Ashoka Embraces Buddhism
Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya dynasty, horrified by the carnage of his own conquest of Kalinga, renounced war and embraced Buddhism — transforming himself and his empire.
Around 260 BCE, Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya dynasty conquered the kingdom of Kalinga (modern Odisha) in a devastating war that killed an estimated 100,000 people and displaced 150,000. The carnage so horrified Ashoka that he underwent a profound transformation, embracing Buddhism and the principle of ahimsa (nonviolence). He issued edicts carved on rocks and pillars across the subcontinent — the earliest decipherable writings in Indian history — proclaiming religious tolerance, animal welfare, the building of hospitals and roads, and the duty of a king to serve his people. He sent Buddhist missionaries as far as Sri Lanka, Central Asia, and the Hellenistic world. Ashoka's lion-capital pillar at Sarnath became the emblem of the Republic of India. His reign represents perhaps history's most dramatic transformation of a conqueror into a peacemaker.
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