Ashoka Maurya--or Ashoka the Great as he was later known--holds a special place in the history of India. 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. His bold experiment ended in tragedy, and in the tumult that followed the historical record was cleansed so effectively that his name was largely forgotten for almost two thousand years.Yet, a few mysterious stone monuments and inscriptions miraculously survived the purge. In 'Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor,' 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.

Charles Allen is the author of many distinguished books about India and the colonial experience, including Plain Tales from the Raj, Kipling Sahib, and The Buddha and Dr. Fuhrer. A traveler, historian, and master storyteller, he is one of the great chroniclers of India.

Contents: Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor by Charles Allen
Preface: The King Without Sorrow	xi
1 The Breaking of Idols	1
2 The Golden Column of Firoz Shah	6
3 Objects of Enquiry	28
4 Enter Alexander	46
5 Furious Orientalists	69
6 The Long Shadow of Horace Hayman Wilson	96
7 Prinsep's Ghat	120
8 Thus Spake King Piyadasi	153
9 Brian Hodgson's Gift	182
10 Records of the Western Regions	202
11 Alexander Cunningham the Great	227
12 Sir Alexander in Excelsis	251
13 Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum	279
14 India after Cunningham	303
15 Ashoka in the Twentieth Century	331
16 The Rise and Fall of Ashokadharma	362
Acknowledgments	401
Appendix: The Rock and Pillar Edicts	405
Notes	426
Index	448