Making Emperor Ashoka Great Again, with Patrick Olivelle's new book

#SoftCover
In his book ‘Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King,’ author Patrick Olivelle explores Ashoka’s life and reforms by digging deep into his writings and inscriptions to shed light on the complex Buddhist king who remorsefully embraced non-violence after the Kalinga War. He was penitent but not a pacifist. Olivelle highlights Ashoka’s role in decentralising the Brahminical religious hierarchy and offers a nuanced understanding of ancient Indian history.
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[rushebarab]

Didn’t talk about Ashoka for the first 21 mins…wth😂

[libshastra]

Ramachandran Guha ruined this book release with his loudmouthing behavior.

I apologize to Patrick on his behalf.

[vijay-]

Guha is wrong in claiming scholars not written biographies

[ramachandrankannan]

The article misses an important point. There is enough data to suggest Ashoka's ascension to throne was a result of Buddhist support. Chandragupta and Bimbisara were both Jains and the succession battle saw the Jains and Buddhist in opposite camps. Ashoka's reign saw the killings of a lot of Jain monks. The story that he turned Buddhist after the Kalinga waar is not borne by recordings of his times and seems to have been a later day invention.

[vip]

If Nalanda and Taxila’s libraries were not burned down, I’m sure we would have more literary evidence. Indian civilization died when those libraries burned.

[watanabe]

Ashoka was a great leader, but the problem is fake& propaganda historians like Guha, made it look like a fight of hindu and buddhist. Being a buddhist i dont agree with these hypocrites. & i also accept and apologised for the fact that ashoka killed many hindus oppressed them in the name of religion. Being from a religion doesnt mean i ve to accept everything my ancestors had done. We arent JIHADIS.

[guru_hindu]

He is not great though we can see him as one of the king ....

[rajshekhar]

I can see the anger and anguish of Guha on history being written by non historians who are now calling the bluffs of Guha n his Cabal.

[welingkartr]

If Ramachandra Guha with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from St. Stephen's College, a master's degree from the Delhi School of Economics (MA), and Ph.D. in Sociology from IIM Kolkata, where he wrote a doctoral thesis on the history and prehistory of the Chipko movement, is a historian, then I am the next Stephen Hawking.

How on earth did he manage to get a label of a historian?

[devshetty]

Immediately after death of Ashoka mauryan Empire disintegrated. It shows his rule was not good just like moghul aurangazeb. Otherwise why empire collapsed.