Was Asoka Ruthless Conqueror

In Ancient India, the people named their flag after Asoka. He did great things for the Mauryan Empire that gave a good ending, but were the means of the ending just? Asoka ruled Ancient India and changed the history of it doing good and bad things for himself but for his empire. Was it being Ruthless or Enlightened? His responsibility for many deaths, his wanting of unfair wars, the unjust laws all clearly imply that Asoka is a Ruthless Conqueror.

To start, Asoka’s responsibility for taking innocent lives of civilians and soldiers was merciless. The map of Document A, Asoka’s empire, shows the area Ashoka had ruled before the conquest and what Kalinga had owned. Asoka’s land is probably around 10 times bigger than Kalinga’s land area. He had more power and better soldiers which killed civilians and soldiers of Kalinga. Kalinga’s land area was nothing compared to Asoka’s, and his powerful empire. The legend of the map shows: “Kalingans killed in battle:

In document A, Asoka’s Empire, the map shows the Mauryan empire completely surrounding Kalinga on all sides. The only sides of Kalinga that were not surrounded was the coast that lead to the oceans. This gave Asoka a big advantage and a bigger chance of conquering them than Kalinga defending themselves making the war between Asoka’s empire and Kalinga unfair. “It stood in the way of southern routes of the Ganges Valley, and it was also a powerful maritime which if included in the empire would provide a convenient source of income.” Document B asserts the reason of the conquest of Kalinga by Ashoka. Even so if Kalinga had the southern trading routes at a powerful maritime, doesn't make it just for Asoka to invade Kalinga only for his empire not think about how it would affect Kalinga. Asoka could’ve made piece with Kalinga and settle the trading routes in a nonviolent way, after all that is what the buddhist religion is