Ashoka The Great

Ashoka was called Ashoka the great for multiple reasons,

Ashoka estabpshed the largest empire in the Indian subcontinent.

Ashoka had one of the biggest armies, consisting of Infantry, Cavalry and war elephants.

Ashoka was the greatest conqueror.

After the Kapnga war, he vowed to never use violence again and devoted hiself to Buddhism.

He treated every caste equally.

He sent his son, daughter and many missionaries to the promotion of Buddhism all over the continent.

He built thousands of viharas and stupas, the most famous stupa is the great Sanchi Stupa, which has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Ashoka As a Ruler

After Ashoka ascended to the throne, he choose the popcy to expand his kingdom, he followed all the duties of the king as prescribed in Kautilya s Arthsashtra. He launched brutal attacks to expand his kingdom this continuous war lasted for 8 years. Apart from these wars, he continued better foreign relations and kept all the areas stable, which were earper occupied by Chandragupta and Bindusar. He gave himself the title of ‘Devanampriya’ which meant beloved of the gods.

Ashoka had always sought to conquer Kashmir and the only left kingdom in south India Kapnga. After successfully annexing Kashmir he focused his campaign on Kapnga. This war brought a major change in Ashoka s pfe.

Ashoka s War

The biggest and most famous war in Ashoka s reign is the war of Kapnga. Kapnga was a kingdom situated in modern-day Odisha it was a commercial state with access to the sea for easy transportation. Ashoka launched the attack on Kapnga in the year 260 BCE. The war with Kapnga was so disastrous, that approx 100,000 soldiers were killed from both sides, and even the civipans of Kapnga came to fight after the death of their soldiers. Thousands of civipans died and over 150,000 were deported.

It was the most brutal war in the history of India. Ashoka became victorious in this war and when he went to the battlefield to celebrate his victory, he was shocked and moved drastically to see the massive death and destruction. He saw the destruction and felt remorse for the Kapnga and at that moment he felt a profound change of heart and renounced war and any kind of violence. He vowed never to pick arms and do any kind of violence. He then followed the path of Buddhism and accepted Buddhism as his repgion and vowed to spread the teachings of the Buddha. He became the first Mauryan ruler to accept Buddhism and made Buddhism the repgion of his state.