Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s23.1

c11.s23.1

Of the birth and early life of Aśoka we hear very little even from tradition. According to *Divyāvadāna*, his mother was Janapadakalyāṇī (Subhadrāṅgī in other versions), the lovely daughter of a Brahman of Champā, who was kept out of her rights for some time by the intrigues of the other queens of Bindusāra, but succeeded ultimately in winning the king’s favour and bearing him two sons, Aśoka and Vigatāśoka. Some modern scholars would make Aśoka the son of the Greek princess, the daughter of Seleucus, who became the wife of Bindusāra according to the terms of peace between the founder of the Mauryan empire and the Hellenistic ruler of Western Asia³. True, a mixed descent for Aśoka might not have evoked such violent disapproval in his time as in later days ; and it may be taken to explain Aśoka's adoption and propagation of Buddhism and his close relations with Hellenistic rulers and even the disputes at the accession of Aśoka to the throne ; but there is no clear evidence in favour of it.