Over 2,300 years ago, in India, the leader Asoka ruled the Mauryan Empire from 268 BCE to 232 BCE. Throughout his reign, Asoka conquered a vast area of India. Initially, he was a conqueror, but in his later life, he became a more peaceful ruler. While there is debate about Asoka being an enlightened ruler, Asoka was a ruthless conqueror who punished those who opposed him and killed hundreds of thousands of people on conquests. Asoka’s cruelty can be seen when those who opposed him were brutally punished. This is apparent in Document E: “The Beloved of the Gods [wishes friendship] with the forest tribes of his empire, but he warns them that he has power even in his remorse, and he asks them to repent, lest they be killed.” Document E proclaims …show more content…
The sidebar in Document A states that 100,000 Kalingans were killed in battle and 100,000 died of disease. In addition, 150,000 people were exiled after the combat. After the bloody Kalinga War, Asoka caused over 200,000 casualties. Additionally, Asoka’s savagery can be seen in Document B. Asoka killed a vast amount of people to get what he wanted. The evidence can be found when “it stood in the way of the southern routes from the Ganges river, and it was also a powerful maritime area, which if included within the empire would provide a convenient source of income.” Asoka could have figured out a peace deal with the Kalingan Empire so the Mauryan Empire could use the trade routes and the Kalingans could still have their kingdom. Instead, Asoka decided to conquer Kalinga, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Numerous pieces of evidence demonstrates that Asoka was an enlightened ruler who helped pave roads, supported and sent Buddhist teachers to spread the religion, and planted trees for shade. Unfortunately, his ruthlessness led to thousands of innocent lives taken, which is a greater loss than building roads and spreading Buddhist