Historical Discussion on Ashoka and Storyline - Page 7

Let us thank Helen for her discovery.. . 😉 😆
Tfs

Originally posted by: bheegi

Yes, I'm the same one😊

It's interesting that your teacher discouraged Subhadra Sen Gupta's writings

Subhadra's book is called 'Ashoka' and it's a very brief version of Ashoka and the Mauryan empire. It was a starting point for me.

I'm also reading a gigantic book by Dutch historian Wytze Keuning. This book gives interesting tid bits about Ashoka's life. He mentions that Ashoka was not a good looking man at all. In fact, the book opens with how a woman rejects him in favor of his more handsome older brother Sushima- who is a womanizer and man of poor character-not fit to be the king

Originally posted by: bheegi

The sources on Ashoka were his inscriptions carved on the stone pillars and rocks during his reign, and Buddhist legends derived from 1) the two Ceylonese works in Pali, namely, the Dipavamas and the Mahavamsa, and 2) the Tibetan work in Sanskrit called the Divyavandana. There is a third set of sources which described conditions in the Mauryan Empire. Among these are the classical accounts (from Greek and Roman writers), and the Arthashastra, the Manual on Polity, ascribed to Kautilya. The Arthashastra was said to have been composed by Kautilya, Chandragupta's astute mentor and Prime Minister. That Chandragupta's administration was run more or less on the lines advocated therein, is shown by the extant fragments on Megasthenes' Indica. That the administration could not have been very different at the time of his son, Bindusara, and grandson, Ashoka, is clear from certain references in Ashoka's Edicts. The Ceylonese and Tibetan legends were written many centuries after Ashoka. Moreover, they were written from the point of view of the Buddhist monks. They contained many exaggerations, such as the patently ridiculous incidents of Ashoka killing his ninety-nine brothers and boiling a Buddhist monk in a cauldron of oil in order to get his throne, or to show his hatred of the Buddhist Order, till his conversion. The best source about Ashoka is his own inscriptions. Every sentence, if not every word , evoked sincerity and honesty. His object in issuing his Edicts was never to glorify himself, as Darius did in his own Edicts. His sole object was to spread his Dhamma - the Law of Piety - by the acceptance of which he thought that human beings could change their own nature.

Modak, E. S. ( ). Beloved Of The Gods : Story of Ashoka The Great (Kindle Locations 46-59). . Kindle Edition.

Originally posted by: Hiral_Halwa

and 👎🏼 to the lame glorified to Ashoka-karuwaki stuff!🥱

Actually Kaurwaki was the only Queen with her name on the Pillar. So any glorification was done by Ashoka himself😃

i just dint get y there was so many stunts by Nigam...was there any need of them???

though i like the character of chankya portrayed by Manoj ji...he is doing amazing job...dun know how chanakya was in real..but m liking the calmness on his face..:)

Originally posted by: BabbaR_SheR

though i like the character of chankya portrayed by Manoj ji...he is doing amazing job...dun know how chanakya was in real..but m liking the calmness on his face..:)

Yeah, his calmness is cool indeed and reflects his character! I am reminded of what Vidura says to Dridarashtra (Vidura Neeti) - one who is not drawn or unaffected by anger, elation, false modesty, arrogance vanity etc. is a wise one. He also goes on to say that one whose planned acts are not known to others until they are executed is a wise one.
Also, if we can recollect karma yoga, the best results are got by a practitioner of karma yoga as his mind is calm and therefore takes the right step.

Just few thoughts from my end :)

Thanks for making this read and also to all those who have made several posts since page 1 and gave detailed historical info from various sources.

What I was wondering since the first day is that how come we have people like Meer Khurasan and Noor at Maurya period? I mean Ofcourse little is known about that period and pure undistorted history cannot be presented by the CVs.. But a basic sense of history is needed right? The Islam religion wasn't even born at that time.. How on earth are such rulers present in Bindusaras time???