During Ashoka’s reign, the Mauryan Empire stretched across present-day Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. With its capital in Pataliputra, his empire had provincial capitals at Taxila and Ujjain during his rule from 268 to 232 BC. There was not a similarly large empire, so majestic in the Indian subcontinent again until the medieval period. The grandson of the founder of the Maurya dynasty, Ashoka the Great is considered by many to be one of India’s greatest emperors.
King Ashoka wanted his words to be remembered and known for as long as the sun and the moon existed. Therefore, his words were engraved on rock pillars. We know a lot about Ashoka from these edicts, found across present-day Afghanistan in the north-west, to Karnataka in the south. Ashoka wanted the common man to understand these inscriptions, so they were written in Pali, rather than Sanskrit.
Ashoka died in 232 BC and just fifty years after his death, the last Maurya ruler, Brihadratha, was assassinated.
Picture Credit : Google