Jennifer Kieser

- Ashoka’s Early Life

- The Beginning of Ashoka’s Reign

- Geography – maps of Ashoka’s empire

- The Kalinga War

- Buddhism & A New Ashoka

- Ashoka’s Goal: The Spread of Buddhism

- Highlights

Overview

o From a young age, Ashoka showed great fighting qualities o Ashoka became a fierce warrior and a heartless general

- Story: Ashoka rose to power by getting rid of the legitimate heir to the throne by “tricking him into a hole filled with hot coals”

o Some other stories tell of how Ashoka supposedly “killed 99 of his brothers, sparing only one” in order to get the throne for himself

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka#Early_life)

Early Life of Ashoka

268 BCE – Ashoka Maurya becomes emperor of India (Keown 70)

Reign of Ashoka according to Keown was ~ 268-239 BCE

270 BCE – Ashoka becomes emperor (Tilakaratne 16)

Reign of Ashoka according to Tilakaratne was ~ 270-230 BCE

Ashoka’s Reign

Image From:

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chandragupta_Maurya_Empire.gif )

~ 269 BCE

(at the beginning

of Ashoka’s

reign)

The Mauryan Empire

Ashoka was very wicked and had an extremely bad

temper

He tested the loyalty of his ministers (had 500 killed)

When a few women in his harem insulted him, he had all of them burnt to death

Ashoka also, according to some sources, kept a torture chamber (earned him the name “Ashoka the Fierce”)

Thus, the Kalinga War. . .

"Wicked King"

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka#Early_life_as_Emperor

Image Attribution: CC-by-sa PlaneMad/Wikimedia

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:India_Orissa_locator_ma p.svg )

The Kalinga War was fought

~ 262-261 BCE

Odisha

In Modern-day India’s

Odisha (Odissa)

The bloodiest battle that Ashoka had ever participated in

Battle resulted in huge numbers of both civilian and soldier casualties

(http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/dharmadata/fdd9.htm)

“It is said that in the aftermath of the Battle of Kalinga the Daya River running next to the battle field turned red with the blood of the slain; more than 150,000 Kalinga warriors and about 100,000 of Ashoka's own warriors were among those slain.”

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_War)

Kalinga

Ashoka’s life-changing campaign

Attribution: Vastu at en.wikipedia

Ashoka’s Empire ~ 265 BCE

(or ~ 250 BCE)

After the Kalinga War in the East

• After Kalinga, Ashoka sees all the destruction caused by the war

• He reflects on his ‘victory’ and feels remorse for all the lives lost

• Ashoka converts to Buddhism • Uses the Buddha’s teachings and principles to rule

his empire with a new attitude, a different way of thinking

• Given new names, such as: Ashoka the Great, Samraat Chakravartin (emperor of emperors), Priyadarshin (He who regards everyone with affection) (factsninfo.com)

Buddhism & Ashoka

Now seen as the “ideal king” A model for Buddhist followers

• New motto – ahimsa (“non-violence” toward all things) = No more violent sports, no more hunting, etc.

Spreads the teachings to his family members & to his people Builds stupas to promote Buddhism

Then he expands this idea – he wants to spread Buddhist teachings even further

The New Ashoka

• Image From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Asoka_Kaart.gif

Spread of Buddhism: The Missions of Ashoka

Ashoka’s Goal: spread the principles and teachings of

Buddhism to countries outside India

Missionaries – even his own son and daughter – were sent out to

accomplish his goal and build monuments to the Buddha

King Ashoka sent missionaries to:

Sri Lanka (by Arhat Mahinda, son of Ashoka)

Myanmar (by bhikkhunis named Sona and Uttara)

Thailand

Cambodia (Tilakaratne pp. 80, 83, 86, 89, respectively)

Spread of Buddhism: The Missions of Ashoka

Ashoka was born about 304 BCE (factsninfo.com) King Ashoka conquered through bloody battles Last campaign – The Kalinga War – changed his outlook on life Ashoka then chose to rule according to Buddhist principles and: Spread Buddhism teachings outside of India through

missionaries Saved Buddhism from dying out (as it was at the time of his

reign)

His surviving stupas (shrines to the Buddha) resurrected Buddhism again in the 20th Century

Ashoka died about 232 BCE at the age of 72 (factsninfo.com)

Highlights

• Keown, Damien. Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2000.

• Tilakartne, Asanga. Theravada Buddhism: The View of the Elders. University of Hawai’i, 2012.

• Heehs, Peter. Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Expression and Experience. NYU, 2002.

• http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha023.htm • http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/dharmadata/fdd9.htm • http://online.sfsu.edu/rone/Buddhism/footsteps.htm • http://www.factsninfo.com/2013/04/interesting-facts-information-samrat-

ashoka-great-emperors-of-india.html • http://www.rk-world.org/dharmaworld/dw_2011jmfounder.aspx • http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/history/asoka.htm Images: • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_War • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odisha • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:India_Orissa_locator_map.svg • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire#Ashoka_the_Great • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Asoka_Kaart.gif • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_of_Ashoka

Bibliography