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Ashoka the Great
From conquest to compassion, c. 268–232 BCE
The story, place by place
Ashoka the Great
Around 261 BCE, an Indian emperor won a brutal war. Then he carved his regret into stone, for everyone to read. His name was Ashoka.
The Mauryan emperor
Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, ruled from Pataliputra, today's Patna. His empire covered most of the Indian subcontinent.
Today: Patna, Bihar: the ruins of a Mauryan pillared hall at Kumhrar
Plan a visit: India →The Kalinga war
Eight years after he was crowned, Ashoka invaded Kalinga, on the coast of today's Odisha, and conquered it.
Today: Dhauli hill, near Bhubaneswar: his edicts are carved in the rock there
Plan a visit: India →Rock Edict Thirteen
Years later, in Rock Edict Thirteen, he wrote that a hundred and fifty thousand people were deported from Kalinga, a hundred thousand were killed, and many more died. He wrote that he felt deep remorse.
Today: Kalsi, near Dehradun: the edict rock still stands under a shelter
Plan a visit: India →Edicts in Greek
At Kandahar, in today's Afghanistan, his edicts were even carved in Greek. Edict Thirteen names five Greek kings, from Syria to Egypt, whose lands he says his dharma reached.
Today: Kandahar, Afghanistan: the Greek edict is now in the Kabul Museum
Four lions
At Sarnath, where the Buddha first taught, he raised a pillar crowned with four lions. That Lion Capital is India's national emblem today.
Today: Sarnath, near Varanasi: the Lion Capital is in the Sarnath Museum
Plan a visit: Varanasi, India →The Buddha's birthplace
At Lumbini, the Buddha's birthplace, his pillar says that he freed the village from tax, and cut its share of the harvest to one eighth.
Today: Lumbini, Nepal: a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the pillar still stands
Plan a visit: Nepal →A cutting of the Bodhi tree
Sri Lankan chronicles say his son Mahinda brought Buddhism to the island, and his daughter Sanghamitta a cutting of the Bodhi tree, which still grows at Anuradhapura.
Today: Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka: the Sri Maha Bodhi, in a UNESCO World Heritage city
Plan a visit: Sri Lanka →Follow his edicts
Ashoka died around 232 BCE. His wheel of dharma sits at the centre of India's flag today. Follow his edicts on Next Stop Atlas.