Ashoka

== Legends about past lives ==

== Legends about past lives ==

[[File:Emperor Ashoka the Great, Rangkut Banasram Pilgrimage Monastery (122542).jpg|upright|thumb|Statue of the emperor Ashoka the Great at [[Rangkut Banasram]] Pilgrimage Monastery in Ramu, [[Cox's Bazar District]], [[Bangladesh]]]]

Buddhist legends mention stories about Ashoka's past lives. According to a ''Mahavamsa'' story, Ashoka, Nigrodha and Devnampiya Tissa were brothers in a previous life. In that life, a [[pratyekabuddha]] was looking for honey to cure another, sick pratyekabuddha. A woman directed him to a honey shop owned by the three brothers. Ashoka generously donated honey to the pratyekabuddha, and wished to become the sovereign ruler of Jambudvipa for this act of merit.{{sfn|Strong|1995|p=146}} The woman wished to become his queen, and was reborn as Ashoka's wife Asandhamitta.{{sfn|Strong|1995|pp=146–147}} Later Pali texts credit her with an additional act of merit: she gifted the pratyekabuddha a piece of cloth made by her. These texts include the ''Dasavatthuppakarana'', the so-called Cambodian or Extended ''Mahavamsa'' (possibly from 9th to 10th centuries), and the ''Trai Bhumi Katha'' (15th century).{{sfn|Strong|1995|p=166}}

Buddhist legends mention stories about Ashoka's past lives. According to a ''Mahavamsa'' story, Ashoka, Nigrodha and Devnampiya Tissa were brothers in a previous life. In that life, a [[pratyekabuddha]] was looking for honey to cure another, sick pratyekabuddha. A woman directed him to a honey shop owned by the three brothers. Ashoka generously donated honey to the pratyekabuddha, and wished to become the sovereign ruler of Jambudvipa for this act of merit.{{sfn|Strong|1995|p=146}} The woman wished to become his queen, and was reborn as Ashoka's wife Asandhamitta.{{sfn|Strong|1995|pp=146–147}} Later Pali texts credit her with an additional act of merit: she gifted the pratyekabuddha a piece of cloth made by her. These texts include the ''Dasavatthuppakarana'', the so-called Cambodian or Extended ''Mahavamsa'' (possibly from 9th to 10th centuries), and the ''Trai Bhumi Katha'' (15th century).{{sfn|Strong|1995|p=166}}