Historical Discussion on Ashoka and Storyline

Helen, the queen of Chandragupta was not a negative character in true History. Though sources are very meager to know about her here are the facts:

• Bindusara was already 16 when chandu married Helen.
• Chandragupta used to send gifts to Selecus and maintained very good and humble relations after the treaty. This also suggest she may had been Mahishi means favorite queen. Mahishi at first was used for first queen but later it was also used for favorite queen.
• Bindusara after his coronation maintained warm relations with Antiochus soter, successor of Selecus and used to send friendly letters to him.
• We find no evidence of any ploy to kill Bindusara in history. His coronation was very peaceful and if there was any ploy he had killed them because he was called AMITRAGHAT means Slayer of foes and Ajatshatru means with no enemies. This should not be confused with KING ajatshatru who was son of bimbisara.

Bindusara was the son of Chandragupta Maurya (founder of the Maurya Empire) and Queen Durdhara. According to a Jain work Rajavalikatha his original name was Simhasena. During his reign the Maurya Empire saw significant expansion southwards.

There is a mystery over the birth of Bindusara. As the tale goes after Chandragupta Maurya became king of Magadha after defeating Nandas, his chief advisor was Chanakya. Now Chanakya feared that there would be assassination plots hatched against Chandragupta by other power hungry kings. To protect Chandragupta, Chanakya wanted to make him immune from poisoning. He added small amounts of poison in Chandragupta's food everyday so that he would get used to it. But Chandragupta was unaware of the poison he consumed every day. One day while dining the Emperor shared his food with Queen Durdhara. She was just seven days away from delivery. The pregnant Queen who did not have poison as her staple diet started collapsing with some shrieks. Chanakya was passing by and he heard the screams. When he came inside the dining hall he found the Queen collapsing. He understood the importance of saving the child within her womb. So first of all he slit the Queen's head so that the poison could not penetrate into her body and harm the child. Then he cut open her belly and took out the baby prince. But it seemed that one drop of poison had penetrated through and it touched the forehead of baby Bindusara. This caused a blue mark on his forehead. Thus the prince was saved.

Though many scholars denounce this as a tale but references of such an event are found in many Jain works. It was a remarkable feat when we consider its timeline i.e. 320 BC.

As Bindusara reached a fitting age to ascend the throne, Chandragupta in lieu of a famine took up a begging bowl and walked away to Deccan. But Chanakya remained minister and advisor to Bindusara. This was not liked by Bindusara's minister Subandhu. Subandhu revealed to Bindusara that Chanakya had murdered the king's mother. Hearing this Bindusara was enraged. Chanakya on the other hand gave all his possessions and wealth to poor, orphans and widows. He sat on a dung and prepared to die from fasting without any water or food. When the nurses revealed the real story to Bindusara he apologised to Chanakya.

Bindusara was angry with Subhandhu who mislead him. The king asked him to seek forgiveness from Chanakya. Though Subandhu still hated Chanakya but he agreed. When he visited Chanakya's fastinbg spot he slipped a burning charcoal ember inside the heap of dung. With wind as its aid the fire caught and killed the man who masterminded the Mauryan Empire.

Thanks a lot for sharing this..

Hi all,

Sharing some Links here >>


1. About the Family of Ashoka... - His wives , sons, grandsons, etc...

Click Here to Read



2.

I found some thing interesting on Chanakya..
So, decided to share it here.. :))

-> Chanakya's "Novel" Method 2 Test Character of Ministers
> Click Here to Read

^^^ A master politician, indeed. :-P


3.

Historicals these days, seem to apply a lot of dramatization. Ashoka is not far behind. While Bindusara knew about the identity of Ashoka since the birth as his son, the show is portraying the opposite. Dharma was made a Chief Queen before birth of Ashoka, but here Dharma is shown as an ill-treated woman.

Here is an interesting read about the story of REAL Ashoka , Dharma and Bindusara. It contains scans from the Sanskrit texts, and the probable translation.
Click HERE to READ


4.

I am back with a new post. The topic this time is quite different from the usual debate about Emperor Asoka. This post aims to critically examine the veracity of the information contained in ancient texts about Asoka, including Buddhist, Tibetan and Sanskrit texts.

Here is the Link to the Post:

Mauryan Emperor Asoka Killed 99 brothers to get the Throne | Fact or Myth ? And other Questions | A Debate

According to these texts, Asoka slew 99 of his brothers to occupy the throne of Magadha. This post analyses the circumstances in which Asoka ascended the throne of Magadha and whether he was truly guilty of fratricide on a mass scale.

The post is not only limited to the above topic. This post also aims to answer various questions like:-

- Did Asoka kill Susima? If yes, then why and how ?

- Was Asoka extremely ruthless and highly ambitious in his early youth ?

- Who did Bindusara want to succeed him to the throne - Asoka or Susima ?

- Who was Rani Dharma? Was she a commoner or a royal princess ?

I have made use of as many traditions and accounts as possible whose names are present in the post itself. English, Sanskrit, Pali, German, etc. scans from those texts are present along with them.

Will Keep Updating this Post for links..

Originally posted by: zaara610

Thanks a lot for sharing this..

I read dis b4 n forgot.. TFS! 😃

@putija thankiu for that info but that really seems a story thn reality

Originally posted by: BabbaR_SheR

@putija thankiu for that info but that really seems a story thn reality

Sangeetha di yeah xactly islam came much later in 7th century...so yeah though the makers wud have done research...but they shud follow the logics n facts too

Babbar sher mai dar gayi a very amusing user name

The post also says that but they are also surprised it survived so many centuries but looks like Bindusara did have a spot .Earlier days they used to used hot tongs at certain areas on face etc to cure certain diseases so dont know what happened then when only the tales and songs by bards used to carry forth the story of kings to the next generations but it was during the Mauryan emperors that India was under one head a king . Though much info is available on Chandra Gupta and Ashoka nothing much is available on Bindusara

Foreigners during Mauryan rule

In 327 BC Alexander of Macedonia conquered a large part of the northwest India. He entered India through the Hindukush. As a great ruler, he developed good relations with the local authorities while establishing his garrisons. While returning back due to the pressure of his war weary soldiers, he left these areas to be ruled by Greek governors. Chandragupta Maurya fought the Macedonians and defeated them. Gradually these states were lost out to Indian states. But the contact between the two cultures put a lasting influence on Indian art and architecture.

Mauryan Empire

The dissatisfaction against foreign rulers started appearing in 320BC. The early uprisings were crushed by the successors of Alexander. But the uprising continued under a new leader named Chandragupta Maurya. After raising an army and persuading Indians to support his sovereignty he founded Maurya Empire. He went to war with Alexander's representatives and defeated Seleukos and added a large territory of the Macedonian Empire to Mauryan Empire.

The successor of Chandragupta was his son Bindusara who reigned from 300BC to 273BC. He was a very strong ruler and maintained a friendly relation with the Hellenic west established by his father. Bindusara had many sons and when he died, Asoka, one of his sons, took over.