Under Ashoka, the last great Mauryan emperor, the empire extended across almost the entirety of the Indian subcontinent. In his new book, Ashoka: Portrait of a Philospher King, Patrick Olivelle examinies the life of Ashoka, and issues around his approach to violence, religious harmony, his relationship with Buddhism and his development of the concept of dharma. In an interview with the historian Manu S. Pillai, the Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin explains why Ashoka is ‘unique’ in many ways. Edited excerpts.
