Ashoka | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2019-05-11

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka


00:02:37 1 Biography
00:02:46 1.1 Ashoka's early life
00:04:10 1.2 Rise to power
00:07:22 1.3 Marriage
00:08:37 1.4 Conquest of Kalinga &amp; Buddhist conversion
00:10:59 1.5 Death and legacy
00:13:34 1.5.1 Buddhist kingship
00:16:18 2 Historical sources
00:22:07 2.1 Symbolism
00:22:44 3 Perceptions and historiography
00:27:52 3.1 Focus of debate
00:29:27 3.2 Legends of Ashoka
00:32:57 3.3 Ashoka and the relics of the Buddha
00:33:39 4 Contributions
00:33:48 4.1 Approach towards religions
00:34:24 4.2 Global spread of Buddhism
00:37:28 4.3 Hellenistic world
00:40:00 4.4 As administrator
00:40:41 4.5 Animal welfare
00:41:57 4.6 Ashoka Chakra
00:43:32 4.7 Stone architecture
00:44:17 4.7.1 Pillars of Ashoka (Ashokstambha)
00:45:13 4.7.2 Lion Capital of Ashoka (Ashokmudra)
00:47:23 4.7.3 Constructions credited to Ashoka
00:48:26 5 In art, film and literature
00:50:49 6 See also



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SUMMARY
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Ashoka (English:  ; IAST: Aśoka, Brāhmi: 𑀅𑀲𑁄𑀓, Asoka), sometimes Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty, who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from c. 268 to 232 BCE. The grandson of the founder of the Maurya Dynasty, Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka promoted the spread of Buddhism. Considered by many to be one of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka expanded Chandragupta's empire to reign over a realm stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. It covered the entire Indian subcontinent except for parts of present-day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The empire's capital was Pataliputra (in Magadha, present-day Patna), with provincial capitals at Taxila and Ujjain.
Ashoka waged a destructive war against the state of Kalinga (modern Odisha), which he conquered in about 260 BCE. In about 263 BCE, he converted to Buddhism after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he had waged out of a desire for conquest and which reportedly directly resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and 150,000 deportations. He is remembered for the Ashoka pillars and edicts, for sending Buddhist monks to Sri Lanka and Central Asia, and for establishing monuments marking several significant sites in the life of Gautama Buddha.Beyond the Edicts of Ashoka, biographical information about him relies on legends written centuries later, such as the 2nd-century CE Ashokavadana ("Narrative of Ashoka", a part of the Divyavadana), and in the Sri Lankan text Mahavamsa ("Great Chronicle"). The emblem of the modern Republic of India is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka. His Sanskrit name "Aśoka" means "painless, without sorrow" (the a privativum and śoka, "pain, distress"). In his edicts, he is referred to as Devānāmpriya (Pali Devānaṃpiya or "the Beloved of the Gods"), and Priyadarśin (Pali Piyadasī or "He who regards everyone with affection"). His fondness for his name's connection to the Saraca asoca tree, or  "Ashoka tree", is also referenced in the Ashokavadana. In The Outline of History, H.G. Wells wrote, "Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns of history, their majesties and graciousnesses and serenities and royal highnesses and the like, the name of Ashoka shines, and shines, almost alone, a star."