ASHOKA IN ANCIENT INDIA (PB) [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2016] NAYAN... by Nayanjot Lahiri

People saw these curious inscriptions on rocks in a strange tongue, but remained clueless as to its author. The most astonishing fact is that the name of Ashoka had slipped out of the public mind in the subcontinent, as all memory of Ashoka and his edicts was lost in India for some twelve centuries after the visit of Xiunsang, the Chinese pilgrim in the seventh century. India also adopted the Ashoka Chakra in its flag. The national emblem adopted by the newly independent India was the famous Ashokan lion capital at Sarnath. Nehru is said to have identified himself with Ashoka. Perhaps this air of edified spirituality endeared him to the later rulers of India. His renunciation of war at the height of military glory sets him apart from other monarchs. ‘He did not want to appear to posterity as either recondite or imperious, but instead as a flesh-and-blood ruler guided less by power than compassion’.

The emperor talks to the people through the many rock and pillar edicts distributed across the length and breadth of the land.

He had fascinated generations of writers and scholars. Lahiri begins with the rationale for yet another book on Ashoka. Devoid of any agenda or political leaning, Lahiri’s works are honest tributes to historical scholarship, as compared to the political manifestos churned out by other reputed authors like Romila Thapar or Irfan Habib. Lahiri has made a commendable survey of Ashoka as the emperor of India in this book. Nayanjot Lahiri is an eminent historian who has many excellent books to her credit. ‘The afterlife of Ashoka, like his real life, is poised between legend and truth’. Ashoka made discourses with his people in the form of rock edicts scattered all over the country, like some kind of early ‘mann ki bath’. Indian rulers of all times aspired to reflect some aspect of his legacy in their own reign, as he was the founder of a ‘unique political model of humane governance’. Ashoka is chronologically the first among them. If we are asked to name three great Indian emperors of all time, few people would settle at any other combination than Ashoka, Chandragupta II and Akbar.

ASHOKA IN ANCIENT INDIA (PB) [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2016] NAYAN... by Nayanjot Lahiri