ASOKA, it-s616, written also ACOKA, ASHOKA. A renowned king of early India, famous as the patron of Buddhism, to which he stands in a similar relation to that of Constantine to Christianity. His full name was Asoka Vardhana. Ile was the son of sfi•a Amitragnata, of the Alaurya line, and he ascended the throne of Alagadha (modern Behar) about B.C. 272, as inheritor of the northern empire which his fatuous grandfather, gupta, or Sandroeottus (q.v.), the contemporary of Alexander the Great, had founded. Through conquest he extended his power by bringing the kingdoms of Bengal and Orissa into his vast domain. At first he seems to have been of a cruel and savage nature, as shown by his causing his own brothers to be assassinated when lie ed to the crown; but he appears to have enced a change of heart or to have undergone a transformation when he was converted from Brahmanism to Buddhism. He devoted himself zealously to spreading the faith of the Buddha, convoking great Buddhist councils and making Buddhism the State religion of his extensive realm. The numerous edicts which he caused to
be inscribed upon rocks and pillars in various parts of India hear witness to his religious devo tion and show his loving care for animals, as well as for man; and they entitle him to proud name, 'Beloved of the Gods,' by which he desig nates himself. They also shed much light upon the wisdom and justice of his administ•ation,and upon the condition of India at the time when he reigned. One column, which was discovered as recently as 1896, is especially interesting, be cause we learn from it that he had caused it to be erected upon the spot where, according to tradition, the Buddha was born. Asoka died about B.C. 231. Consult V. A. Smith, Agoka. the Buddhist Emperor of India (London, 1901) ; E. Senart, Lcs inscriptions do Piyadasi (Paris, Issl-S0).