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Aśokāvadāna
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Aśokāvadāna

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Also known as Aśokarājāvadāna

The Ashokavadana (; ; ) is an Indian Sanskrit-language text that describes the birth and reign of the third Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. It glorifies Ashoka as a Buddhist emperor whose only ambition was to spread Buddhism far and wide.

Book · Open Library

Author
Sujitkumar Mukhopadhyaya
First published
1963
Editions
1
Subjects
Buddhist legends

via Open Library

Key facts

Book.name
Ashokavadana अशोकावदान
Book.author
Possibly Buddhist monks of the Mathura region
Book.language
Sanskrit
Book.series
Divyavadana
Book.subject
Life of King Ashoka
Book.genre
Fictional narrative
Book.pub_date
4-5th century

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Genre
Avadana
Country of origin
Maurya empire
Show 2 more facts
language of work or name
Sanskrit
Commons category
Aśokāvadāna
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~8 min read

Encyclopedic overview

14 sections
Contents
  • Date of composition
  • Translations
  • Narratives
  • Life of Upagupta
  • Early life of Ashoka
  • Ashoka's Buddhist kingship
  • Story of Kunala
  • Ashoka's last days
  • Historicity
  • Description of violence by Ashoka
  • Description of Pushyamitra
  • References
  • Bibliography
  • External links

The Ashokavadana (; ; ) is an Indian Sanskrit-language text that describes the birth and reign of the third Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. It glorifies Ashoka as a Buddhist emperor whose only ambition was to spread Buddhism far and wide.

Ashokavadana, also known as Ashokarajavadana, is one of the avadana texts contained in the Divyavadana (Divyāvadāna, "Divine Narrative"), an anthology of several Buddhist narratives. According to Jean Przyluski, the text was composed by the Buddhist monks of the Mathura region, as it highly praises the city of Mathura, its monasteries, and its monks.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Aśokāvadāna” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.