The various sources in history present a fascinating story of Asoka,
the Mauryan king.
Asoka was called by many names such as Devanam priya and priyadarsi.
There are obviously many Asokas etc in history
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ancientindia/message/64
In fact, Priyadarsi as a title to Asoka is a misnomer, as Asoka was
known to be ugly and hence, disliked by his father.
Quote
"The Sanskrit Divyāvadāna elaborates the ugly appearance
and fierce nature of Aśoka and presents a grotesque and
gruesome episode of how he converted his royal pleasance
into a place of terror, horror, oppression and tragic deaths of
the unwary visitors and passers-by through his agent Candagirika.
17 It also attributes to Aśoka the beheading of 500 ministers
with his own sword and the burning to death of 500 court
ladies. The Chinese Aśokāvadāna resorts to higher levels of
poetical imagination in representing Aśoka as a most wicked
character."
Unquote
The name of his mother is mentioned as Janapada Kalyani, which was
also the name of an unfortunate bride married to Nanda, the Sankya
prince who Buddha has converted to a monk on the night of his marriage.
In any case, it is apparent that Asoka's mother is a Brahmin, coming
from the banks of River Champa, perhaps married to Bindusara on his
campaigns to Anga, the country of Bihar lying on the other side of the
river. Some sources mention her name as Dharma, a disciple of Ajivaka
preceptor Janāsana (Jarāsana, Jarasona, skt : :Pingalavatsa)
Some people cling to his obviously false connection to a Greek
mother, perhaps because of the romanticism that is offered by such a
connection.
His mother, fallen out of grace with the king due to palace intrigues
, had named Asoka since the birth of the child has made her "sorrow
less" His brother was named Vitasoka since the queen felt that the
birth of the second male child has ultimately put an end to her sorrows.
Asoka was a man of great tact.
There was a great revolt against the oppression by the officers in the
province of Taxila, who were a republic before being brought under the
rule of the empire of Bimbisara. Asoka was sent there as Viceroy to
quell the same, which he did to a great aplomb, without using much
force or inviting resentment from the people of Taxila. In fact, he
might have been fondly remembered into the later days as priyadarsi(?)
by these people, connected to Iranians, as evinced by an Aramaic
edict found in Taxila.
He was later sent to Ujjain as the regent there by his father.
The ceylone sources mention a 4 year interregnum between the demise of
his father and his ascension to the throne. This must be true since
Asoka had no less than 7 brothers contending for the throne, each one
of them being strong in his own right.
The same tact which was exhibited at Taxila was displayed by him in
his later years of rule, though not so openly . Romila Thapar once
said he is a ruler of great ambition.
I feel he used the concept of dharma, not for religious reasons but to
discipline people into his fold In other words, he has used religion
as a political tool. This is apparent since most of his edicts are
found in gold bearing areas This has influenced the common man so much
that the guilds of artisans, mostly consisting of common people, have
heavily donated to Sangha (Amaravati and Ajanta epigraphy)
For example, how he uses carrot and stick method can be seen in one of
the famous edicts:
"Now the Beloved of the Gods thinks that, even if a person should
wrong him, the offense would be forgiven if it was possible to forgive
it. And the forest-folk who live in the dominions of the Beloved
of the Gods, even them he entreats and exhorts in regard to
their duty. It is hereby explained to them that, in spite of his
repentance, the Beloved of the Gods possesses power enough
39
to punish them for their crimes, so that they should turn away
from evil ways and would not be killed for their crimes."
That he did not place the edict of his repentance due to the kalinga
war, which has been placed in many places anywhere in or around
Kalinga country raises many doubts about the sincerity of his
repentance. Why did he not want the people of Kalinga know about his
repentance?
He prohibited animal sacrifices and eating of meat even at his
palace. But by his own admission, the cooking of meat has continued
daily at a low level, obviously for the consumption of the king,
whereas he prevented most of the palace dwellers from partaking meat.
Also, he talked of respecting Brahmins and Sramanakas (monks, not
necessarily Buddhist) and he dedicated two caves to Ajivakas, perhaps
in the tradition of his mother., in the 12th year of his coronation,
much later to Kalinga war.
In view of this, it is often doubted the stories of his conversion are
ever true.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ancientindia/message/117
He does not mention the names of Nyagrodha and Mogaliputta Tissa in
his edicts, who the Buddhist sources have eulogized as the main
preceptors for Asoka. On the other hand, these sources do not discuss
Kalinga war at all. The Buddhist sources say that Asoka got converted
to Buddhism in 4th year of his coronation, whereas as per his own
confession, Asoka started following as a lay upasaka (which does not
mean conversion) only after Kalinga war.
Further, his edicts also do not speak of his foreign missions, for
which Tissa was more responsible.
Perhaps, What is spoken by Buddhist sources may not be about Mauryan
Asoka but about somebody else, one immediate name that comes to my
mind is Asoka of Kashmir, who was mentioned in Raja Tarangini.
I invite comments from the group,
Kishore patnaik