Ashoka - The Mauryan Emperor

[LeftEyeNine]

About 6-7 years before, when looking for a nice nick to use with Age Of Empires multiplayer parties, I had came across with Ashoka in a book called "The 1000 men who created the history". His life was full of military success in the reign of Maurya until when he was "enlightened". He just stopped fighting and started social, scientific improvements, supporting artists and crafts. By time he had became a Buddhist.

Does anyone out there know much in detail? I'd be pleased to know.

[nokhor]

i only know a little bit. he was a grandson of chandragupta, the founder of the maurya dynasty. and according to the historical legend, asoka became a buddhist, after his troops won the decisive battle in the mauryan conquest of the subcontinent, and he went to view the battlefield and was horrified by the carnage. the mauryan empire reached its pinnacle under him, and he was responsible for the propagation of buddhism into india. i admire his ethical stance, because after the aforementioned battle, he renounced warfare as a means of state policy even though there were minor states left that he could easily have overrun. it is easy to renounce the vanites of the world when you're at the social bottom, but it must have been much more difficult since he was bred and groomed to be the top dog in his neck of the woods.