mandeep said...
Little is known of the early part of Ashoka’s long reign of 40 years (273-232B.C.) except that the eighth year was a pivotal one. This was the year of his success, but bloody attack on the region of Kalinga in 260 B.C. where according to his one edict (translated by Nikam and Mckeon), “one hundred and fifty thousand persons were carried away captive, one hundred thousand were slain and many times that number died.” After this war’s victory over Kalinga, Ashoka was overcome with deep regret and looked upon violence with abhorrence. Than Ashoka converted himself to Buddhism but also his missionary zeal for the non-violence of Buddhism. Ashoka became intensely devoted to the study of Dharma and to the inculcation of Dharma. During his time many stupas were built containing the holy relics and marked as sacred sites to the Buddhist faith. Stupas were erected to memorialize such things as the Buddha enlightment, miracles, his death and many more. Some stupas were solely objects of worship.