The Life History of King Ashoka - Research Paper Example

History - King Ashoka Table of Contents Background of King Ashoka 1 Rise of Power of King Ashoka 4 Historical Importance of King Ashoka 5 Conclusion 6 References 7 Introduction The research paper is a widespread study of the life of King Ashoka that includes every facet of the great king’s subsistence. The paper starts with the background of King Ashoka and discusses the rise to the power of the king. It presents the historical importance of King Ashoka. The third king of the “Mauryan Dynasty” in India was King Ashoka who was a Hindu by religion, but later on was inspired by Buddhism; he changed his religion and became a Buddhist. King Ashoka ruled Indian subcontinent from 269 BC to 232 BC, until his death. In his early life, the king was known for his cruelty, but in the later period of his life, he became famous for his great edicts and acts. It was King Ashoka who played a major role in swelling Buddhism into the whole of Asia.1 Background of King Ashoka In 324 BC, the ruler of the Mauryan Empire, Chandragupta started out to surmount the weaker in the adjoining kingdoms. The motto was to enlarge his people’s territory. Chandragupta was an explorer by nature and used to travel in the surrounding lands to evaluate whether the probable defences can raise much struggle. Then on the basis of the evaluation, he would decide about the taking up of the war. He principally avoided those lands where the defence is strong. This way Chandragupta became the first king to rule over a united India. During the end of the century, Chandragupta handed over his reign to his son Bindusara. With the passage of time, the Bindusara became ill and decided to entrust the territory to one of his sons. As soon as the king announced his intention, a “silent sibling rivalry” started. The sons of Bindusara became the victims of an assassin and this way all the men fell until solely Ashoka stood tall. He was the only one to become successful in evading a murderer. In this way, Ashoka was crowned the new king in 274 BC. King Ashoka soon came to be known as a cruel king as he would administer capital punishment for even a minimum violation.2 On the desire to win rather than to acclaim demand, the king decided to continue with the efforts of his previous dwellers through demolishing the lands and kingdoms which previously remained unconquered. In this process of invasion and conquering, he was well aware of the fact that many innocent people have even lost their lives because of the king’s order. Following all these disasters, Ashoka asked himself about the treasures that his people have won in the war that converted women and children to widows and orphans respectively. Soon after the realisation, the king became attentive towards his subjects’ welfare. In this way, an era of internal progression and peace came to being. It was King Ashoka who persuaded and taught his people to respect and love all living creatures. Gradually, Ashoka became a Buddhist practitioner and built 84,000 stupas in his emperor for housing the Gautama’s sacred relics.3 Rise of Power of King Ashoka Ashoka grew to be a sharp and perfect warrior general and went on to command various brigades of the Mauryan army. Pertaining to his growing popularity, the elder brothers of Ashoka became impatient that their father Bindusara might prefer Ashoka to be the next emperor. His eldest brother Susima insisted Bindusara to send Ashoka to Taxilla, a city of unrest and trouble, governed by Susima himself. Ashoka successfully handled those situations and all the unrest ended without any fight. This popularity of Ashoka made Susima even more curious and he again persuaded their father to send Ashoka into exile. Ashoka was thus sent to Kalinga. After returning from Kalinga, he was again sent to Ujjain, another venue of violence. There he was injured and eventually treated by Buddhist nuns and monks. During this period, he first learnt Buddhist teachings. There he met Devi, a Buddhist nurse who took care of him, and later on Ashoka married her. The succeeding years passed on peacefully for Ashoka. In the meantime, Bindusara’s health condition grew worse and he was on his death bed. For becoming the next emperor, King Ashoka invaded Pataliputra, killing his brothers. In this way, Ashoka grew up to be the emperor and ascending the throne, he enlarged his empire during the next eight years. His empire expanded form the Bangladesh boundaries and Assam state in East India towards the territory of Afghanistan and Iran in the west; from the North Pamir Knots to the Southern peninsular region of India.4 Though in the beginning of his reign, King Ashoka was known to be a cruel king but in his later years of reign, as mentioned earlier, he became a follower of Buddhist teaching. The cause for the Kalinga war was uncertain and at that time his ministers advised him to attack Kalinga. Ashoka, however, sought to solve this issue by forcing Kalingas to submit their royalty. Kalinga’s tactics made Ashoka defeated and he got baffled. This resulted in the greatest invasion in the history of India until then.4 Historical Importance of King Ashoka In the nineteenth century, a large number of edicts came to light in Nepal, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. These edicts were found to be inscribed on pillars and rocks. They proclaimed Ashoka’s policies and reforms and propagated his advice to his subjects. The edicts are described in brief in the following section that depicts the historical importance of the king. Ashoka verged that love and affection is achieved by the win on the Dharma. The king believed that the love gained from the victory may be small but even the smallest love creates reward in another different world. The biggest victory is the victory on Dharma and it is the noblest. A fight may just win a land for the warrior but through love, pity and kindness, one can gain victory over the people’s hearts. Ashoka realised the truth that fleeting joys are resulted from the victory won by arms but a lasting joy is brought by the victory won on Dharma. Ashoka preached “all people should live a life of truthfulness, justice and love”. One should show respect to their parents and affection to their relatives and teachers. People should not be unkind to animals and they should provide charity. Ashoka thought for the good of all mankind and spread that his people should undertake pilgrimage. He also swelled his message outside India. He engraved the laws on Dharma upon pillars and rocks not only within India but also outside of India. For fostering more understanding on the verdict of Dharma, Ashoka said that people must show respect to all religions as he believed that all religions teach the same virtue. By this act, one can help to grow both his own religion as well as the religion of others.5 Conclusion The research on the life history of the King Ashoka has provided with many verdicts over the religion of Buddhism. The king has really bestowed the world with various boons that receives importance even in the modern world. On research, many kings can be found out who has given up fighting after defeat but there is only one king in the history who has given up fighting after winning a battle. The edicts of the king have shown various dimensions to the religion of Buddhism during that period of history. References 1 Gill, N. S., 2011. “Who Was Ashoka (Asoka)?”. “People”. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/people/p/Ashoka.htm 2 Dhammika, V. S., 1993. “The Edicts of King Ashoka”. “Buddhist Publication Society”. http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html 3 California State University, 2011. “The Life Of Ashoka Mauryan”. “Syllabi”. http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring98/Ashoka.htm 4 Davids, T. W. R., 2004. Buddhism Being a Sketch of the Life and Teachings of Gautama the Buddha. United States: Kessinger Publishing. 5 Reddy, K. K., 2005. General Studies History. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Read More