In this third film from the series on the Indians Namit Arora looks at the civilisations that prevailed after the Vedic period, and traces the rise of the Mauryan empire, and its great king Ashoka, who adopted Buddhism as a way of repenting for his earlier violence, and to unite his empire.
We find out about Ashoka’s predecessors, and the culmination of the empire at Ashoka’s time. Ashoka probably stands as the greatest leader in history, giving up the ways of war, and taking up the ways of Dharma. We see how the cities were rebuilt during this period, and their design.
We also find out about the rise of the Greeks in the Northwest, and the Buddhists in the East, and how the meeting of these two forces gave rise to some of the best and earliest monumental art in India, which has influenced the Indian people down the ages.
As always Namit covers a large canvas in a short period of time, and brings out the essential features of the societies he seeks to describe.
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