Ashoka Becomes King

In he opinion of some scholars Ashoka was born in 304 B.C.E. to Pali Chronicle he was anointed King Two hundred and Eighteen years after Parinibbána of the Buddha, but his accession took place four years later. He reigned Thirty-Seven years after his coronation. He probably ascended the throne in his 30th year, and died in his Seventy-One year.

The Pali Chronicles state that Ashoka, in his ambition for supreme sovereignty, killed all his brother except his uterine brother Tissa, who later entered the Order and attained Arahantship. Some scholars do not accept this tradition as some Edicts prove that some of his brothers were still alive after his coronation.

Owing to his murderous attacks on his brothers and the indescribable suffering caused to many a family by his unjust wars, he was stigmatized Candasoka, Ashoka the Wicked. But after his conversion to Buddhism, he became such as exemplary monarch that his name was changed into Dharmasoka, Ashoka the Righteous. Devanampiya-Dear to the Gods, Piyadasi-Pleasant tot Behold, were some of his well-merited epithets.