‘Ashoka’ Review: Conquer First, Enlighten Later
My unpublished Letter to the Wall Street Journal Editor
Dear Editor:
In Maxwell Carter's review of Patrick Olivelle's book "Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King," Mr. Carter's claim that "about Ashoka, we can be sure of virtually nothing" is quite remarkable.
Within the Indian tradition, as historian Sanjeev Sanyal notes in his research, Ashoka is not known as a great king. He remained a relatively unknown figure until Orientalist John Prinsep discovered him in 1837 and presented him as "Great." His religious tolerance is also a myth. He famously had 18,000 Ajivikas, the followers of a nastika (heterodox) school of Indian philosophy, slaughtered in one episode. Dharma is the core of the Hindu philosophy, not a Buddhist invention. One of the best expositions of Dharma is in the Mahabharata, a text composed in the 4th century BCE (much older within the tradition).
Sincerely,
Avatans Kumar