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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[@rushebarab1423]

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

[@ramachandrankannan274]

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.

[@adarshverma2014]

Is it true that he aslo killed a lot of ajivikas, the religion his father followed?

[@ramachandrankannan274]

@@adarshverma2014 I am not a historian and have not researched Ashoka. I only expected that someone who claims to have done that would have talked about such aspects especially when he discusses the pacifist image of Ashoka

[@abhishekmhatre1554]

The evidence for Chandragupta being a Jain is pretty scarce. The only sources which claim this are Jain sources written centuries after his death. Meanwhile Chanakya, his political advisor and right-hand man, makes no such claim in his Arthashastra.

[@ramachandrankannan274]

The question is really of the depth of evidence. Ashoka himself had built a statue of his grandfather, Chandragupta,at Shravanbelagola. Chandragupta is believed to have retired there and become a Jain monk. Bimbisara’s death saw a succession war with the Jailed n monks being against Ashoka who ,in turn, was supported by Buddhists. Ashoka was believed to have killed many Jain monks and ajivikas. My point is a serious work on Ashoka should have studied the claims in depth instead of ignoring it

[@bikramsen9952]

Maybe the book has dealt with this aspect too. This discussion did not cover the entire book.
And Guha is a loud mouth. LOUD

[@eliotanderson6554]

Unemployment ki baat karo 😢

[@adityabanerjee7145]

are you unemployed - please get out of youtube and work hard

[@libshastra]

Ramachandran Guha ruined this book release with his loudmouthing behavior.
I apologize to Patrick on his behalf.

[@watanabe00738]

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.

[@oyehoyemon2286]

Exactly, Hindus of today are not beholden to atrocities to Shramik philosophies by a particular sampradaya of umbrella hindu faith in one corner of the country.
Buddhists of today do not have to apologise for Ashoka, he was what he was: A king with flaws who killed a bunch to gain power and use any means including religion for it. It's just these historians whose marxists tinted lens only shows interpretation a certain way!
All Indic faiths have the same core of upholding Dharma/Dhamma and ways to achieve Moksha. It's the paths that change and we mustn't let BA pass nincompoops spoil that mutual love and respect

[@guru_hindu]

Problem with some historians they appropriate historical figures to one religion which is not right for the way of telling history ...

[@vijay-1]

Guha is wrong in claiming scholars not written biographies

[@vip129870]

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.

[@guru_hindu]

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

[@devshetty7465]

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

[@guru_hindu]

He was brutal and cunning ...

[@anil76jadhav]

❤

[@nirvaannaath7358]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@rajshekhar1147]

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.

[@welingkartr416]

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?

[@sanilyadav591]

If you are providing facts data then you are a historian.

[@welingkartr416]

@@sanilyadav591 If you distort facts and support it with data, then you are called an historian too.

[@sanilyadav591]

@@welingkartr416 If someone distorts you should provide data to support it....

[@PremaSubramanian-b6l]

Very good