Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s24.5

c11.s24.5

Thus Aśoka effected the conquest of Kalinga in the ninth and tenth years after the *abhisheka* (c. 256-5 B.C.) ; in the eleventh year, on account of his remorse at the thought of the incidents of the Kalinga war, he adopted Buddhism as his creed, undertook the pilgrimage to Gayā (Sambodhi) became an *upāsaka* and gave up the time-honoured practice of going out on hunting and pleasure tours.² Not much happened for one year after that ; then he paid a visit to the Sangha, derived instruction, became more zealous in the cause of Dhamma, and began to live apart as a celibate ; after 256 nights spent in this manner³, he caused a record of his experiences to be made along with an exhortation to all to exert themselves likewise in the good cause (Minor Rock Edict.). About the same time (253 B.C.) he declared his mind to the Sangha in a letter which was engraved on a rock in Bairāṭ (Rajaputana). In this letter Aśoka says that his faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha is well known to the monks and proceeds to pick out and name seven texts from the scriptures¹ which he desires the monks and nuns should hear frequently expounded and should meditate upon; this, in his opinion, is calculated to secure the long duration of the true Dhamma. At the same time he presented to the Ājīvaka monks two caves with polished interiors in the Khalatika mountain, now known as Barābar hills, in South Bihar. Seven years later Aśoka presented a third cave-dwelling in the same hills, but the inscription does not say to whom.²