Edicts of Ashoka - Ashoka's Conversion

Ashoka's Conversion

Ashoka explains that he converted to Buddhism out of remorse for his conquest of the Kalingas around 264 BCE in eastern India (near the present-day state of Orissa):

Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, conquered the Kalingas eight years after his coronation. One hundred and fifty thousand were deported, one hundred thousand were killed and many more died (from other causes). After the Kalingas had been conquered, Beloved-of-the-Gods came to feel a strong inclination towards the Dhamma, a love for the Dhamma and for instruction in Dhamma. Now Beloved-of-the-Gods feels deep remorse for having conquered the Kalingas. Rock Edict Nb13 (S. Dhammika)

Following his conversion, Ashoka traveled throughout India and visited sacred Buddhist locations, where he would typically erect a pillar bearing his inscriptions:

Twenty years after his coronation, Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, visited this place and worshipped because here the Buddha, the sage of the Sakyans, was born. He had a stone figure and a pillar set up and because the Lord was born here, the village of Lumbini in Nepal, was exempted from tax and required to pay only one eighth of the produce. Minor Pillar Edict Nb1 (S. Dhammika)