Ashoka (Gonandiya)

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Not to be confused with Ashoka.
Ashoka
(Gonandiya)
Approximate extent of the Kashmir region ruled by Ashoka Gonandiya.
PredecessorSacinara[1]
SuccessorJalauka (son)[2]
BornKashmir
IssueJalauka (son)
DynastyGonandiya, Godhara branch
ReligionHinduism

King Ashoka, of the Gonandiya dynasty, was a king of the region of Kashmir according to Kalhana, the 12th century CE historian who wrote the Rajatarangini.[3]

According to the Rajatarangini, Ashoka was the great-grandson of Shakuna from maternal side and son of Shachinara's first cousin.

The great grandson of Shakuna and a son of that king grand-uncle, named Ashoka, who was true to his engagement, then supported the earth

— Rajatarangini I101.[4]

He is said to have built a great city called Srinagara (near but not same as the modern-day Srinagar).[5] In his days, the mlechchhas (foreigners) overran the country, and he took sannyasa.[6]

According to Kalhana's account, this Ashoka was the 48th king of the Gonandiya dynasty (Rajatarangini I102).[3] By Kalhana's calculations, he would have ruled in the 2nd millennium BCE. Kalhana's chronology is widely seen as defective, as he places kings such as Kanishka and Mihirakula respectively 1100 years and 1200 years before their actual reigns.[7][8]

Kalhana also states (Rajatarangini I102) that this king had adopted the doctrine of

Buddha.[10]

That king, who had extinguished sin and accepted the teachings of Buddha, covered Suskaletra and Vitastatra with numerous stupas

— Rajatarangini I102.[11]

He also built Shiva temples, and appeased Bhutesha (Shiva) to obtain his son Jalauka.[12]

Other scholars have disputed the identification with Ashoka of the Maurya Empire.[13]

In the chronology of the Rajatarangini, the reign of Ashoka is followed by that of his son

Juska and Kanishka.[14][15]

References

  1. ^ Pandit, Ranjit Sitaram (1935). River Of Kings (rajatarangini). p. 17, I99.
  2. ^ Pandit, Ranjit Sitaram (1935). River Of Kings (rajatarangini). p. 18, I108.
  3. ^
    JSTOR 41693531
    .
  4. ^ Pandit, Ranjit Sitaram (1935). River Of Kings (rajatarangini). p. 17.
  5. ^ Rajatarangini I104 Pandit, Ranjit Sitaram (1935). River Of Kings (rajatarangini). p. 17.
  6. ^ Rajatarangini I107 Pandit, Ranjit Sitaram (1935). River Of Kings (rajatarangini). p. 17.
  7. ISBN 978-81-85880-31-0
    .
  8. ^ The Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol. XVIII. 1942. p. 204.
  9. ^ Guruge 1994, pp. 185–186.
  10. ^ Lahiri 2015, pp. 378–380.
  11. ^ Pandit, Ranjit Sitaram (1935). River Of Kings (rajatarangini). p. 17.
  12. ^ Rajatarangini I107 Pandit, Ranjit Sitaram (1935). River Of Kings (rajatarangini). p. 17.
  13. ISBN 978-81-900272-4-3
    .
  14. ^ Pandit, Ranjit Sitaram (1935). River Of Kings (rajatarangini). p. I101–I170.
  15. ISBN 978-81-7030-469-2
    . In the Rajatarangini: within the line of kings, Asoka's successor was his son Jaloka, and the latter's Damodara, whom the three princes Huska, Juska and Kaniska followed upon.


Sources
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