Today we meet a ruler whose life is a hinge between two worlds: the world where empire is measured by blood and borders, and the world where a king kneels before conscience and tries—against history’s habits—to govern for the welfare of all beings. His name is Ashoka, third emperor of the Maurya dynasty, who reigned in the third century before the common era. If Mahavira showed us the rigor of personal nonviolence, and the Buddha taught a path of liberation one mind at a time, Ashoka tried to move a continent’s politics by turning remorse into policy.

Produced by Selenius Media Inc & Niklas S Osterman