Quote:
Originally Posted by drjd
... I am now heading for the book Ashoka, The Search for India's Lost Emperor by Charles Allen, bought today from Amazon.
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Finished today
Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor by
Charles R. Allen. My, and that was a book! Over 1000 pages (must be!) packed with intriguing facts and figures of hard archaeology and history unraveling the story of once nearly forgotten for almost two thousand years, Emperor Ashoka, ruling a vast empire before two and half century BC. Through his third century BCE quest to govern the Indian subcontinent by moral force alone, Ashoka transformed Buddhism from a minor sect into a major world religion. The untiring efforts of various archaeologists discovering various rock inscriptions, coinage, relics and ruins to obtain the truth, from 1700CE onwards. Written in a very comforting and truly unbiased manner, historian Charles Allen tells the incredible story of how a few enterprising archaeologists deciphered the mysterious lettering on keystones and recovered India’'s ancient past. Drawing from rich sources, Allen crafts a clearer picture of this enigmatic figure than ever before. Highly recommended for lovers and students of history and archaeology.
This books is encouraging me to read
Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, ie.,
Inscriptions of Asoka, written (prepared) by
Alexander Cunningham, published in 1877, as next book.