Ashoka Maurya The story of Ashoka is pretty unique among ancient rulers. He was born to one of the l

Ashoka Maurya The story of Ashoka is pretty unique among ancient rulers. He was born to one of the less notable wives of the Mauryan emperor Bindusara, making his initial prospects for succession to the throne pretty grim. But when his dad died and the inevitable power struggle ensued, Ashoka was able to trick the legitimate heir into inadvertently walking into a pit of live coals. Afterwards he supposedly executed 99 of his brothers who also held claims to the throne. * After securing power, Ashoka continued to hold a general disregard for human life. According to Buddhist legends (of questionable veracity) he burnt 500 of his concubines to death after a few of them insulted him for his rough skin. He also constructed an infamous torture chamber known as “Ashoka’s Hell.” Deciding to subjugate the eastern Kalinga Republic, his army fought a massive battle at the Kalingan capital. Inspecting the results of his victory afterwards, Ashoka was horrified by the slaughter of civilians. He then decided to renounce his bloodthirsty ways and convert to Buddhism. As the first Buddhist head of a major empire, he was instrumental in Buddhism’s spread as a world religion. He initiated a series of massive public works projects, constructing hospitals, universities, roads, and temples throughout India. * The reports on this incident are dubious, but like most ancient figures you can divide the number by 10 and get a more likely estimate. So, if Ashoka did indeed slaughter his brothers en masse, it was probably just like 9 of them. Actually, all of these horror stories about Ashoka’s wickedness before his Buddhist conversion, despite being interesting, probably aren’t true, which is why I didn’t include them in the comic. -- source link

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