Asoka (2001)
Director: Santosh Sivan
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor
321-185 BC Mauryan Empire -- the Empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya who overthrew the Nanda Dynasty. The Mauryan Empire was the first and largest political and military empire in the South Asia.
The story of the Emperor is very much legend. Given that it is a legend, maybe it is not that great a sin that the movie story varies a great deal from the historical legend. At least the main parts of the story are there.
Historical Background:
326- 325 B.C. Alexander of Macedon in northwest India.
273-232 BCE -- Ashoka the Great or Asoka was perhaps the greatest of the emperors of the Mauryan Empire. He ruled over most of South Asia, from Afghanistan to Bengal and south to Mysore. He was also an early supporter of Buddhism.
He was the son of the Mauryan emperor Bindusara.
Ashoka commanded several regiments of the Mauryan army.
He quelled an uprising in the city of Taxila in the north-west province of Sindh without a fight.
The jealousies of his brothers caused their father to send Ashoka into exile. He stayed quiet in Kalinga where he met and fell in love with a fisherwoman named Kaurwaki (who later became his second or third wife).
Ashoka married Asandhimitra who was to his chief queen until her death.
After two years, an uprising in Ujjain caused Emperor Bindusara to call Ashoka back from exile. Ashoka was wounded but put the rebellion down.
Ashoka went into hiding, not to be harmed by the interests of his brothers, mainly Susima. Buddhist monks and nuns tended to his wounds and from them he learned to respect the teachings of Buddha. He fell in love with his personal nurse, Devi, and later married her.
As Emperor Bindsura neared death and the brothers vied for the position, Ashoka attacked Pataliputra (modern day Patna) and killed all his brothers and threw their bodies in a well.
In the next 8 years, he greatly expanded the territory covered by his empire.
265 or 263 -- the Kalinga War. One conjecture is that one of Susima's brothers fled to and was given sanctuary by the town of Kalinga. This enraged Ashoka and he completely destroyed the town, killing some 100,000 people.
It was said that when Ashoka saw what he had done he regretted it and even more firmly turned to Buddhism. His son and daughter spread Buddhism to Ceylon (now Siri Lanka). The Emperor was said to have done many great charitable deeds.
232 B.C.E. -- death of Ashoka, after ruling for 40 years.
The Mauyryan Empire lasted only another 50 years.
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