Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s1.21

c11.s1.21

Certain unhappy incidents clouded, according to tradition, the last days of Bindusāra. He had doubtless many children, both sons and daughters, as we may infer from the Fifth Rock edict of Aśoka. If reliance can be placed on late chroniclers, the relations among some of them were none too friendly. Aśoka, whom we have seen taking a prominent part in the affairs of the state during the life-time of his father, is represented as having seized the throne as the outcome of a fratricidal struggle. The story lacks confirmation from contemporary sources and its verification must await future discoveries. The incidents to which it refers, if they really took place, must have helped to deepen in the long run the religious conviction of Aśoka who sought to make amends for the misery he had inflicted on his fellow creatures in his unregenerate days.