GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Detailed explanation-1: -Ashoka the Great (r. 268-232 BCE) was the third king of the Mauryan Empire (322-185 BCE) best known for his renunciation of war, development of the concept of dhamma (pious social conduct), and promotion of Buddhism as well as his effective reign of a nearly pan-Indian political entity.

Detailed explanation-2: -Upset with his violent conquests that killed hundreds of thousands, the Indian king Ashoka embraced Buddhism and treated his subjects humanely. Emperor Ashoka is credited with remaking the Mauyran Dynasty from a war machine into a society of tolerance and nonviolence, based on Buddhism.

Detailed explanation-3: -Ashoka was converted to Buddhism immediately after the Kalinga war in about 260 BC.

Detailed explanation-4: -The furious Ruler Ashoka was changed into a calm and peaceful emperor after the bloody war with Kalinga, and he became a Buddhist patron. According to A. L. Basham, a notable Indologist, Ashoka’s personal faith became Buddhism after the Kalinga War, if not earlier.

Detailed explanation-5: -All accounts agree that Ashoka’s early rule was brutal and unpopular, and that he was known as “Chandashoka” or Ashoka the Cruel. In the popular imagination, however, Ashoka would invade Kalinga a few years later and, shocked by the death and destruction, would convert to Buddhism and become a pacifist.