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Melvyn Bragg

Jessica Frazier

Naomi Appleton

Richard Gombrich

Thomas Morris

In Our Time: Ashoka the Great

Ashoka the Great

05/02/2015

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Ashoka the Great

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Indian ruler Ashoka the Great.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the emperor Ashoka the Great, one of the most celebrated rulers in Indian history.

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.

With:

Jessica Frazier
Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Naomi Appleton
Chancellor's Fellow in Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh

Richard Gombrich
Founder and Academic Director of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and Emeritus Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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