History · From State to Empire
UGC NET December 2013 History
Passage
Asoka (c. 273-236 BC), the grandson of Chandragupta, styled the beloved of the gods and of lovable appearance, succeeded to the throne of Pataliputra by winning a fratricidal war. Nine years after his accession he rounded off the empire he had inherited from his grandfather by annexing Kalinga. The Kalinga war brought to the emperor a violent reaction, no doubt under the influence of the Buddha's teachings. He regretted the vast numbers of men killed or taken prisoner, and bemoaned the lot of pious men and women to whom befell personal violence, death or banishment from loved ones, and he eschewed war for ever as an instrument of governance. He embarked on a career of Dharma Vijaya, conquest through Dharma. He set up a network of missions to preach Dharma, declared that all men were his children, and constituted himself the guardian of the moral and material welfare of the world.
Which one of the following did not form part of the Asokan empire?
ATamilakam ✓ Correct
BSaurashtra
CKandahar
DKashmir
Correct answer: (A) Tamilakam — Tamilakam did not form part of the Asokan empire, so the answer is Tamilakam.
Explanation
★Tamilakam did not form part of the Asokan empire, so the answer is Tamilakam.
★Tamilakam was the land of the Tamil kingdoms in the far south.
★It lay beyond the southern edge of Asoka's empire.
★Asoka's edicts in fact name the southern kingdoms as his friendly neighbours.
★His empire reached Afghanistan in the north-west and Karnataka in the south.
★It extended to Kathiawar in the west and the Bay of Bengal in the east.
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