Summary:
This ancient Indian emperor, said Sanyal, fitted into Nehru's "socialist model of a nanny state, as patriarchal as it can get". "It's about establishing the power of the Mauryian state which is what it was used for in independent India as well," said Sanyal. Demolishing the myth of Ashoka as an icon of passifism, he said, "There is no evidence to suggest that Ashoka became a Buddhist after the war in Kalinga or that he eschewed violence altogether since then. Ashoka and the Sarnath lions offered Nehru that connection and continuity with the past, he said.Interestingly, Sanyal added that the growling lions of Sarnath - now the emblem of the Indian state - have nothing to do with Buddhism. Nehru was looking for a lineage to link up to India's ancient heritage and "Chandragupta Maurya or Chanakya were not terribly good role models"..