I hugely enjoyed Patrick Olivelle's beautifully written and utterly compelling new biography, Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King. I was intrigued by his speculations about Hellenistic and Seleucid influence at the Mauryan court, and the picture he painted of a cosmopolitan and multicultural Pataliputra. I was also intrigued by Olivelle's ideas about how Ashoka's own conception of dharma may have differed from that of the Buddha. Ashoka is a wonderful book and bodes promisingly for Ram Guha's new series of biographies, Indian Lives.
ASHOKA Portrait of a Philosopher King
By Patrick Olivelle
HARPERCOLLINS
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