Excerpt from an Edict

"It is good to be obedient to one's mother and father, friends, and relatives. It is good not only to spend little, but to own the minimum of property."

This was an excerpt from one of Ashoka's edicts promoting Buddhist Values.

His Four Main Goals

Ashoka had four main goals. One was to promote buddhist values in his kingdom. For example, he would tell people to practice nonviolence. Another goal was for the general welfare of people in his kingdom to be good. His third goal was to have good justice, or court systems, in his empire. His fourth and last was to make his country have good security. This included dealing with and protecting from non-citizens and bordering countries.

Extra Info

http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html

This is a great website for more extensive information on Ashoka

Ashoka put his edicts on pillars like this one.

Who Ashoka Was

Ashoka was an ancient Indian king. He ruled the Mauryan empire that had been greatly built upon by his grandfather, Chandragupta. At first, Ashoka ruled his empire with great violence. He fought wars of conquest, and is thought to have had one of the worlds first torture chambers. But after one particularly bloody battle, he changed his ways to the beliefs of Buddhism. With his new outlook, he put many edicts up around the kingdom. These edicts promoted following the dharma, or Buddha's teachings.