Reimagining Asoka

Patrick Olivelle is Professor, Department of Asian Studies, University of Texas, Austin. Previously, he was Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Janice Leoshko is Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History and Associate Director of the Centre for Asian Studies, University of Texas, Austin. Himanshu Prabha Ray is Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

PREFACE ; INTRODUCTION BY PATRICK OLIVELLE, JANICE LEOSHKO, AND HIMANSHU PRABHA RAY ; PROLEGOMENA ; 1. ASOKA: A RETROSPECTIVE BY ROMILA THAPAR ; 2. THE LANGUAGE OF COMPOSITION AND TRANSMISSION OF THE ASOKAN INSCRIPTIONS BY R.K. NORMAN ; PART I: EMERGENCE OF ASOKAN STUDIES ; 3. ARCHAEOLOGY AND ASOKA: DEFINING THE EMPIRE BY HIMANSHU PRABHA RAY ; 4. FROM KAUTILYA TO KOSAMBI AND BEYOND BY SHAILENDRA BHANDARE ; 5. BHAGWANLAL INDRAJ'S PIONEERING CONTRIBUTION TO ASOKAN STUDIES BY VIRCHAND DHARAMSEY ; PART II: ASOKA AND HIS TIMES ; 6. ASOKA'S INSCRIPTIONS AS TEXT AND IDEOLOGY BY PATRICK OLIVELLE ; 7. THE COMPOSITION OF ASOKA'S PILLAR EDICT SERIES BY HERMAN TIEKEN ; 8. LINGUISTIC EXPERIMENTS: LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY IN ASOKAN INSCRIPTIONS AND EARLY BUDDHIST TEXTS BY OSKAR VON HINUBER ; 9. THE FATE OF ASOKA'S DONATIONS AT LUMBINI BY HARRY FALK ; 10. THE YONA ERA AND THE END OF THE MAURYA DYNASTY: IS THERE A CONNECTION? BY RICHARD SALOMON ; 11. MAURYAN PILLARS OF THE MIDDLE GANGA PLAIN IN THE LIGHT OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES OF SARNATH-VARANASI AND CHUNAR BY VIDHULA JAYASWAL ; 12. ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN NORTH BENGAL: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE MAURYAS BY JEAN-FRANCOIS SALLES ; 13. IS THE ARTHASASTRA A MAURYAN DOCUMENT? BY MARK MCCLISH ; 14. ASOKA THE GREEK, CONVERTED AND TRANSLATED BY GRANT PARKER ; PART III: ASOKA REIMAGINED ; 15. ASOKA AND MUSEUMS BY JANICE LEOSHKO ; 16. THE COMMINGLING OF GODS AND HUMAN, THE UNVEILING OF THE WORLD, AND THE DESCENT FROM TRAYASTRIMSA HEAVEN: AN EXEGETICAL EXPLORATION OF THE CONNECTIONS OF MINOR ROCK EDICT I TO BUDDHIST LEGENDARY LITERATURE BY JOHN STRONG ; 17. ASOKA: MODEL RULER WITHOUT NAME? LITERATURE OF SRI LANKA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA BY MAX DEEG ; 18. ON THE ASOKA-TYPE BUDDHA IMAGES FOUND IN CHINA BY CHONGFENG LI ; 19. ASOKA: HISTORICAL DISCOURSE AND THE POST-COLONIAL INDIAN STATE BY BHAGAVAN JOSH ; NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS.