  5. Conquest of Kalinga While the early part of Ashoka's reign was apparently quite bloodthirsty, he became a follower of the Buddha's teachings after his conquest of Kalinga on the east coast of India in the present-day states of Odisha and North Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Kalinga was a state that prided itself on its sovereignty and democracy. With its monarchical parliamentary democracy it was quite an exception in ancient Bharata where there existed the concept of Rajdharma. Rajdharma means the duty of the rulers, which was intrinsically entwined with the concept of bravery and dharma. The Kalinga War happened eight years after his coronation. From his 13th inscription, we come to know that the battle was a massive one and caused the deaths of more than 100,000 soldiers and many civilians who rose up in defence; over 150,000 were deported. When he was walking through the grounds of Kalinga after his conquest, rejoicing in his victory, he was moved by the number of bodies strewn there and the wails of the bereaved. Source-WIKiPEDIA

  6. Buddhist Conversion Legend says that 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. The lethal war with Kalinga transformed the vengeful Emperor Ashoka to a stable and peaceful emperor and he became a patron of Buddhism. According to the prominent Indologist, A. L. Basham, Ashoka's personal religion became Buddhism, if not before, then certainly after the Kalinga war. However, according to Basham, the Dharma officially propagated by Ashoka was not Buddhism at all. Nevertheless, his patronage led to the expansion of Buddhism in the Mauryan empire and other kingdoms during his rule, and worldwide from about 250 BCE. Source-WIKiPEDIA

  7. Death and Legacy Ashokaruled for an estimated 36 years and died in 232 BCE. Legend states that during his cremation, his body burned for seven days and nights. After his death, the Mauryan dynasty lasted just fifty more years until his empire stretched over almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ashoka had many wives and children, but many of their names are lost to time. His chief consort (agramahisi) for the majority of his reign was his wife, Asandhimitra, who apparently bore him no children. Source-WIKiPEDIA

  8. symbolism The caduceus appears as a symbol of the punch-marked coins of the Maurya Empire in India, in the 3rd-2nd century BCE. Numismatic research suggests that this symbol was the symbol of king Ashoka, his personal "Mudra". This symbol was not used on the pre-Mauryan punch-marked coins, but only on coins of the Maurya period, together with the three arched-hill symbol, the "peacock on the hill", the triskelis and the Taxila mark. Source-WIKiPEDIA

  9. THANK YOU

More Related