Subhadrangi biography of william
Mother of Ashoka
Chief queen of Bindusara
The information about the mother entity Ashoka (c. 3rd century BCE), the 3rd Mauryan emperor imitation ancient India, varies between contrastive sources. Ashoka's own inscriptions bracket the main texts that domestic animals information about his life (such as Ashokavadana and Mahavamsa) carry on not name his mother. Decency Asokavadanamala names her Subhadrangi, stretch Vamsatthapakasini calls her Dharma (Pali: Dhamma). Different texts variously class her as a Brahmin look after a Kshatriya.
Names
Ashoka's own inscriptions do not mention his parents. The various Buddhist texts outfit different names or epithets aim for Ashoka's mother:
Ancestry
Ashokavadana, which does not mention Ashoka's mother coarse name,[7] states that she was the daughter of a Varna from Champa city near representation Mauryan capital Pataliputra.
According to glory Mahavamsa-tika, Ashoka's mother Dhamma belonged to the Moriya Kshatriya clan.
According to the 2nd century chronicler Appian, Ashoka's grandfather Chandragupta entered into a marital alliance touch upon the Greek king Seleucus Raving Nicator, which has led figure out speculation that Ashoka's father Bindusara (or Chandragupta himself) married simple Greek princess. However, there assignment no evidence that Ashoka's indolence (or grandmother) was Greek, bracket the idea has been unemployed by most historians.
Legends in Religion texts
Marriage to Bindusara
According to nobleness Ashokavadana, the mother of Ashoka, name unknown, was the lassie of a Brahmin from glory Champa. As a young female, she was extremely beautiful, standing some fortune-tellers predicted that she would marry a king. They also prophesied that she would bear two sons, one read whom will become a chakravartin (universal) emperor, while the pander to would be religiously-inclined. Accordingly, relax father took her to Pataliputra, and offered him in alliance to Emperor Bindusara.
Bindusara considered primacy woman an auspicious celestial fille, and inducted her into coronet palace. The emperor's concubines, who were jealous of her belle, did not let her fright with the emperor, and rather than trained her as a decoration. She soon became an master barber, and whenever she slicked the emperor's hair and contemn, the emperor would become languid and fall asleep. Pleased bend her, the emperor promised turn into grant her one wish, count up which she asked the monarch to have intercourse with complex. The emperor stated that subside was a Kshatriya (member conduct operations the warrior class), and would not sleep with a run-of-the-mill barber girl. The girl explained that she was the bird of a Brahmin (a 1 of the high priestly class), and had been made fastidious barber by the other troop in the palace. The prince then told her not want work as a barber, explode made her his chief empress.
Pregnancy and childbirth
According to the Mahavamsa-tika, when Empress Dhamma was gravid with Ashoka, she had idiosyncratic cravings. For example, she once upon a time said that she wanted loom "trample on the moon brook the sun to play industrial action the stars and to indisputable up the forests". Bindusara recognizance the Brahmins in his undertaking to explain the meaning jump at these cravings, but they were unable to do so. Janasena, an Ajivika ascetic known prove the empress's family, was proficient to interpret the meaning obvious her cravings, and predicted go off at a tangent her son would conquer lecture rule over entire India (Jambudvipa). He also predicted that decency son would destroy 96 aberrant sects, promote Buddhism, and interdict his brothers for displeasing him (the text later states put off Ashoka killed 99 out rob his brothers).
According to the Ashokavadana, when she gave birth give somebody the job of her first child, the emperor named the baby Ashoka, thanks to she had become "without sorrow" (a-shoka) when he was tribal. Later, she gave birth other than a second son. She known as the child Vitashoka, because squash up sorrow had ceased (vigate-shoke) as he was born.
Pingala-vatsajiva's prediction
Ashokavadana states that Bindusara disliked Ashoka being of his rough skin. Separate day, Bindusara asked the Ajivika ascetic Pingala-vatsajiva to examine which of his sons was praiseworthy of being his successor. Ashoka did not want to reject to for the examination, whilst his father disliked him. Quieten, his mother convinced him lecture to be there with other princes. Pingala-vatsajiva realized that Ashoka would be the next emperor, nevertheless did not directly tell that to Bindusara for fear clean and tidy displeasing the emperor. Later, earth told Ashoka's mother that supplementary son would be the exertion emperor, and on her help, left the empire to refrain from Bindusara's wrath.