Top 20 Facts about Indian Emperor Ashoka

Photo sourced from Wikimedia

Top 20 Facts about Indian Emperor Ashoka

*Originally published by Lillian on October 2022 and Updated by Vanessa R on October 2023

Ashoka the Great was the third king of the Mauryan Empire. He is well remembered for his repudiation of war, the development of the conquest of dhamma (the principles of the right life) and the promotion of Buddhism.

He ruled the Mauryan Empire at the peak of its power. Ashoka faced hostility and violence at the start of his reign. This led him to embrace Buddhism and spread the message of tolerance in his empire.

Ashoka the Great was the last emperor of the Mauryan dynasty of India. He was a devoted Buddhist who oversaw the spread of this religion throughout India.    

For his actions and leadership, Ashoka was considered to be one of India’s greatest emperors. He expanded his territory to include Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Ashoka had come from a lineage of emperors. His grandfather was also an emperor. Here are the top 20 facts about Indian Emperor Ashoka the Great.

1. Emperor Ashoka built pillars to celebrate Buddhism

Ashoka the Great had pillars installed near Buddhist monasteries. He did this to mark Buddha’s journey. These pillars were made with red and white sandstone.

Craftsmen with similar skill sets were commissioned to build the pillars at the same place. After they were completed, they were moved to different locations as ordered by Emperor Ashoka.

These pillars symbolise the axis that the earth rotates around. There are 19 inscribed pillars and six pillars with animals that can be found around India.    

These pillars were built after Ashoka conquered the Kalinga country. It was also when he became a Buddhist.

2. He was born in a polygamous family

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Ashoka was son of King Bindusara. His mother was Subhadrangi also known as Dharma. Ashoka’s mother was from a humble family, unlike his father who came from a lineage of kings.

His father had found Dharma to be beautiful and had her work at the palace. She was kept in the women’s apartment with other queens.

Her co-wives were jealous of her beauty and therefore trained her as a barber. Dharma worked as a barber girl for the king. The king took notice of her and married her.

A seer had predicted that his mother would give birth to a king.

3. Critics considered Ashoka to be more of a politician than a spiritual leader

Most of the information about Ashoka was written by him. Information from other people about him tell are on Buddhism. Unfortunately, these texts contradict each other but historians continually attempt to correlate them.

It is believed that Ashoka built several hospitals and schools. There are historians that refute this statement there were no hospitals in India.

According to his own testament, Ashoka presented himself as a leader on the principles of peaceful life. He did not present any information on the state of his empire.

This led his critics to believe that he was more of a spiritual leader than a politician. He was also accused of using propaganda to paint a good picture of himself.   

4. Emperor Ashoka ruled for 40 years

Ashoka’s reign of the Mauryan Empire lasted for 40 years. His first decade was marred with violence which led him to embrace Buddhism.

The next 3 decades were peaceful and Ashoka described himself as the ideal king. Texts from Buddhist legends showed that religion had a great impact on Ashoka the Great.

Historians however recorded that he was a dismissive king.  

5. Emperor Ashoka had two wives

Ashoka met his first wife Devi when he travelled to Ujjain. She was a merchant’s daughter. They fell in love and married.

The couple had a son two years after their wedding. They named the boy Mahindra. Three years later they had a daughter whom they named Sanghamitra.

The king was needed back to Patuliputra. He left without his wife and children. There he met Kaurwaki and fell in love. The two got married in Takshashila.

His second wife is the only one he recorded in his manuscripts. Her name was also inscribed on a pillar found in Allahabad. There are also claims that he had another wife who died four years before him.

6. His name has meaning

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The name Ashoka means without sorrow. This name was given to him by his mother because his birth removed her sorrows.

In his inscriptions, Ashoka described himself as Devanampiya. This name means beloved of the Gods. His name is used to describe a king. The title was adopted by other kings.

7. Ashoka’s birthday is not known

The exact date of Ashoka’s birth is not known. At the time of his birth, Indian texts did not record birth details. Ashoka grew up in the 3^rd century BCE.

He recorded several rulers whose date of power is known. These leaders include Antiochus II Theos, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, Antigonus II Gonatas, and Magas of Cyrene.

8. Ashoka’s father found him to be ugly

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His father, Bindusara, did not adore him because he thought Ashoka was ugly. His heart changed after Ashoka excelled in studies and weapons led to the change of heart.

As a child, Ashoka had rough skin and his father did not think he was worthy of being his successor. At one point, he had all his princes assembled in the garden.

He had a religious leader pick up the next king. The leader realized that Ashoka would be the next heir. Knowing this would upset the King, he refused to name the successor.  

Later, he told Ashoka’s mother that her son would be the next king, and left the kingdom to avoid Bindusara’s wrath. She was able to convince the king to love his son.

9. Ashoka spread his religious messages through inscriptions

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A young Buddhist monk left a good impression on Ashoka after he saw him on the road. The young monk was called Nigrodha and he shared a sermon with Ashoka.

Soon after, the king became a Buddhist and frequented the Kukkutarama shrine at Pataliputra. He met another monk and he became more devoted to the Buddhist faith.

To spread his religion, he used oral announcements and also engraved them on rocks and pillars. The inscriptions had different dates and statements of his thoughts and action.  

To practice the dharma actively, Ashoka went out preaching the dharma to the rural people.

10. Ashoka respected other religions

Ashoka the Great had a policy of respect for other religions. He guaranteed them the freedom to live on their own principles.

To fellow Buddhists, he urged them to respect the beliefs of others and stay away from criticising others for their viewpoint. He spoke of Buddhism only to his coreligionists and not to others.

11. There are no early life accounts in Ashoka’s own inscriptions

Apocryphal stories created hundreds of years after Ashoka provide the majority of the knowledge about his early life, as neither his own inscriptions nor any other source do so. These stories contain some obviously fabricated facts, such as accounts of Ashoka’s previous lives, but they also contain some accurate historical data concerning Ashoka’s time.

12. Bindusara dispatched Prince Ashoka to suppress a rebellion in the city of Takshashila(Present day Pakistan)

According to the Ashokavadana, Bindusara gave Ashoka a four-fold army, which included cavalry, elephants, chariots, and infantry, but he refused to give the army any weapons.

The deities then rose from the earth and gave the army their weapons after Ashoka predicted that if he was worthy of being a king, weapons would appear before him. When Ashoka arrived in Takshashila, the locals greeted him and informed him that the monarch was not the target of their uprising, just the bad ministers. Later, the gods predicted that Ashoka would go on to rule the entire world after being similarly welcomed in the Khasa realm.

13. His father appointed Ashoka as the viceroy of present-day Ujjain

Ashoka was chosen by Bindusara to serve as the viceroy of modern-day Ujjain, according to the Mahavamsa (Ujjeni). This legend is supported by the Saru Maru inscription, which was found in central India and records his arrival there as a royal.

A prince viceroy was present at Ujjain throughout Ashoka’s rule, according to his own rock edict which lends credence to the legend that he himself held that position. Several roads existed between Pataliputra and Ujjain during Ashoka’s reign, and one of them may have led Ashoka and his party to Rupnath, where his inscription was discovered.

14. Mahinda, Ashoka’s son, was born to Devi at Ujjain, according to the Mahavamsa

The Mahavamsa claims that in Ujjain, Devi gave birth to Ashoka’s son Mahinda and a daughter named Sanghamitta two years later. According to the Mahavamsa, Ashoka’s son Mahinda was ordained when he was 20 years old, during the sixth year of Ashoka’s rule.

As a result, Mahinda must have been 14 years old when Ashoka rose to the throne. Even if Mahinda was born when Ashoka was as young as 20, Ashoka must have ascended the throne at the age of 34, which implies that he must have worked as a viceroy for a number of years.

15. Legends suggest that Ashoka was not the crown prince

According to Ashokavadana, Susima, the oldest son of Bindusara, once mockingly smacked a bald minister on the head. Susima would humorously stab him with a sword after becoming the crown, the minister feared. As a result, he persuaded 500 ministers to back Ashoka’s claim to the throne when the time came, pointing out that Ashoka was foretold to become a chakravartin (universal ruler).

When the gods did this, Bindusara perished, and Ashoka gained control over the entire universe, including the Naga and Yaksha territories that were both above and below the ground, at that time.  When Susima arrived back in the city, Radhagupta, Ashoka’s newly chosen prime minister, tricked him into a pit of charcoal. Susima passed away in agony, and his general Bhadrayudha converted to Buddhism.

16. Ashoka’s reign is considered to be a golden age in Indian history

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Ashoka is widely regarded as the greatest ruler in Indian history. He was a brilliant military commander, a wise and compassionate emperor, and a generous patron of the arts and sciences. Under his leadership, the Mauryan Empire became the largest in Indian history. However, Ashoka is perhaps best known for his commitment to social justice, compassion, and peace. He built hundreds of Buddhist stupas and monasteries and promoted the growth of Buddhist literature, art, and architecture. His legacy is still felt in India and around the world today.

17. Ashoka’s Lion Capital of Sarnath is the national emblem of India

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The Lion Capital of Sarnath, built by Ashoka, is India’s national symbol. A sculpture of four Asiatic lions stands back-to-back on a circular altar. The lions are symbolic of strength, courage, confidence, and faith. The four animals on the abacus’s frieze—a bull, an elephant, a lion, and a charging horse—are divided by Dharma Chakras, often known as the wheels of the law. The Chakra represents two of Buddhism’s key teachings: the Middle Way and the Eightfold Path.

In the third century BCE, the Mauryan ruler Ashoka built the Lion Capital of Sarnath close to the location of Gautama Buddha’s first Dharma lectures. Of the five lions that previously guarded the capital, one has long since disappeared.

18. Ashoka’s edicts are the oldest known examples of written law in India

In India, written law dates back to the time of Ashoka’s edicts. During Ashoka’s rule (273–232 BCE), they were engraved on rocks and pillars all around the Mauryan Empire. Law, government, morals, ethics, and other subjects are all covered in detail in the edicts. Ashoka’s edicts are famous for emphasising ethics and morals above all other things. Respect for religious tolerance, social fairness, and nonviolence were principles that Ashoka championed. Along with them, he pushed his students to appreciate the environment and animals.

Many particular laws and rules are also contained in the Ashoka edicts. Ashoka, for instance, built clinics for both people and animals and outlawed the slaughter of animals for ritual purposes.

19. Ashoka was a vegetarian and encouraged his subjects to be vegetarian as well

Ashoka encouraged his followers to adopt a vegetarian diet since he was a vegetarian himself. He adopted the idea that non-violence is a fundamental virtue for animals. He forbade the killing of animals for sacrifice and constructed hospitals for both humans and animals. Additionally, he encouraged his students to value wildlife and the natural world.

Ashoka’s vegetarianism was an abrupt change from the traditional meat-heavy Indian diet. He became a vegetarian due to his Buddhist beliefs, which strongly emphasise non-violence and compassion for all living creatures.

20. Ashoka’s reign is considered to be a watershed moment in Indian history

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The reign of Ashoka is thought of as a watershed in Indian history for a number of reasons. In addition to being a brilliant military tactician who helped the Mauryan Empire reach its highest point, he is also known for his commitment to generosity and nonviolence. During the bloody Kalinga War, Ashoka converted to Buddhism and dedicated his life to promoting social justice, religious tolerance, and nonviolence.