Person

Ashoka

d. 232 BCE · 3rd century BCE

Ashoka was a Maurya emperor who ruled most of the Indian subcontinent in the third century BCE and died in 232 BCE. After his bloody conquest of Kalinga he embraced Buddhism and promoted a policy of dhamma, publicised through inscriptions on rocks and pillars. His reign marked the peak of the Maurya Empire, which declined soon after his death.

Ashoka
Image: Photo Dharma from Sadao, Thailand · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 5 profiles

Maurya EmpireMilitary, Governance, Impact, Decline, SummaryLater Pandyan EmpireFoundationAramaicSpeakers, SummaryBuddhismSpread, SummarySanskritGrammar, Change

Mentioned in 10 state histories

Gonanda dynastyKingdom of KalingaKingdom of AvantiKambojaMatsyaAnuradhapura KingdomEarly PandyasEarly CherasEarly CholasKingdom of Khotan

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Ashoka. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ashoka
MLA
“Ashoka.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ashoka. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Ashoka.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ashoka.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Ashoka’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ashoka (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻