History chronicles innumerable kings who were brave conquerors and valiant soldiers. But Ashoka stands above them all as the only one who, at the zenith of his rule saw the futility of violence and, with great courage, renounced it.

H.G. Wells, in his Short History of the World, says that Ashoka’s “reign for eight and twenty years was one of the brightest interludes in the troubled history of mankind”. Wells goes on to say, “Such was Ashoka, the greatest of kings. He was far in advance of his age”.

This volume is based on the original research of the author into the Mahavamsa, the Dipavamsa (the commentary on the Mahavamsa) and the edicts of Ashoka. Pali manuscript and other secondary sources have also been extensively studied in gleaning facts that will kindle new interest in the great Emperor Ashoka.