how it ends
could someone tell me how please
sharebig battle of Kalinga, Asoka discovers that Kaurwaki is alive and he has been fighting her army, countless have died. He renounces war and vows to spread the message of non-violence.
shareso do they end up back together again? thnx btw
sharewell it is implied, perhaps - but he is shown to throw his sword away begin a journey (to peace) and that is how it ends.
sharethnks
shareI was left with several questions at the end of the film, which I loved.
* Did he continue married to two women for the rest of his life? Did the first take precedence, or was it the one who had borne him children? Or did he just have two wives because at that stage of his 'career' he could basically do as he liked?
I would also have liked more details on at least the first steps of his journey to peace. The movied ended too suddenly. It was at the end that I felt most able to empathise with Asoka and relate to him as another human being. Prior to that when his behaviour was monstrous he was pretty baffling. And then suddenly when he had become most interesting, he was gone. And the movie hadn't even gone past the three hour mark.
I suppose, though, I now feel inspired to read up more about the real Asoka, to get my questions answered. Any suggestions of a good place to start?
In fact he had 3 wives, and this was not unusual for emperors.
I would start with John Keay's History of India or Romila Thapar's History of India.
'A wed wose, how womantic'
I now feel inspired to read up more about the real Asoka, to get my questions answered. Any suggestions of a good place to start?
After viewing the movie I have read the first two of the following
1) Keay: India - A History, publ. 2000, ISBN 0-8021-3797-0, 23 pages about Asoka, and
2) Thapar: Early India - From the Origins to AD 1300, publ. 2002, ISBN 0-520-24225-4, 28 pages about Asoka, this one because I could not get
3) Thapar, Asoka and the decline of the Mauryas, ISBN 0-19-564445-X (374 pages, revised version 1998, I've ordered it now ).
I found the first two reasonably good when one sees that there is really not much known about this great human. But because Thapar's "Early India" book is somewhat harder to read I would recommend for a first read Keay's book. I found it really easy to read from beginning to end. I've still not finished Thapar's "Early India" book, I'm bogged down somewhere in the middle because it goes very much into detail sometimes .
The hard facts are the inscriptions on rocks and pillars, which you can find translated at http://www.tphta.ws/TPH_ASK1.HTM. Only one inscription mentions a name of one of his many queens which is incidentally Karuvaki http://www.tphta.ws/TPH_ASK1.HTM#The_Queen, which was probably therefore chosen in the movie as his first love. The movie's love scenes are made in agreement with today's view maintained in Bollywood movies of "one love for a lifetime" (based on a hinduistic background which forbids a widow to marry again and which was in earlier times enforced by the custom of suttee). This feature of "one love for a lifetime" is historically quite unconvincing with respect to the king's harem. Nevertheless this love story generates a nice fairy tale story which complements in my eyes gracefully the tragic part of the psychological damaged ogre who in the end turns into a buddhist. Again, historically more accurate is probably that Ashoka was very early supporting buddhist ideas as already the founder of the Maurya empire (grandfather Chandragupta) supported Jainism which also doesn't belong to mainstream hinduism or as his father Bindusara patronised Ajivikas.
The web-source I found to be most informative for me was http://www.tphta.ws/TPH_KAET.HTM THE EDICTS OF KING ASHOKA, An English rendering by Ven. S. Dhammika, The Wheel Publication No. 386/387, ISBN 955-24-0104-6 (1993) BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY. On the first page of this web source you find an introduction to the edicts.
And naturally there is a wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka with more links and references. But for me this wikipedia article is not as good as the two books or the translated rock edicts because it mixes the Buddhist legends with historical facts in a way one cannot really distinguish. But for a first survey it is certainly very good.
--- each brain develops its own preferences --- share
Thank you both so much for all those book and web references! I have ordered the John Keay from my local library, which seems to be able to satisfy all my Indian requirements. (Waiting for me at the moment is the Bhagavad Gita, which I ordered after going to Manchester to see the Mahabarata, which is NOT on my reading list! :) )
I agree, if I may, that Asoka was probably already supporting Buddhist ideas from an early age, when his grandfather took diksha (what is the word?) and gave away all his wordly possessions. In the movie I really liked the early scene where Asoka merely took advantage of this ceremony to take possession of his grandfather's sword for himself. Despite Chandragupta's warning that the sword is a 'rakshuss', he kills some wild birds whilst playing with it, foreshadowing the damage that he will later, again unintentionally, do to others whom he loves. The tiny feather sticking to the bloody sword is one of the most memorable images in the film, I think.
'One love for a lifetime' is an idea that has confused Bollywood scriptwriters (like Karan Johar in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai) trying to apply to men a precept that was originally intended only for women. Asoka would presumaby have had no such confusion, taking both wives with a further one to follow. I guess the cause of the ambigiuity in the movie is the clash of early Indian with 21st century views.
In the battlefield scene at the end of the movie we see Asoka bending over the body of a dead warrior. Am I right in thinking that the very prominent wheel behind him is the Asoka wheel signifying 'the dynamism of peaceful change'? I think this rather heavy-handed symbol (which looks like it has dropped out of the sky into the sand here) shows us how much more elegant a metaphor, like the bird feather, can be.
I'm off to Wikipaedia now... Thanks again.
3) Thapar, Asoka and the decline of the Mauryas, ISBN 0-19-564445-X (374 pages, revised version 1998
I've read it now and can recommend it. It is well written and focussed.
A side note:
After reading about Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) I'm again astounded how few is known about India's history. Whereas of Alexander are even known names of his generals and his tactics in many of his battles of Ashoka the Great (304-232 BC) is not much more known as that he conquered Kalinga and renounced war thereafter, which he himself stated in an edict. Why were there no historians in India presenting their views? Why are there nearely only the stone written edicts which give historical information about Ashoka? The Buddhist sources in my view are not really historical. Is a dedication to historical analysis contrary to a brahmanic living? Or is this because later generations did not value historical information. At least Manu's laws and the Mahabharata survived. Why not historical treatises?
--- each brain develops its own preferences ---
I think there was no culture of having a court historian. Maybe the Brahmins were focused on religious texts and not many others could read or write?
'A wed wose, how womantic'
Since no one really goes to the movies expecting to learn any real history, I allowed myself to make up my own fictional ending to the film in which Asoka completely devoted his life to Buddhism and thus all wives etc became meaningless.
share