After the Buddha's death, members of monastic communities had some success spreading Buddhism in South Asia. But Buddhism spread farther and faster after an emperor named
Ashoka (uh-SHOH-kuh) became a Buddhist. Place the following events from Ashoka's life in
order.
earlier
Instead of trying to take control of new lands by force,
Ashoka started to focus on spreading Buddhism to new
places.
According to tradition, after Ashoka witnessed the
suffering and destruction of war, he regretted his
decision to fight. He then converted to Buddhism.
As emperor, Ashoka led his army into battle to expand
his empire. Hundreds of thousands of people may have
died as a result of the war.
Ashoka became the leader of the Mauryan (MOU-ree-
uhn) Empire, which controlled most of South Asia.