Ashoka the Great

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Indian Emperor Ashoka. Active in the 3rd century BC, Ashoka conquered almost all of the landmass covered by modern-day India, creating the largest empire South Asia had ever known. After his campaign of conquest he converted to Buddhism, and spread the religion throughout his domain. His edicts were inscribed on the sides of an extraordinary collection of stone pillars spread far and wide across his empire, many of which survive today. Our knowledge of ancient India and its chronology, and how this aligns with the history of Europe, is largely dependent on this important set of inscriptions, which were deciphered only in the nineteenth century.

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Guests

• Jessica Frazier 10 episodes
  Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
• Naomi Appleton 2 episodes
  Chancellor's Fellow in Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh
• Richard Gombrich No other episodes
  Founder and Academic Director of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and Emeritus Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford

Reading list

• Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor
  Charles Allen (Little Brown, 2012) Google Books →
• Asokan Sites and Artefacts: A Source-book with Bibliography
  Harry Falk (Von Zabern, 2006) Google Books →
• The Edicts of Asoka
  N. A. Nikam and Richard McKeown (eds.) (University of Chicago Press, 1959) Google Books →
• Asoka: In History and Historical Memory
  Patrick Olivelle (ed.) (Motilal Banarsidass, 2010) Google Books →
• King Asoka and Buddhism: Historical and Literary Studies
  Anuradha Seneviratna (ed.) (Buddhist Publication Society, 1994) Google Books →
• The Legend of King Asoka: A Study and Translation of the Asokavadana
  John S. Strong (Princeton University Press, 1983) Google Books →

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Programme ID: b0511tm1

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0511tm1

Auto-category: 954.02 (History of ancient India to 647)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello. In 1837, a young British administrator in Calcutta, James Princep, succeeded in deciphering a series of mysterious and ancient inscriptions.