2 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Did Emperor Ashoka really exist?
Thank you for the answer. I have a follow up question if i may.
During the time of Ashoka we do have evidence, alebit mainly literary evidence of various other kingdoms/empires operating in other parts of India. The three Tamil kingdoms for example do get explicit mention in some Mauryan era inscriptions. Do we have any info on how these kingdoms interacted and any info from them to build a clearer picture? I do want to learn about the history of ancient India in-depth, what books do you recommend for the same?
Comment by SeptimusT at 07/04/2020 at 23:33 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
That's mostly beyond the area I've been focusing on, too, so I'll be very careful in answering. Thapar mentions Chinese Buddhist accounts of stupas attributed to Ashoka existing in the Chola and Pindya kingdoms, both in the south of India. These would have been from missionary activity, rather than conquest. More to the point, he says of the south Indian kingdoms:
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The degree of civilization of these South Indian kingdoms is an interesting question. That they were able to build up an important trade with the Roman Empire three centuries later would suggest that they were already fairly advanced in the Asokan period. It is possible that these kingdoms were not wholly antagonistic to Mauryan authority under Asoka, and therefore there was no need for Asoka to conquer any farther south. His Kalinga experience did not make him too eager to indulge in war for its own sake. From the descriptions of the Mauryan forces in Tamil poetry, it would seem that they made a great impression on the people of the south and no doubt the Mauryans were held in considerable awe, since the conquest had taken place hardly a generation earlier. The reports of the Kalinga War must have played an important part in their decision to submit to the Mauryan emperor. Those outside the boundary off the empire probably accepted Asoka as the nominal suzerain, allowing as his other orderers had allowed the entry of the *dharma mahamattas* [missionaries/diplomats], but not being in effect a part of the empire.
- Romila Thapar, *AsĖoka and the Decline of the Mauryas,* p. 133
As far as texts go, I asked that question myself not terribly long ago, and never got a satisfying answer. There's just not that much out there, especially in English. *Ashoka in Ancient India* by Nayanjot Lahiri (2015) is a more recent text on Ashoka and the Maurya Empire, but Thapar remains a useful work. *Chandragupta Maurya and His Times* is another text on the Mauryans, focused on the pre-Ashoka period, but also quite old. There are lots of more specialized articles out there on JSTOR etc.