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book: Ashoka in Ancient India
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Ashoka in Ancient India

Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2015

About this book

In the third century BCE Ashoka ruled in South Asia and Afghanistan, and came to be seen as the ideal Buddhist king. Disentangling the threads of Ashoka’s life from the knot of legend that surrounds it, Nayanjot Lahiri presents a vivid biography of an emperor whose legacy extends far beyond the bounds of his lifetime and dominion.

Author / Editor information

Lahiri Nayanjot :

Nayanjot Lahiri is Professor of History at the University of Delhi.

Reviews

Fascinating.
-- Chandrahas Choudhury Wall Street Journal

Where Lahiri really scores is in the field of Ashokan archaeology, where she brings together all the work that has been undertaken in the years since 1997…These advances have all been woven seamlessly into Lahiri’s narrative, so as to give the clearest chronology yet assembled of the life of Ashoka and what Lahiri calls ‘his trajectory as a communicator’ and his ‘intellectual evolution,’ most notably the quite extraordinary change of heart that followed Ashoka’s conquest of Kalinga and how this transformed his concept of kingship.
-- Charles Allen Literary Review

[Lahiri’s] idiosyncratic book combines legends, archaeology, and even personal information shrewdly teased out of the edicts to craft an arresting profile.
-- Brian Bethune Maclean’s

Richly thoughtful… The result of all this careful, well-presented thought and research is what is certainly the best biography of Ashoka the Great ever written in English.
-- Steve Donoghue Open Letters Monthly

Many biographies have been published on Ashoka, the greatest king of India, but this biography is different, and perhaps the best written on the extraordinary king.
-- R. N. Sharma Choice

Lahiri has firmly grounded the Ashoka of legend and inscriptions with a novel kind of detail and deliberation, spelling out the connections and implications, combining solid historical analysis with fresh interpretation.
-- Upinder Singh, University of Delhi

Many biographies of Emperor Aśoka (third c. B.C.E.) have been written over the past century or so, but Lahiri’s is perhaps the most gripping…Lahiri’s is, indeed, a very engaging biography, probably the best I have read.
-- Patrick Olivelle Journal of the American Oriental Society

Lahiri [presents] an accessible and engaging biography of the emperor in his time that navigates the complex terrain of available evidence…Lahiri has produced what is probably the best biography of Aśoka to date…Lahiri has produced a uniquely accessible volume that draws readers into the landscapes of Mauryan India and guides them through a rich encounter with the Aśoka of edict and legend.
-- Mark McClish Indian Economic and Social History Review

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  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    ix
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    Illustrations

    xi
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    Maps

    xv
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    Acknowledgements

    xvii
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    Prelude

    1
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    1. An Apocryphal Early Life

    24
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    2. Pataliputra and the Prince

    43
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    3. Mauryan Taxila

    66
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    4. Affairs of the Heart and State

    87
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    5. The End and the Beginning

    104
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    6. The Emperor’s Voice

    118
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    7. Extending the Arc of Communication to Afghanistan

    161
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    8. An Expansive Imperial Articulation

    176
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    9. The Message in the Landscape

    202
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    10. Building Beliefs into Edifices

    226
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    11. An Ageing Emperor’s Interventions

    260
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    12 Of Wifely Woes and the Emperor’s Death

    280
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    Epilogue: The Emperor’s Afterlife

    289
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    Appendix: The Inscriptions of Ashoka

    308
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    Notes

    318
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    Bibliography

    354
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    Index

    373
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
August 5, 2015
eBook ISBN:
9780674915237
Edition:
Pilot project, eBook available to selected US libraries only
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
408
Other:
7 color illustrations, 38 halftones, 3 maps
View content
https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674915237
eBook ISBN: 9780674915237
Audience(s) for this book
General/trade;
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