AshokaAsoka, IAST: Aśoka; c. 304 – 232 BCE), also known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Empire, son of Bindusara, who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from c. 268 to 232 BCE. Ashoka promoted the spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia. Considered by many to be one of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka expanded Chandragupta's empire to reign over territory stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to present-day Bangladesh in the east. It covered the entire Indian subcontinent except for parts of present-day Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The empire's capital was Pataliputra, with provincial capitals at Takshashila and Ujjain. Ashoka, after the war of Kalinga, was upset with the bloodshed and vowed to never again wage a war of conquest. He patronised Buddhism during his reign.
Menander I Soter, was a Greco-Bactrian and later Indo-Greek King who administered a large territory in the Northwestern regions of the Indian Subcontinent from his capital at Sagala. Menander is noted for having become a patron and convert to Greco-Buddhism and he is widely regarded as the greatest of the Indo-Greek kings.
The Bodhi Tree, also called the Bodhi Fig Tree or Bo Tree, is a large sacred fig tree located in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher who became known as the Buddha, is said to have attained enlightenment or Bodhi circa 500 BCE under it. In religious iconography, the Bodhi Tree is recognizable by its heart-shaped leaves, which are usually prominently displayed.
Greco-Buddhism, or Graeco-Buddhism, is the cultural syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism, which developed between the fourth century BCE and the fifth century CE in Gandhara, in present-day north-western Pakistan and parts of north-east Afghanistan. It was a cultural consequence of a long chain of interactions begun by Greek forays into India from the time of Alexander the Great. A few years after Alexander's death, the Easternmost fringes of the empire of his general Seleucus were lost in a war with the Mauryan Empire, under the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka would convert to Buddhism and spread the religious philosophy throughout his domain, as recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka. This spread to the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, which itself seceded from the Seleucid empire. Within its borders, the Greek fondness for statuary produced the first statues of the Buddha, leading ultimately to the modern tradition.
The Milinda Pañha is a Buddhist text which dates from sometime between 100 BC and 200 AD. It purports to record a dialogue between the Indian Buddhist sage Nāgasena, and the Indo-Greek king Menander I of Bactria, who reigned in the 2nd century BC.
The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue "Yavana" in Sanskrit, are words used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians", who were probably the first Greeks to be known in the East.
The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan, the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent,, and a small part of Iran. This kingdom was in existence from ca. 200 BC to ca. 1 BC.
The history of Buddhism spans from the 6th century BCE to the present. Buddhism arose in Ancient India, in and around the ancient Kingdom of Magadha, and is based on the teachings of the ascetic Siddhārtha Gautama. The religion evolved as it spread from the northeastern region of the Indian subcontinent throughout Central, East, and Southeast Asia. At one time or another, it influenced most of Asia.
The role of Greek Buddhist monks in the development of the Buddhist faith under the patronage of Emperor Ashoka around 260 BCE and subsequently during the reign of the Indo-Greek king Menander is described in the Mahavamsa, an important non-canonical Theravada Buddhist historical text compiled in Sri Lanka in the 6th century in the Pali language.
The Mahāvaṃsa is the meticulously kept historical chronicle of Sri Lanka written in the style of an epic poem written in the Pali language. It relates the history of Sri Lanka from its legendary beginnings up to the reign of Mahasena of Anuradhapura covering the period between the arrival of Prince Vijaya from India in 543 BCE to his reign and later updated by different writers. It was composed by a Buddhist monk at the Mahavihara temple in Anuradhapura about the 5th century CE. In 2021, a petition was made to declare the original leaf book a UNESCO heritage.
Arahat Mahinda was a Buddhist monk depicted in Buddhist sources as bringing Buddhism to Sri Lanka. He was the first-born son of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka from his wife Devi and the elder brother of Sanghamitra.
Dharmarakṣita (Pali: Dhammarakkhita), was one of the missionaries sent by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka to proselytize Buddhism. He is described as being a Greek in the Mahavamsa, and his activities are indicative of some Hellenistic Greeks following Buddhism during its early centuries.
Alexandria in the Caucasus was a colony of Alexander the Great. He founded the colony at an important junction of communications in the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains, in the country of the Paropamisadae.
Theravada Buddhism is the largest and official religion of Sri Lanka, practiced by 70.2% of the population as of 2012.
Buddhism, an Indian religion founded by Gautama Buddha, first arrived in modern-day Afghanistan through the explorations of Ashoka, the third emperor of the Maurya Empire. Among the earliest notable sites of Buddhist influence in the country is a bilingual mountainside inscription in Greek and Aramaic that dates back to 260 BCE and was found on the rocky outcrop of Chil Zena near Old Kandahar. The religion became widespread in Afghanistan, including in the areas north of the Hindu Kush mountain range.
The Dīpavaṃsa is the oldest historical record of Sri Lanka. The chronicle is believed to be compiled from Atthakatha and other sources around the 3rd to 4th century CE. Together with the Mahāvaṃsa, it is the source of many accounts of ancient history of Sri Lanka and India. Its importance resides not only as a source of history and legend, but also as an important early work in Buddhist and Pali literature.
The Third Buddhist council was convened in about 250 BCE at Asokarama in Pataliputra, under the patronage of Emperor Ashoka.
The Indo-Greeks practiced numerous religions during the time they ruled in present-day northwestern India from the 2nd century BCE to the beginning of the 1st century CE. In addition to the worship of the Classical pantheon of the Greek deities found on their coins, the Indo-Greeks were involved with local faiths, particularly with Buddhism, but also with Hinduism and Zoroastrianism.
"Paracanonical texts" is used by Western scholars to refer to various texts on the fringes of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism, usually to refer to the following texts sometimes regarded as included in the Pali Canon's Khuddaka Nikaya:
Buddhism is one of the largest religion of Greece. It has existed in Greece since antiquity. Today, there is a sizable Buddhist community in Greece, comprising immigrants and native Greek converts. Buddhism has influenced Greek literary tradition to some extent, as evident in the works of Nikos Kazantzakis.
