Ashoka's Hell
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ashoka's Hell was, according to legend, an elaborate
torture chamber A torture chamber is a room equipped, and sometimes specially constructed, for the infliction of torture.
disguised as a beautiful palace full of amenities such as exclusive baths and decorated with flowers, fruit trees and ornaments. It was built by Emperor
Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...
(304–232 BCE) in
Pataliputra Pataliputra (IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, Bihar, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE, as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliput ...
(modern-day
Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...
, India), the capital city of the
Maurya Empire The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary source ...
. The torture palace's legend is detailed in the ''
Ashokavadana The Ashokavadana (; ; "Narrative of Ashoka") is an Indian Sanskrit-language text that describes the birth and reign of the third Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. It glorifies Ashoka as a Buddhist emperor whose only ambition was to spread Buddhism far an ...
'', which describes Emperor Ashoka's life through legendary and historical accounts. According to legend, the palatial torture chamber was artfully designed to make its exterior visually pleasing, and was referred to as the "beautiful gaol". Beneath the veneer of beauty and deep inside the exclusive mansion, however, chambers were constructed filled with sadistic and cruel instruments of
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
—including furnaces used to melt the metals that were to be poured on prisoners. The narrative states the chamber's architect drew inspiration from the five tortures of the Buddhist hell. The ''Ashokavadana'' describes the torture chamber in such terrifying detail that it spawned a belief that Ashoka—in his quest to perfect its sinister design—had visited hell itself. Through a pact made between Ashoka and Girika, the official executioner of the torture chamber, anyone entering the palace, even by chance as a visitor, was not allowed to come out alive.


Background

According to the narrations of ''
Ashokavadana The Ashokavadana (; ; "Narrative of Ashoka") is an Indian Sanskrit-language text that describes the birth and reign of the third Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. It glorifies Ashoka as a Buddhist emperor whose only ambition was to spread Buddhism far an ...
'', Emperor
Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...
, prior to his conversion to Buddhism, was a fierce and sadistic ruler, known as ''Ashoka the Fierce'', or Chandashoka (Ashoka the Cruel), who sent his minions on a quest to find a vicious man to work as his official executioner. After some searching, Ashoka's men found a suitable candidate by the name of Girika who was so vicious that he killed his parents because they did not want him to become Ashoka's executioner. Girika was introduced to Ashoka, who soon appointed him the official executioner of his empire.


Design

According to legend, Girika persuaded Ashoka to design the torture chamber based on the suffering endured by people reborn in Buddhist hell. The ''Ashokavadana'' documents a long list of torture acts Girika designed and planned to force upon his prisoners including "prying open their mouths with an iron and pouring boiling copper down their throats". Innocent people were not exempt from such treatment. In the narrative of ''Ashokavadana'', Ashoka asked Girika to disguise the torture chamber as a beautiful and "enticing" palace full of amenities such as exclusive baths and to decorate it with flowers, fruit trees and many ornaments. The palatial torture chamber was artfully designed to make people long to just look at it, and even attract them to enter, and was referred to as the "beautiful gaol". According to the mythology, beneath the veneer of beauty, inside the exclusive mansion, torture chambers were constructed which were full of the most sadistic and cruel instruments of torture including furnaces producing molten metal for pouring on the prisoners. In the narrative, Ashoka made a pact with Girika that he would never allow anyone who entered the palace to exit alive, including Ashoka himself. The torture chamber was so terrifying, that Emperor Ashoka was thought to have visited
hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
so that he could perfect its evil design. In the ''Biographical Sutra of Emperor Ashoka'' the palace is described by the sentence: 'Emperor Ashoka constructed a hell'. ''Ashokavadana'' refers to Girika as Chandagirika or Girika the Cruel. It appears that Girika overheard a Buddhist monk recite the ''Balapanditasutta'' which contains vivid descriptions of the five tortures of hell, such as: He got his ideas of how to torture prisoners from there. The text describes Girika's attitude toward punishment as follows: "Such are the five great agonies, Girika reflected, and he began to inflict these same tortures on people in his prison". In addition, the ''Balapanditasutta'' compares the King's torture methods to the tortures of hell.


Miracle in the chamber

The ''Ashokavadana'' further mentions that sometime later a Buddhist monk by the name of
Samudra Samudra (Sanskrit: समुद्र; ) is a Sanskrit term literally meaning the "gathering together of waters" (''-'' "together" and ''-udra'' "water"). It refers to an ocean, sea or confluence. It also forms the name of Samudradeva (Sanskrit: ...
happened to visit the palace and upon entering he was informed by Girika the Cruel, or Candagirika, that he would be tortured to death, and was subsequently led into the torture chamber. His torturers, however, failed to injure him and he appeared able to neutralise their torture methods by realising that the suffering of the other prisoners is part of the Buddhist dogma of suffering and attaining
arhatship In Buddhism, an ''Arhat'' () or ''Arahant'' (, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana (Buddhism), Nirvana'' and has been liberated from the Rebirth (Buddhism ...
. In the Eight Manifestations of Guru Padmasambhava,Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche (May 1992). The Eight Manifestations of Guru Padmasambhava. Translated by Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche. Padma Gochen Ling: Turtle Hill. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022 Samudra is Guru Shakya Senge (Wylie: shAkya seng-ge, Skt: Guru Śākyasimha) of Bodh Gaya. Meaning "Undefeatable Lion", Padmasambhava as Shakya Senge manifests as Ananda's student, travels to the torture chamber and brings Ashoka the Cruel to the Dharma through a display of miracles. Narrations detail how Padmasambhava as Shakya Senge, or Samudra, while tortured in a cauldron full of boiling water, human blood,
bone marrow Bone marrow is a semi-solid biological tissue, tissue found within the Spongy bone, spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It i ...
and excrement, caused the contents of the cauldron to cool down and then sat meditating cross-legged on a lotus sprouting from the fluid. Narratives further describe that when Ashoka heard of these miracles, he was overcome with curiosity and decided to enter the chamber to verify for himself the veracity of the stories. After arriving there he witnessed Padmasambhava, or Samudra, levitating with half his body on fire and the other half raining water. Intrigued he asked the monk to identify himself. Padmasambhava, or Samudra, replied that he was a disciple of
Shakyamuni Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
and adherent to the
Dharma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...
, and chastised Ashoka and Girika for having built the torture chamber and for torturing people. Ashoka was further instructed to build 84,000 
stupas In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...
according to Buddha's prophecy, and to guarantee the security of all beings. To those demands, Ashoka acquiesced. Further, he confessed to his crimes and became a student of Buddhism and the Dharma. After his taming by Padmasambhava in the torture chamber, the king Ashoka the Cruel, or Candashoka, became known as the king Dharmashoka.


Demolition

The ''Ashokavadana'' describes the events leading to the demolition of Ashoka's torture chamber. According to the text, the torture chamber had become the site and the reason for his conversion to Buddhism. Girika, as the resident executioner of the chamber, however, reminded Ashoka of his pledge to kill anyone entering the chamber including Ashoka himself. Ashoka then questioned Girika as to who entered the torture palace first during their visit to see Samudra's miracles. Girika was then forced to admit that it was he who entered first. Upon the executioner's confession, Ashoka ordered him to be burnt alive and also ordered the demolition of the torture palace. According to the ''Ashokavadana'', "the beautiful jail was then torn down and a guarantee of security was extended to all beings". From that point on, Ashoka became known as ''Ashoka the Pious''. Buddhist monk
Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...
in his writings mentions that in the 7th century AD he had visited the place where Ashoka's torture chamber once was and that it was, even at that time, referred to in Hindu tradition as "Ashoka's Hell". Xuanzang also claimed that he saw the column identifying the location of Ashoka's Hell. In India, the palace is known as "Ashoka's Hell" and its location near
Pataliputra Pataliputra (IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, Bihar, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE, as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliput ...
became a popular destination for pilgrims. In the 5th century,
Faxian Faxian (337–), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Fa-hien and Fa-hsien, was a Han Chinese, Chinese Chinese Buddhism, Buddhist bhikkhu, monk and translator who traveled on foot from Eastern Jin dynasty, Jin China to medieval India t ...
, also a Buddhist monk, reports visiting it and his account of the story of the palace differs slightly from that of Xuanzang's. In the 1890s, British explorer Laurence Waddell, while in
Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...
, established that
Agam Kuan Agam Kuan (, "unfathomable well") is an ancient well and archaeological site in Patna, India. It is said to date back to the period of Mauryan emperor, Ashoka (304–232 BCE). It is circular in shape, lined with brick in the upper and wooden ri ...
, which means the "unfathomable well", was part of Ashoka's Hell as reported also by the two Chinese monks. However, in archaeological surveys, no evidence of head bones or a skeleton has been discovered from the well, which contradicts the Buddhist legend.


See also

* Inferno, a book by Dante


References

{{reflist, 30em 3rd-century BC establishments in India History of Patna Maurya Empire Memorials to Ashoka Torture in India Cultural depictions of Ashoka