Ashoka is perhaps the most important king in Indian history. He is the third monarch of the Maurya Dynasty and the grandson of Chandala Gupta, the founder of the dynasty. Chandra Gupta was an Indian military leader. In the years after Alexander the Great's expedition, he conquered most of northern India and established the first major empire in Indian history.
The birth and death year of King Ashoka is unknown, it may be 300 BC. After cruel brothers slaughtered each other, Ashoka ascended the throne around 273 BC.
When Ashoka came to the throne, he was domineering and violent. He reused cruel staff and set up "hell on earth" to punish "sinners" in the world. At first he walked in the footsteps of his grandfather, trying to expand his territory through military power. In the eighth year of his reign, he triumphantly ended a conquest of Kalinga on the east coast of India. But when he realized that his victory had caused human casualties, he was frightened. One hundred thousand people lost their lives, and many more were injured and disabled. The Kalinga War had a great impact on King Ashoka. Soon after the Kalinga War ended, King Ashoka had many long talks with Buddhist monk Yupo Ruduo. Finally, under his inspiration, he converted to Buddhism and became a devout believer.
Apart from consternation and repentance, King Ashoka decided not to use violence to complete the conquest of India and gave up all aggressive military actions. He adopted Buddhism as his religious philosophy and worked hard to practice the "Dharma" norms, including honesty, benevolence and non-violence. He once issued an edict in which he said that he "felt deep anxiety and regret" for the suffering of the Kalinga people during the war. Later, he once again announced to the people of the whole country: "The sound of war drums" was silent, and it would be the "Voice of Dharma" to replace it. In the future, instead of violent rule and aggression, he will spare no effort to preach Buddhism. From then on, he will no longer send troops to neighboring countries, but will become a monk who preaches Buddhism.
Soon after, King Ashoka declared Buddhism the state religion of India, and ordered stone pillars to be erected in the palace and in various parts of India, stone walls were excavated, and his edicts were engraved on them. He also convened a large number of Buddhist monks across the country to compile Buddhist scriptures, and built many Buddhist temples and pagodas in various places.
Ashoka first set an example. He gave up hunting and started eating vegetarian food. What is more meaningful is that he adopted various humane political policies. He established hospitals and political reserves, eased many rough laws, built highways, and built water conservancy projects. He also appointed special government officials-Dharma officials-to teach people to be pious and to promote friendly relations with each other. In Ashoka's land, all religions are allowed to be practiced, but he paid special attention to the development of Buddhism, so the prestige of Buddhism naturally increased. Buddhism missionary groups were sent to all parts of the country and many countries, and they were particularly successful in Ceylon.
King Ashoka visited Buddhist holy places under the leadership of the national teacher. There are four well-known holy places: Kapilavas, the place where the Buddha was born, Gaya, the enlightened place, Bharatna, the first turn of the world, and Kushinaga, the place of Nirvana. In about 249 BC, Ashoka worshipped the birthplace of the Buddha and left stone pillars inscribed in Lumbini Garden. King Ashoka made offerings to Sammon on a large scale. It is said that there are tens of thousands of monks who make offerings at Jiyuan Temple every day, and of course it also includes Sammons outside of Buddhism. To promote Buddhism, Ashoka built a wide range of stupas. It is said that the Buddha bones he discovered were divided into 84,000 pieces, and the same number of stupas were built for them. Although this is an exaggeration, it shows that the wind of building towers was already prevailing at that time. The construction of the pagoda marked the climax of the worship of Buddhist holy objects, and played a role in promoting the deification of the Buddha.
During the more than 40 years of King Ashoka's reign, he has enjoyed a high reputation both at home and abroad. In the historical works of India and other countries, he is called the "Great Ashoka". India's Maurya Dynasty also became the first powerful unified empire in Indian history. Even Ningbo in our country once had Ashoka Temple, which shows that Ashoka is also influential in China.
King Ashoka ordered that his life and policies be carved on the rocks and stone pillars on his vast land. Many of these monuments still exist today. Their geographical distribution provides us with reliable information about the sphere of influence of King Ashoka. The inscription above is the main source of our understanding of his career.