Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has released a postal stamp on Emperor Ashoka. He also announced that stamps would also be released soon to honour former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Bihar’s mountain man Dashrath Manjhi. The postal stamp in honour of Ashoka would be available for sale for five rupees in the post offices.
The Minister said he would also propose to senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders to install a big statue of Ashoka in Patna and Delhi.
Interesting Facts about Ashoka the Great
- Grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka Vardhana Maurya was as fierce, courageous and proficient kid right from the beginning.
- He assumed the title of Devanampiya Piyadasi which means ‘Beloved of the Gods’ and ‘He who looks one with affection’.
- Ashoka reigned over a realm that stretched from the Hindu Kush mountains in the west to Bengal in the East and covered the entire Indian subcontinent except parts of present-day Tamil Naduand Kerala.
- He embraced Buddhism after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest. He made Buddhism his state religion.
- Ashoka sent his son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitra to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for spreading Buddhism.
- Ashoka build lion stambh’s to spread Buddhism, these stambh’s are now called Ashok Stambh. Ashok Stambh of sarnath was adopted as national emblem of India.
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