Asoka founded the most powerful secret society on earth: that of the Nine Unknown Men. What can have been the aim of these men?
The Maurya Empire
The Mauryan empire in Indian history was reigned by the rulers from the
Mauryan dynasty. According to the ancient history of India, the Mauryan empire
happened to be quite strong and powerful in all respect including the political
aspects and military aspects. The Mauryan empire had a duration of one hundred
and thirty seven years from 322 BCE to 185 BCE.
The Mauryan empire in Indian history originated from the Magadha Kingdom that
is located on the Indo- Gangetic plains. These are now form the major part of
the states of West Bengal and Bihar. The capital city was at Patyliputra which
is now near to where Patna is located. Chandragupta Maurya, Bindusara and Ashoka
the Great were the remarkable rulers from the Maurya dynasty.
Chandragupta Maurya was admirably successful to establish a strongly
centralized state. The administrations was quite complex in comparison to those
that prevailed in the states of India in the earlier times. According to
Megasthenes, one of the renowned visitors and travelers to the country of India,
Patuliputra, the capital city of the Mauryan Empire in Indian history, was
walled up by wooden walls with as many as 570 towers and 64 gates.
Bindusara, the successor of Chandragupta Maurya, expanded the area of the
state that he inherited from Chandragupta Maurya who reigned for a fairly long
period of 24 years. The main targets of Bindusara were the regions in the
southern parts of India. Because of the scarcity of informations about Bindusara
from the ancient Indian history, little is known about this ruler from the
Maurya dynasty. Bindusara's mother was Durdhara. According to the informations
in Puranas the duration of the reign of Bindusara was for a period of 25 years,
almost same as his father.
Ashoka was the next emperor after the demise of Bindusara. Ashoka was also
known as Ashokabardhan Maurya. But in all the times, even till the present time,
he is known as Ashoka the Great. H. G. Wells is of the opinion that Ashoka is
the greatest among all of the kings not only in the history of India, but also
in the history of the world. Ashoka would have remained the Ashokabardhan for
the whole of his life if he would not have come to the noble realization that he
had when he visited the battlefield where the Kalinga war was fought. Ashoka
invaded Kalinga and became victorious claiming the lives of at least 100000
soldiers and civilians. Nearly ten thousand soldiers who were fighting for
Ashoka, also lost their lives. Ashoka was overwhelmingly pained at the loss of
so many lives.
The impact of this negative war affair was a tremendously positive one.
Ashoka changed his mind and came to the resolution that he would not ever wage
any war in future. The reality showed Ashoka to be even more generous. He
started spreading the message of peace and non- violence. He not only kept
himself stuck to the teachings of Gautama Buddha, but also spread Buddha's
messages to the neighboring countries.
