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    Ashoka Study Notes

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    Utkarsh Razdan
    1. Ashoka was a great ruler who ruled a vast Indian empire over 2300 years ago that was founded by his grandfather. 2. He was supported by the wise minister Chanakya, whose political ideas were written in the Arthashastra. 3. Ashoka's empire included several major cities like Pataliputra, Ujjain, and Taxila, as well as villages of farmers, herders, and forest dwellers who spoke different languages.

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    Ashoka Study Notes

    Uploaded by

    Utkarsh Razdan
    22 views3 pages
    1. Ashoka was a great ruler who ruled a vast Indian empire over 2300 years ago that was founded by his grandfather. 2. He was supported by the wise minister Chanakya, whose political ideas were written in the Arthashastra. 3. Ashoka's empire included several major cities like Pataliputra, Ujjain, and Taxila, as well as villages of farmers, herders, and forest dwellers who spoke different languages.

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    Ashoka study notes

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    1. Ashoka was a great ruler who ruled a vast Indian empire over 2300 years ago that was founded by his grandfather. 2. He was supported by the wise minister Chanakya, whose political ideas were written in the Arthashastra. 3. Ashoka's empire included several major cities like Pataliputra, Ujjain, and Taxila, as well as villages of farmers, herders, and forest dwellers who spoke different languages.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    22 views3 pages

    Ashoka Study Notes

    Uploaded by

    Utkarsh Razdan
    1. Ashoka was a great ruler who ruled a vast Indian empire over 2300 years ago that was founded by his grandfather. 2. He was supported by the wise minister Chanakya, whose political ideas were written in the Arthashastra. 3. Ashoka's empire included several major cities like Pataliputra, Ujjain, and Taxila, as well as villages of farmers, herders, and forest dwellers who spoke different languages.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Ashoka – The Emperor who gave up war

    Study notes ( not to be done in the notebook only for studying and learning)
    Ashoka was one of the greatest rulers of history who ruled the
    empire founded by his grandfather, Chandragupta Maurya, over
    2300 years ago. He was supported by a wise man named Chanakya
    or Kautilya. Chanakya’s ideas were written down in the
    Arthashastra. There were several cities in the empire (marked with
    black dots on the map), which included the capital Pataliputra, and
    Ujjain, as well as Taxila, a gateway to the northwest, including
    Central Asia. Ujjain lay on the route from north to south India.
    Merchants, officials and crafts persons lived in these cities. In other
    areas, there were villages of farmers and herders. In central India,
    there were forests where people gathered forest produce and hunted
    animals for food. People in different parts of the empire spoke
    different languages and ate different kinds of They wore different
    kinds of clothes as well.

    How are empires different from kingdoms?


    Emperors needed more resources than kings as empires are larger
    than kingdoms. They need to be protected by big armies, and they
    also need a larger number of officials to collect taxes.

    Ruling the empire


    Large empires in different parts were ruled differently. The area
    around Pataliputra was under the direct control of the emperor.
    Officials were appointed to collect taxes from farmers, herders,
    crafts persons and traders (lived in villages and towns in the area).
    They also punished those who disobeyed the ruler’s orders.
    Messengers went to and fro. Also, spies kept a watch on the
    officials. The emperor supervised them all with the help of members
    of the royal family and senior ministers. Other areas or provinces
    were ruled from a provincial capital, such as Taxila or Ujjain, with
    some amount of control from Pataliputra, and royal princes were
    often sent as governors Local customs and rules were probably
    followed, and there were vast areas between these centres. Mauryas
    tried to control roads and rivers important for transport. They
    collected whatever resources were available as tax and tribute.
    Tribute
    Unlike taxes collected on a regular basis, tribute was collected as
    and when it was possible from people who gave a variety of things,
    more or less willingly.

    Ashoka, a unique ruler


    Famous Mauryan ruler Ashoka was the first ruler who tried to take
    his message to the people through inscriptions. These inscriptions
    were in Prakrit and written in the Brahmi script.

    Ashoka’s war in Kalinga


    Kalinga was the ancient name of coastal Odisha. Ashoka fought a
    war to conquer Kalinga. He was horrified when he saw the violence
    and bloodshed, and so, he decided not to fight any more wars. He is
    the only king in the history of the world who gave up conquest after
    winning a war.

    What was Ashoka’s dhamma?


    Ashoka’s dhamma did not involve worship of a god or performance
    of a sacrifice. Ashoka had a duty to instruct his subjects and was
    also inspired by the teachings of the Buddha. A number of
    problems troubled him. People in the empire followed different
    religions, which led to conflict. Animals were sacrificed, slaves and
    servants were ill treated, and quarrels in families and amongst
    neighbours existed. Ashoka’s duty was to solve these problems. He
    appointed officials, known as the dhamma mahamatta, who went
    from place to place, teaching people about dhamma. His messages
    were inscribed on rocks and pillars. He instructed his officials to
    read his message to those who could not read it themselves. He also
    sent messengers to spread ideas about dhamma to other lands,
    such as Syria, Egypt, Greece and Sri Lanka. He built roads, dug
    wells and built rest houses and arranged for medical treatment for
    both human beings and animals.

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