By the 19th century Ashoka, one of India's greatest rulers, was almost forgotten: nobody could read his edicts.

261 BC · 1837 · apart: 2098 years

The ancient Brahmi script was deciphered only in the 1830s, by James Prinsep, an assay master at a British mint.

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The event

• Kalinga Warc. 261 BC · Kalinga. 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.

3rd century BC · 19th century

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