Asoka the Great

Myths and Truths from the Scriptures and the Inscriptions

Abstract

This article investigates the story of Asoka the Great as documented in Buddhist scriptures and in the Edicts of King Asoka. Concordance and discordance can be found on many issues, such as the killing of his elder brothers before assuming the throne, the territories into which he has led the dissemination of Buddhism, the origin of his Buddhist beliefs, and the Third Buddhist Council. Although these two sources of evidence described many events similarly, their differences seem to give us two significantly distinct images of Asoka the Great, i.e., King Asoka as described in the Edicts and as described in the Buddhist Scriptures, especially in the Theravada Commentaries (Atthakathā) where King Asoka’s virtues and vices were portrayed in excessive manners partly in order to glorify Buddhism, which in turn mythicized and distorted the reality surrounding him. The Edicts of King Asoka, on the other hand, seem to describe more probable facts, even though they may also contain some mythical elements.