01368nam a22001577a 4500999001900000008004100019100004300060245002600103260003100129300003500160520085000195773003101045906001701076942000701093952011001100 c533313d533313260512b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d aReviewed by Meera Vishvanathan 960467 aInterpreting Ashoka  aBiblio: A Review of Books  a 30(1-3), Jan-Mar, 2025: p.6-6 aAshoka: Portrait of a Philosopher king by Patrick Olivelle Harper Collins publishers INDIA. 2023, 356pp. Rs.799 (HB) ISBAN 978-93-5699-322-8. ABSTRACT In connecting the Ashokan experiment to the idea of INDIA. Olivelle continues the nationalist trajectory of decrying Ashoka as ‘The apace loving emperor who unified IDNAIN over two millennia age’. But the story of Ashoka can be Ashoka. Akbar and Nehru as a secular triumvirate cast3e a long shadow upon our understanding of the past. As Olivelle himself recongse. In later Sanskritusage. Ashoka formal title ‘Devanampriya’ is used in mockery, to address someone who is adjusted a fool. So, rather than viewing Ashoka in terms of his legend or legacy it is enough to understand the life of this ruler though his gift of words. –Reproduced  aBiblio: A Review of Books  aBOOK REVIEW  cAR 00102ddc40709408483aIIPAbIIPAd2026-05-12h 30(1-3), Jan-Mar, 2025: p.6-6pAR138825r2026-05-12yAR