Kalinga War
A bloody conquest turns Ashoka toward Buddhism
Emperor Ashoka conquered Kalinga; by his own edict 100,000 were killed and 150,000 deported. Shaken by the bloodshed, Ashoka turned to Buddhism and proclaimed a policy of dhamma in edicts carved on rocks and pillars.
Wikipedia (English) · 3rd century BC
Did you know
Almost simultaneously, Ashoka conquered Kalinga (261 BC) and repented the bloodshed, while China saw the Battle of Changping (260 BC), one of antiquity's bloodiest.
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Africa
- c. 285 BC Library of Alexandria — 24 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Archimedes (aged 26)
- Ashoka (aged 43)
- Eratosthenes (aged 15)