A Summary On A Ã…Å¡ Oka Maurya - 1456 Words

Aśoka Maurya was a violent conqueror who grew his empire swiftly and aggressively across the Indian sub-continent beginning in 274 BCE. It is not Aśoka’s greatness that historians question but rather his religious ideology. Aśoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, was bred to become the fierce leader that his dynasty had become accustomed to. Aśoka took over the throne when he was about 30 years old and his coronation was when he was thirty-five. It was a shift in his leadership style twelve years into his reign that historians point to as a critical point in his tenure as emperor. As he redacted his former violence for dharma many believe it was Aśoka’s conversion to Buddhism that enlightened his change of heart. Aśoka was not just a secular man who had found the path to peacefulness on his own, in fact it was the conversion to Buddhism that enlightened the man just twelve short years after his reign began to change how he ruled his dyn asty. Through early impression by his grandfather and subsequently his father, a shock to his morals in 262 BCE and eventually a dharma influenced reign it’s evident that Aśoka was so much more than a passive or secular emperor. Although Chandragupta Maurya did not define who his grandson was, he certainly had influence on him. Or if not directly on him, on his father and then onto Aśoka. Romila Thapar discusses the religious affiliation of Chandragupta early on in the foundation Mauryan dynasty. As Chandragupta accepted