ASHOKA Reign

Maurya Emperor -Ashooka the great
Reign	269–232 BCE
Coronation	269 BCE
Predecessor	Bindusara
Successor	Dasaratha
Consort	Asandhimitra
Wives	Devi Karuvaki Padmavati Tishyaraksha
Issue	Mahendra Sanghamitra Tivala Kunala Jaluka[citation needed] Charumati
House	Maurya
Father	Bindusara
Mother	Dharma or Shubhadrangi
Born	304 BCE Pataliputra, Patna
Died	232 BCE (aged 72) Pataliputra, Patna
Burial	Cremated 232 BCE, less than 24 hours afterAshoka ruled for an estimated forty years. Legend states that during his cremation, his body burned for seven days and nights.[23] After his death, the Mauryan dynasty lasted just fifty more years until his empire stretched over almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ashoka had many wives and children, but many of their names are lost to time. His chief consort (agramahisi) for the majority of his reign was his wife, Asandhimitra, who apparently bore him no children. In his old age, he seems to have come under the spell of his youngest wife Tishyaraksha. It is said that she had got Ashoka's son Kunala, the regent in Takshashila and the heir presumptive to the throne, blinded by a wily stratagem. The official executioners spared Kunala and he became a wandering singer accompanied by his favourite wife Kanchanmala. In Pataliputra, Ashoka heard Kunala's song, and realised that Kunala's misfortune may have been a punishment for some past sin of the emperor himself. He condemned Tishyaraksha to death, restoring Kunala to the court. In the Ashokavadana, Kunala is portrayed as forgiving Tishyaraksha, having obtained enlightenment through Buddhist practice. While he urges Ashoka to forgive her as well, Ashoka does not respond with the same forgiveness.[12] Kunala was succeeded by his son, Samprati, who ruled for 50 years until his death. The reign of Ashoka Maurya might have disappeared into history as the ages passed by, had he not left behind records of his reign. These records are in the form of sculpted pillars and rocks inscribed with a variety of actions and teachings he wished to be published under his name. The language used for inscription was in one of the Prakrit "common" languages etched in a Brahmi script. In the year 185 BCE, about fifty years after Ashoka's death, the last Maurya ruler, Brihadratha, was assassinated by the commander-in-chief of the Mauryan armed forces, Pushyamitra Shunga, while he was taking the Guard of Honor of his forces. Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga dynasty (185 BCE-75 BCE) and ruled just a fragmented part of the Mauryan Empire. Many of the northwestern territories of the Mauryan Empire (modern-day Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan) became the Indo-Greek Kingdom. King Ashoka, the third monarch of the Indian Mauryan dynasty, is also considered as one of the most exemplary rulers who ever lived.-wiki pedia source