Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Abbreviations xi
4. Preface xiii
5. Prologue xvii
6. PART ONE
7. Rājā: Ashoka the King 3
8. 1 Maurya 5
9. 2 Ruler 18
10. 3 Writer 60
11. 4 Builder 85
12. PART TWO
13. Upāsaka: Ashoka the Buddhist 99
14. 5 Deepening the Faith 101
15. 6 Exhorting the Sangha 114
16. 7 Spreading the Faith 134
17. PART THREE
18. Dharma Ashoka the Moral Philosopher 149
19. 8 Pivoting to Dharma 151
20. 9 Dharma as Moral Philosophy 161
21. 10 Preaching Dharma 188
22. PART FOUR
23. Pāṣaṇḍa: Ashoka the Ecumenist 213
24. 11 Religious Diversity 216
25. 12 Ecumenism 240
26. 13 Civil Religion 257
27. Epilogue: Ashoka’s Legacy and the Unravelling of the Ashokan Experiment 266
28. Appendix: Ashoka’s Inscriptional Corpus 277
29. Glossary 321
30. Bibliography 325
31. Index 341