Emperor Ashoka was the son of Bindusar. During his father’s rule, he was an administrator of a subdivision of the Empire. Therefore, he obtained the required experience to run the empire. Ashoka became the ruler of Magadh in 269 BC. After that, during thirty years of his regime, he got almost whole India under his Empire. Kalinga was a strong kingdom in the neighbourhood of Magadh and Ashoka invaded it in order to conquer it. When he saw great harm to humanity which was caused by his victory over Kalinga, he decided not to wage any war in the future.
Emperor Ashoka was the first ruler who made effort to communicate with his people through writings at various places. These plaques related to his regime are found in different parts of India. Most of these scriptures are written in ‘Prakrit’ language, which was the language of common people. Some scriptures in north-western parts are in Greek language. The script of most of the plaques is ‘Brahmi’, but a few are also in some other scripts.
In the plaques of Emperor Ashoka, his name has been written as ‘Devana Priyadarshi’ and ‘Ashoka’. In his Empire, emperor Ashoka had adopted a liberal policy towards all the other religions and had appointed officers named Dhamma Mahatamyas in order to impart moralistic education to the people. In order to resolve the disputes arising among the followers of Buddhist
religion, Ashoka organized the Third Buddhist Council in Patliputra and he also sent many preachers to preach Dhamma in foreign countries. Emperor Ashoka spent his entire life for the service of living beings and for the welfare of the people after the war of Kalinga. He got it declared that any person can meet him any time for resolving any problem(s). During the regime of Ashoka, the great miseries of the people had reduced to a great extent and their moral standard had improved considerably well.
