Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor (61 page)

12
The Queen’s Edict appended to Ashoka’s edicts on the Allahabad Pillar Edict names Karuvaki as ‘second queen, mother of Tivara’; the
Great Dynastic Chronicle
names Ashoka’s chief queen as Asandhimitra, who died in the thirtieth year of Ashoka’s reign; the
Divine Stories
names queen Padmavati, mother of Dharmavivardhana, also known as Kunala; and the
Great Dynastic Chronicle
, the
Divine Stories
and Taranatha’s
History
are in rare agreement in naming Ashoka’s last ‘chief queen’ as Tissarakkha, or Tishyarakshita. As for offspring, the Ashokan edicts speak of four unnamed
kumaras
, or ‘princes’, ruling as viceroys in different regions of the Indian subcontinent; Taranatha states that Ashoka had eleven sons, the best being Kunala, and names Ashoka’s successor as his son Virasena; the
Legend of King Ashoka
names Kunala’s son, who ruled in his father’s place because of his blindness, as Sampadin; Faxian names a son of Ashoka ruling in Taxila as Dharmavivardhana; and Kalhana’s Kashmir chronicle speaks of a son of Ashoka who ruled there after his death as Jalauka. A daughter named Charumati is said to have married Khattiya Devapala in Nepal, the two of them presiding over two monasteries in what is today the town of Patan.
Only the
Great Dynastic Chronicle
mentions Ashoka’s two eldest children by his first wife, Mahinda and Sanghamitta.

13
Akbar the Great spent most of his five decades as emperor of India waging a succession of campaigns and never conquered the southern tip. Even the ninety-year
Pax Britannica
from 1857 to 1947 took place with two-fifths of India sub-contracted to several hundred Indian maharajas, rajas and nawabs.

14
RE 10, as rendered by Ven. S. Dhammika,
The Edicts of King Asoka
, 2009.

15
Ven. S. Dhammika,
The Edicts of King Asoka
, 2009.

16
John S. Strong,
The Legend of King A
oka
, 1983.

17
One intriguing alternative reading of this episode is that Ashoka’s son Kunala was actually sent to Taxila for his education and that the emperor’s message in Brahmi was altered by his son’s enemies, the word
adhya
, for ‘educate’, being altered by the addition of a dot to read
andhya
, meaning ‘blind’.

18
It seems a shame to point out that not a single gold piece from the Mauryan era has been found.

19
Li Rongxi trans.,
The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions
, 1996.

Abbott, Major James,
233
–
4

Abdullah, Shaikh,
86

Abel-Rémusat, Jean-Pierre,
200
–
1
,
224

Abu al-Fazl,
Ain-i-Akbari
,
41

Afghanistan,
40
,
60
,
131
,
211
,
233
,
328
,
337
–
9
,
352
,
385
; Afghan Wars,
183
,
310
,
337

Ahilya Bai Holkar, Rani,
21

Ahraura MRE site,
349
,
351

Ajatasatru, King,
143

Ajivika sect,
51
,
225
,
298
,
363
,
373
,
374
,
391
,
395
,
396

Akbar, Emperor,
164
,
318
,
347

Akram-ul-Haq, Shaikh,
320
,
322

Ala-ud-din Khalji, Sultan,
8

Al-Biruni,
33

Alexander, James,
116
–
18

Alexander II, King of Epirus,
259
,
260

Alexander the Great,
16
,
68
,
338
,
363
,
364
,
367
,
368
; Chandragupta and,
50
–
1
,
53
,
55
,
57
–
8
,
365
–
6
; Indian mercenaries and,
50
,
53
,
55
,
58
,
67
,
364
,
365
–
6
; invasion of India (started
327
–
326
BCE
),
45
,
46
–
54
,
234
,
235
,
260
,
365
–
6
; Macedonian satraps in India,
54
,
55
,
57
,
59
–
61
,
62
,
68
,
132
,
133
,
260
,
366
; return journey from India,
54
–
6

Alexandria, royal library at,
5

Allahabad,
16
,
71
,
390
–
1
; stone pillar at,
16
,
71
,
85
,
109
,
137
–
8
,
140
,
159
,
163
,
244
,
294

Allen, Charles, works by,
xv

Amaravati stupa,
91
,
270
,
273
,
275
,
278
,
280
–
1
,
288
,
336
,
353
,
397
; James Burgess and,
90
–
2
,
304
–
5
; Colin Mackenzie and,
69
,
85
,
86
–
9
,
110
,
280
–
1
; depictions of Wheel-turning Monarch at,
88
,
89
,
92
–
5
,
94
,
274
,
305
,
398
,
398

Ambedkar, Dr Bhimrao Ramji,
357

Amrita Nanda Bandya,
126

Andhra (Satavahana) dynasty,
36
,
91
,
238
–
9
,
247
,
288
,
304
–
5
,
397
–
8

Androkottos, King
see
Chandragupta, King

Anglo-Sikh War, Second,
235

Antigonos,
60
,
61

Antigonos II,
259
,
260

Antiochos II,
62
,
179
,
259
,
260
,
296

Antiochos Soter,
61
,
62
,
175
–
6
,
178
,
179
,
259
,
374

Aornos, rock of (Fortress Mountain),
49
–
50
,
51
,
53
,
55
,
234
,
235
,
364
,
365

Apollodotus Soter,
276

Appian (Roman historian),
57
,
58

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI),
285
,
291
–
5
,
310
,
332
,
354
,
358
–
9
; abolition and revival of (1866-71 period),
263
; James Burgess appointed Surveyor General,
304
–
5
; Cunningham as Director,
252
–
63
; Cunningham as Director-General,
xvii
,
236
,
263
–
78
,
291
,
294
–
302
,
303
,
305
,
312
,
318
–
19

archaeology,
200
,
304
,
305
,
332
,
360
; Alexander Cunningham and,
136
–
7
,
235
–
6
,
237
–
40
,
243
,
244
,
245
,
246
–
9
,
261
,
270
–
6
,
295
,
304
; Anton Führer and,
310
–
14
; EICo and,
221
,
224
; local hostility and,
156
–
7
,
339
–
40
; Pataliputra excavations,
317
–
26
,
325;
Sanchi excavation (1851),
236
–
49
,
334
,
382
,
387
;
see also
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)

Aristotle,
48
,
51
,
364

Arrian (Lucius Flavius Arrianus Xenophon),
45
,
49
–
50
,
51
,
53
,
55
,
56
,
61
,
62
,
234
,
272
–
3

Arsaces (Parthian chief),
62

‘Aryan Invasion theory’,
358

Asandhimitra (Ashoka’s queen),
150
,
296
,
298
,
376
–
7
,
392

Ashoka,
xv
–
xvii
; absence of sculptures of,
336
; administrative system of,
315
,
316
,
388
–
9
; Ajivika sect and,
225
,
298
,
373
,
374
; Ashoka the Wrathful,
198
,
374
,
376
,
377
–
8
,
380
; Ashoka’s Hell (prison),
190
,
191
,
198
,
216
,
318
,
377
,
379
;
Ashokavadana
(’Legend of King Ashoka’),
186
–
200
,
296
,
313
,
328
,
330
,
342
,
359
,
374
–
5
,
377
–
8
,
382
,
388
,
390
,
391
,
393
; birth of,
188
,
297
,
374
; Ceylon and,
147
–
50
,
151
,
199
,
296
,
298
,
386
,
387
,
390
; in Chinese Buddhism (as
Wuyou Wang)
,
204
–
5
,
206
–
9
,
210
,
212
–
15
,
216
–
17
; collecting/distribution of Buddha relics,
191
,
198
,
208
,
248
,
329
–
30
,
340
–
3
,
346
,
387
; conquest of Kalinga,
176
–
7
,
179
,
187
,
282
–
4
,
285
,
298
,
361
,
380
; conversion to Buddhism,
145
,
176
–
7
,
179
,
187
,
188
,
190
–
1
,
198
,
266
–
8
,
296
,
297
–
8
,
351
,
352
,
359
,
379
,
380
–
1
; dating of anointment as ruler,
68
,
179
,
186
,
259
–
60
,
296
,
297
,
378
; death of,
150
,
151
,
195
,
394
–
5
,
396
; discoveries since Indian independence,
348
–
51
,
358
–
61
; espousal of non-violence,
xi
,
177
,
180
,
262
,
283
–
4
,
354
,
355
–
6
,
384
; evidence of in Nepal,
126
–
7
,
127;
final years of,
194
–
5
,
216
,
390
–
4
,
395
–
6
; in
Great Dynastic Chronicle
(as ‘King Darmasoca’),
100
–
2
,
141
,
144
–
52
,
164
–
5
,
186
,
249
,
267
–
8
,
284
,
375
,
378
,
379
,
382
,
395
; Hindutva movement’s rejection of,
358
; Indian nationalism and,
347
–
8
; as India’s founding father,
xi
,
354
; mahamatras (special religious officers),
283
,
352
,
383
; missionary programme,
xii
,
148
–
9
,
152
,
179
,
186
,
247
,
248
,
290
,
298
,
386
,
387
; modern Indian indifference to,
354
–
5
; mother of,
188
,
373
; pilgrimages of,
187
,
191
–
2
,
294
,
298
,
313
,
345
,
351
,
381
,
382
; proclaimed
Dharmashoka
(‘Ashoka of the Moral Law’),
146
,
380
,
399
; religious tolerance and,
xii
,
xiv
–
xv
,
174
,
180
,
384
,
389
; revealed as author of Edicts,
168
–
9
,
179
–
80
,
249
; in
River of Kings
,
76
–
7
; scholarly publications on,
330
,
346
–
8
; skin condition/physical appearance,
188
,
190
,
343
,
344
,
374
–
5
,
378
,
398
,
398
; symbols of modern India and,
355
–
7
; in Taranatha’s,
History of Buddhism in India
,
197
–
200
; Taxila and,
262
,
375
–
6
; triumph/legacy of,
398
–
9
,
400
; as viceroy to Ujjain,
101
,
144
,
296
,
351
,
376
; welfare and,
xi
,
172
,
179
,
283
,
383
–
4
,
388
–
9