: Horrified by The Cruelty of War, Emperor Ashoka Built an Infrastructure of Goodness #IndiaNEWS #History Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns of history the name

Horrified by The Cruelty of War, Emperor Ashoka Built an Infrastructure of Goodness #IndiaNEWS #History
Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns of history the name of Ashoka shines, and shines almost alone, a star. HG Wells, English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian.
On a large grey boulder in Pakistans windswept Khyber valley, few words are inscribed for posterity: ‘Doing good is hard – Even beginning to do good is hard. ’
These powerful words belong to the third Mauryan emperor Ashoka who reigned over one of the largest, most cosmopolitan and most powerful empires in South Asia. Over the years, he has come to be remembered as one of the most exemplary rulers in world history because of his geographical conquests and the messages of tolerance that he spread throughout his sprawling empire.
These visionary values, humanitarian ethics, even the administrative genius of emperor Ashoka would have remained unknown if not for the discovery of the Ashokan edicts in the 19th century.
The Ashokan Rock Edict at Dhauli, Odisha. Source: Exciting India
Until 1837, when Orientalist scholar James Princep deciphered these edicts, Ashoka was just another ancient Indian emperor. Understanding his inscriptions changed it all.
Interestingly, when the edicts began to be deciphered by Princep, nobody knew who the author was. Because the first inscription did not mention Ashoka, it spoke of ‘Piyadasi’ (Beloved of the Gods).
It took more than seven decades for the world to understand that Ashoka was Piyadasi. This was made possible by the discovery of another inscription in 1915 in which the Emperor addressed himself as ‘Ashoka Piyadasi’.
While many such rock faces have eroded, Ashoka’s message can still be found on rocks across India – all along the frontiers of his empire, from Khyber Pass to South India.
To understand Ashoka’s messages, we need to trace the incredible story of transformation behind them a story that begins in 270 BC, eight years after Ashoka came to power. In his first war after accession, Ashoka invaded Kalinga, an independent feudal kingdom located on the east coast (covering present-day Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh).
The victory left him with an empire larger than any of his predecessors, but it came at a considerable cost. According to historical accounts, the Kalinga was one of the deadliest battles in Indian history, claiming 100,000 and 300,000 lives.
Source: Wikipedia
Witnessing the bloodbath and the massive suffering that followed took a tremendous emotional toll on Ashoka. Renouncing military conquest and violence, the anguished emperor wrote in Rock Edict 13 that he was ‘deeply pained by the killing, dying, and deportation of captives that take place when an unconquered country is conquered.

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