Asoka famously converted to Buddhism, but he actually never did forgo his imperial title, nor did he join the service of a monastery after doing so. Instead, Asoka became the template for the ideal Buddhistic monarch throughout Southeast and Central Asia, which is what makes his legacy so enormous — through the edicts of Asoka, he wanted to be perceived as a figure that perfectly balanced the earthly demands of empire with the normative ideals of Buddhism.

In modern geopolitical terms, he tried to exert a sort of “soft power” within his territories and neighboring states — the edicts of Asoka stress the need for a standardization of religious practice (like demanding abstention from the slaughter or injury of living beings and respect for “elders and parents), the sponsorship of Buddhist projects (like tree-planting, well-digging, stupas, etc.) and they also constantly stress the dissemination of Buddhism from Asoka’s empire to Sri Lanka, the Hellenistic kingdoms and even various tribes and peoples in his dominion, like Greeks, Kambojas, Andhras, etc. Of course, military strength could not have been totally abandoned, but Asoka seemed to have wanted to have been portrayed as a leader that has transcended the usual gore and Machiavellian politics of empire, instead attributing his greatness to Buddhism.

The Maurya dynasty actually reached its peak during Asoka’s reign, which we know from the discovery of Asokan edicts everywhere from Kandahar, Afghanistan to the Bengal.