Ashoka the Great

📍Pataliputra Palace, Patna, Bihar, India

“I ruled from Pataliputra — the great city on the Ganges that Chandragupta, my grandfather, had made the capital of the Maurya Empire. By my reign it was one of the largest cities in the world. After my conquest of Kalinga — a war in which perhaps a hundred thousand people died — I stood on the battlefield and wept. I converted to Buddhism and dedicated the remainder of my reign to ahimsa, non-violence, and to dharma, righteous conduct. I had my edicts carved into rock faces across the empire, calling my people to compassion.”

Sources: Thapar, R. Ashoka and the Decline of the Mauryas (1961), Oxford University Press; Allen, C. Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor (2012), Little, Brown