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====Conclusion====Ashoka was one of the most important personalities in the ancient world and arguably the most important person in pre-modern Indian history. He controlled a vast empire that encompassed most of the Indian sub-continent and patronized the Buddhist religion, helping make it one of the greatest and most followed religions of the world. The reason for Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism has always been a source of interest and debate for scholars, Buddhists , and lay people laypeople alike since he seemed to make such an abrupt turn in morality once he converted. The rock edicts and pillar inscriptions seem to indicate that Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism was fairly gradual and was influenced by a combination of the earlier Indic religions he was in contact with daily and guilt over his cruel acts early in his reign, especially the final battle with Kalinga.
Admin moved page Why Did Ashoka Convert to Buddhism? to Why Did Ashoka Convert to Buddhism
In fairness to Bindusara, his use of violence was probably more of a reaction to the cruel governors who caused rebellions within their realms more than it was a love of wanton violence on his part. <ref> Lamotte, Étienne. <i>History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Śaka Era.</i> Translated by Sara Webb-Boin. (Leuven, Belgium: Peeters Press, 1988), p. 223</ref> Still, there is little doubt that Ashoka learned from his father at an early age that violence could be an effective method to keep and hold power in an often chaotic region of the world.
====How did Ashoka Comes Come to Power==? ==
After Bindusara died, his sons fought each other in a four-year civil war for control of the empire. Susuma was the rightful heir, but Ashoka wanted to rule, and he held the capital city of Pataliputra, which proved to be decisive. From Pataliputra, Ashoka controlled the empire’s resources and armies, which allowed him to defeat and kill all of the other claimants to the throne. <ref> Lamotte, p.223</ref>
Once Ashoka was in power, he continued to demonstrate his martial abilities and tendency for brutality toward all who opposed him. One of the kingdoms in India that Ashoka had yet to conquer by the eighth year of his rule was Kalinga, located on the Bay of Bengal. The war between the Mauryan Empire and Kalinga ebbed and flowed for the first few years of Ashoka’s rule until the king utterly devastated Kalinga in his eighth year of rule. Ashoka commemorated his victory over Kalinga on two rock edicts, stating that 150,000 people from Kalinga were deported, 100,000 were killed, and many times later died as a result from injuries, starvation, etc. The numbers would be incredibly high by even modern standards, but modern scholars have stated that archaeological evidence seems to corroborate the claims. <ref> Lamotte, p, 226</ref> Violence was a tool that Ashoka used his entire life to get what he wanted, but after the war with Kalinga, he finally contemplated the extent of human suffering that he had caused.
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“Thereupon. That unmerciful monster, feeling no pity in his heart and indifferent to the other world, threw Samudra into an iron cauldron full of water, human blood, marrow, urine, and excrement. He lit a great fire underneath, but even after much firewood had been consumed, the cauldron did not get hot. Once more, he tried to light the fire, but again it would not blaze. He became puzzled, and looking into the pot; he saw the monk seated there, cross-legged on a lotus. Straight-away, he sent word to King Aśoka. Aśoka came to witness this marvel, and thousands of people gathered, and Samudra, seated in the cauldron, realized that the time for Aśoka’s conversion was at hand.” <ref> Strong, p. 216</ref>
The later Buddhist <i> Asokavadana</i> also depicts Ashoka as suffering from guilt due to his violent and despotic rule but portrays his conversion as a more sudden form of enlightenment. Although the two traditions diverge on the process that Ashoka took to his conversion, they both agree that it was the result of a guilty conscience with the final battle against Kalinga being the turning point.
