Nayanjot Lahiri is Professor of History at the University of Delhi.
Fascinating.
*Wall Street Journal*
Where Lahiri really scores is in the field of Ashokan archaeology,
where she brings together all the work that has been undertaken in
the years since 1997…These advances have all been woven seamlessly
into Lahiri’s narrative, so as to give the clearest chronology yet
assembled of the life of Ashoka and what Lahiri calls ‘his
trajectory as a communicator’ and his ‘intellectual evolution,’
most notably the quite extraordinary change of heart that followed
Ashoka’s conquest of Kalinga and how this transformed his concept
of kingship.
*Literary Review*
[Lahiri’s] idiosyncratic book combines legends, archaeology, and
even personal information shrewdly teased out of the edicts to
craft an arresting profile.
*Maclean’s*
Richly thoughtful… The result of all this careful, well-presented
thought and research is what is certainly the best biography of
Ashoka the Great ever written in English.
*Open Letters Monthly*
Many biographies have been published on Ashoka, the greatest king
of India, but this biography is different, and perhaps the best
written on the extraordinary king.
*Choice*
Lahiri has firmly grounded the Ashoka of legend and inscriptions
with a novel kind of detail and deliberation, spelling out the
connections and implications, combining solid historical analysis
with fresh interpretation.
*Upinder Singh, University of Delhi*
Many biographies of Emperor Aśoka (third c. B.C.E.) have been
written over the past century or so, but Lahiri’s is perhaps the
most gripping…Lahiri’s is, indeed, a very engaging biography,
probably the best I have read.
*Journal of the American Oriental Society*
Lahiri [presents] an accessible and engaging biography of the
emperor in his time that navigates the complex terrain of available
evidence…Lahiri has produced what is probably the best biography of
Aśoka to date…Lahiri has produced a uniquely accessible volume
that draws readers into the landscapes of Mauryan India and guides
them through a rich encounter with the Aśoka of edict and
legend.
*Indian Economic and Social History Review*
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