The Story of India-----Edicts of Ashoka
Ashoka----Maurya Empire
This is a picture of the present South Asia countries
Ashoka became the ruler of the Maurya Empire after his grandfather, Chandragupta Maurya. He was very violent. He took over from 268BC. He conquered most of the South Asia nations. Starting from Pakistan in the west stretching all the way to Bangladesh in the east. He heard about the death of his father and so that was why he moved to the capital then, Pataliputra. There, he killed all of the princes over there, only for one exception, his brother. After a few years being the emperor of the Maurya Empire, he wanted to battle the place that his ancestors have never been able to win from, Kalinga. The battle was very violent, he refused to surrender to Kalinga, and at last won the battle. But during this battle, 100000 people died and 150000 people were sold to slavery, including people like women and children. It was a terrible disaster at the end, with dead bodies lying on the ground, and at that time, Ashoka the Fierce, began to feel bad and then he turned into Ashoka the Great. He felt great sadness to the people that he killed and sent away during the battle. He began to not be so violent and built pillars that had the laws of the empire on them. He then converted his religion to Buddhism and was the 1st major Buddhist political leader. When he was a Buddhist he learned about details of Buddhism and took it very seriously. He began to spread Buddhism to Asia. He built one of the most amazing sight, the Gautama Buddha. But then, his empire began to weaken mainly because it wasn't as violent as before and plus it was very peaceful. The whole entire empire collapsed in 185 BC when Ashoka the Great died. He was very well known for have made such a big decision to the empire that he is still remembered to this day.
Traveling Time
A pillar created by Ashoka
If you were to travel to find out more about Ashoka's pillars then you could travel to Lumbini, Nepal. But there are also pillars all over the world.
Pictures
Rock
Here is a picture of a piece of rock with a laws written on it.
Ashoka
This is a picture of Ashoka.
Maurya Empire
This is a picture of the Maurya Empire after Ashoka became the emperor.
References
Ashoka’s Rock and Pillar Edicts <http://www.istoriai.com/Webquests/AshokaWQ.html>
Ashoka, the King of India <http://www.newsfinder.org/site/readings/ashoka_the_king_of_india>
The Edicts of King Ashoka <http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html>
Ashoka, the King of India <http://www.newsfinder.org/site/readings/ashoka_the_king_of_india>
The Edicts of King Ashoka <http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html>