1167 ASHOKA

The following year passed quite peacefully for him and Devi was about to deliver his first child. In the meanwhile, Emperor Bindusara died. As the news of the unborn heir to the throne spread, Prince Susima planned the execution of the unborn child; however, the assassin who came to kill Devi and her child killed his mother instead. As the folklore goes, in a fit of rage, Prince Ashoka attacked Pataliputra (modern day Patna), and beheaded all his brothers, including Susima, and threw their bodies in a well in Pataliputra. At that stage of his life, many called him Chanda Ashoka (Sansrit word chanda means cruel, Chandi-devi being associated with Kali) meaning fierce, rude, passionate and heartless Ashoka . In this phase of life he was known for his unquenched thirst for wars and campaigns launched to conquer the lands of other rulers made him called as Chandashok(the terrible Ashok).

Ascending the throne, Ashoka expanded his empire over the next eight years expanding it from the present-day boundaries and regions of Burma-Bangladesh and the state of Assam in India in the east to the territory of present-day Iran / Persia and Afghanistan in the west; from the Pamir Knots in the north to the almost peninsular part of southern India (i.e. Tamilnadu / Kerala).