ASOKA (Pāli Asoka). — Emperor of India, grandson of the founder of the Maurya dynasty, Candragupta. He ascended the throne in 272 B.C. and reigned until 233, extending the empire of India to its greatest extent with the conquest of the Kalinga region. Deeply distressed by the horrors of war, he converted to Buddhism, of which he first became a lay follower and later a monk. Throughout his life he devoted himself not only to spreading the doctrine of the Enlightened One but also to strictly applying its precepts in himself and in each of his subjects. He assumed the name of Piyadassi (Sanskrit Priyadarsin, "the compassionate"), by which he is precisely designated in the numerous edicts scattered throughout India, of which 34 are known to us today.
Public works, such as planting trees along roadsides, digging wells and irrigation canals, constructing shelters for travelers and hospitals; measures aimed at forming enlightened officials capable of promoting the welfare of the poor, the sick, the elderly, and of mitigating and deferring punishments for the spiritual good of the condemned; precepts of high morality, such as the imposition of obedience to parents, generosity toward one's neighbor in his various social classes; prohibition of animal sacrifice with the consequent abolition of hunting parties, which he replaced with public pilgrimages; illustration of the doctrine of the Buddha and exaltation of important events in his life: all this and more, known to us from the aforementioned edicts carved on rocks, pillars, and caves, reveals the enlightened and beneficent work of the great Indian emperor.
It was A. who provided testimony to the birthplace of the Buddha (Rumminde) through an inscription on a pillar erected there, still extant, commemorating his pilgrimage to that place.
Among his edicts worthy of special mention are the 12th, in which he recommends the broadest spirit of tolerance toward every form of religion, and the 13th, in which he alludes to the work he carried out for the spread of Buddhism throughout India and in various countries beyond it (Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, Epirus, Cyrene), a work entrusted to the activity of missionaries.
A. built sanctuaries, monasteries, and erected stūpas (monuments for the preservation of relics), particularly in the places traversed by the Buddha.
In 245 B.C., according to tradition, a council (the third after the Buddha's death) was held in Pātaliputta (Sanskrit Pātaliputra, modern Patna), convened by A., in which the canonical texts, purged of heresy and restored to the teachings of the "elders" (Pāli thera, Sanskrit sthavira), received their definitive codification.