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Ashoka: India's Lost Emperor (2012)

by Charles Allen(Favorite Author)

4 of 5 Votes: 6

ISBN

1408701960 (ISBN13: 9781408701966)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Little Brown and Company

review 1: I picked this book to understand about Ashoka and the factors that influenced him to change. The book is not a clear cut biography but a scholarly study on how Ashoka was discovered, the people behind it, the pillars and structure that she'd light to the story. The book is for students or scholars or historians who like to understand how the story of Ashoka came to light. The book is not for pass time readers, like me, who wants to read a biography of the King.
review 2: There are many mysteries about this ancient Indian emperor who helped transform Buddhism from a minor sect to a major world religion. Ashoka Maurya (Ashoka the Great) reigned around 250 BCE and his kingdom extended across the Indian continent reaching northwards through the Himalayas and westwa... morerd towards Kandahar. His rise to power was filled with war and violence (as most rises to power tended to be back in the day). However, at what proved to be his last conquest he was overwhelmed by the loss of life and turned to Buddhism. As a result he sought to govern by moral force alone and he had an indelible impact on the Indian subcontinent. So why then is so little known about this great emperor? The primary reason is that those who came after him strove to erase his memory – and for the most part they did an admirable job. But many centuries later, archaeologists and curious locals began discovering mysterious lettering on large stones throughout the region from coast to coast, some hidden in plain sight while others were hidden in mountain passes; some have even been found in the last couple of years just off the roadside near Kandahar. What was first thought to be Greek or Aramaic turned out to be Magadhi, the language on which Sanskrit was founded. Once the language was deciphered it re-revealed the story of the life and rein of Ashoka, who became emperor 118 years after the death of Gotama Buddha. One of the inscriptions reads: And these are my instructionsTo protect with DharmaTo make happiness through Dharma And to guard with Dharma.Thanks to these discoveries, Charles Allen was able recreate the life and times of arguably the greatest emperor of the Indian subcontinent. less

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