Great Emperor Ashoka Questions 2023 : if we visit historical places like Damodar kund, Upar kot fort, Girnar etc.., we get to know stories associated with each place, Vatsal visited foothills of Girnar and saw some inscriptions of Ashoka and wanted to know more about him.
Ashoka, the most well known of all Mauryan Rulers, was the main lord to bind together India. He is also known as ‘The Great Emperor Ashoka’. To propagate and promote his ideas, Ashoka got his massage inscribed on stone pillars, caves, boulders and Rocks. These Edicts were widely spread throughout his empire. They conveyed Ashoka’s ideas on administration, Behavior of people towards one another and their elders, Religions etc. The stone pillars of Ashoka were carved out of a solid rock and were polished like metal. The capital of pillar was crowned with figures of bulls and lions. The most famous pillar is the one at Sarnath. It has four lion carved at the top. The lion capital in now the national emblem of India and the pictures of Lion capital is found on Indian currency and all the official documents of Indian Government.
Great Emperor Ashoka Questions 2023
Around 32 B.C…, an ambitious young man by the name of Chandragupta outdid the Nandas and established the Mauryan Empire. He did this with the helps of his mentor, Kautilya. Kautilya was a minister in the court if Dhanananda, the last ruler of the Nanda Dynasty. With chanaky’a help chandragupta Maurya defeated the Nandas in 321 B.C.E. and established the Maurya Empire. Chanakya was the mastermind and was responsible for Chandragupta’s accession to power. He is regarded as the greatest political thinker and an expert economist. His political ideas are compiled in the Arthashastra, one of the world’s earliest treatises on political thought and social order.
Bindusara, Chandragupta’s son succeeded him to the throne. Am able son of an able father, he is sad to have conquered 16 states and extended the Mauryan Empire greatly and aptly.
Ashoka, the son of Bindusara, ascended the throne approximately in 273 B.C.E. His empire extended from Nort-West Kandhar and Peshawar to Nepal in North India to Mysore (Karnataka) in South to West Gujarat – Saurashtra and Magadh (Bihar), Kalinga (Orissa) in the East.
Maurya Administration in Hindi
The mauryan administration was well defined. most if our knowledge about Mauryan administration id delivered from the edicts of Ashoka, Magasthenese’ Indica and the Arthashastra of Kautilya.
The Mauryan administration was founded on the guidelines of an effective and a good governance based on Chanakya’s Arthashastra. The king held the supreme power, He took important decisions only after consulting ministers and other members of the Royal family.
Since the Mauryan Empire was very large, it was divided into provinces such as Ujjain and Takshila, which was ruled by governors who were usually royal princes or kumaras. These governors reported to the Emperor.
Provinces were further divided into districts , which comprised of several towns or Villages. Each village had a headman called the Gramika. Patliputra, the capital city, and its surrounding territories were regarded as the core area and were directly administered by the emperor with the help pf officials, variously called Executive officers under the Mauryas, Governors of provinces under Chandragupta Maurya, Subordinate Officers.
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The tribes in the Forests were mostly independent. The tribal king was expected to pay.
Kalinga war and its impact UPSC
Like his predecessors, Ashoka governed his empire well and tried ti extend its boundaries. Odisha was the onlu kingdom that was not controlled by the Mauryas. It was important as it controlled the routes to south India and Southeast Asia by land and sea. Ashoka Realized the significance of Kalinga and a noteworthy fight for Kalinga was battled. This war changed Ashoka’s lie, for though Kalinga was conquered, the loss was terrible. Ashoka was horrified when he witnesses the aftermath of violence and the resultant bloodshed. He then resolved not to fight anymore.
The conquest of this kingdom was horrifying and many thousands of soldiers and common people were killed. He had mentioned on one of his inscription that a hundred and fifty thousand people are deported, a hundred thousand were killed and many dismay. Shocked at what he had done, he vowed never wage a war again. Soon after Ashoka became a Buddhist. He adopted the policy of Ahisma or Non-v violence, He was now filled with compassion and felt the need for ‘right living’.
King Ashoka could not celebrate the victory over Kalinga, He was deeply anguished by the scene that he witnessed in the battlefield.
Ashoka’s 12th rock edict expresses the deep remorse that he felt after destroying Kalinga, Few kings in the History have repented so deeply or tried so hard to make up for the enduring they had caused, He was the ruler who surrendered victory in the wake of winning a conflict. He became the follower of Upgupta. He surrendered his weapons and resolved not to fight anymore. He embraced Buddhism and became an abbot.
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King Ashoka Traveled extensively all over India to propagate Buddhism. Ashoka selected officials, appointed powers to them and anticipated that they should be responsible. Special officers called Dharma mahamattas were appointed to devote themselves to the maintenance of Dharmam so that people could obtain happiness and peace. His son mahendra and daughter Sanghmitra also traveled to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to propagate Buddhism. He built many Stups, Viharas and Monasteries in India as well as abroad. He established Buddhism as a staste religion. He prohibited hunting and killing of animals in the country. Ashoka became an exemplar. He lived his life the way he wanted his subjects to. He encouraged his subjects to be loving, merciful. compassionate and pitiful. For Instance he told his subjects to….
- Be respectful towards one’s elders, especially parents.
- To abstain from Killing Animals, Birds and Practice ahimsa or Non violence.
- To be Moderate in consumption and in procuring assets.
- To treat women and servants with care, and show reverence to teachers and gentleness to all.
After Ashoka the Mauryan Empire continued for some 50 Years more, before disintegrating. Many reasons are suggested by historians.
- The administration might have become less efficient and financially also it became difficult to run such a vast empire.
- It is also possible that the policy of peace followed by Ashoka weakened the Army.
- The final blow was given by the sungas who captured the throne of Magadha from the Mauryas.
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