On this page, you will find NCERT Class 6 History Chapter 8 Notes Pdf free download. CBSE Class 6 Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 SST Ashoka, The Emperor Who Gave Up War will seemingly help them to revise the important concepts in less time.

Ashoka, The Emperor Who Gave Up War Class 7 Notes Social Science History Chapter 8

CBSE Class 6 History Chapter 8 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. The empire that Ashoka ruled was founded by his grandfather, Chandragupta Maurya, more than 2300 years ago.

2. Chandragupta was supported by a wise man named Chanakya or Kautilya. The ideas of Chanakya are written down in his book called the Arthashastra.

3. There were several cities in the empire. These included the capital Pataliputra, Taxila and Ujjain. Merchants, officials and craftspersons probably lived in these cities.

4. Taxila was a gateway to the northwest including Central Asia. Ujjain lay on the route from north to south India.

5. In other areas there were villages of farmers and herders. In central India, there were forests where people gathered forest produce and hunted animals for food.

6. People in different parts of the empire spoke different languages.

7. They ate different kinds of food and wore different kinds of clothes.

8. The area around Pataliputra was under the direct control of the emperor. There were other areas or provinces. Each of these was ruled from a provincial capital such as Taxila or Ujjain. Also there was some amount of control from Pataliputra and royal princes were often sent as Governors.

9. Taxes were collected from farmers, herders, craftspersons and traders. Officials were appointed to collect the taxes and they were given salaries.

10. Megasthenes was an ambassador who was sent to the court of Chandragupta by Greek ruler named Seleucus Nicator.

11. The most famous Mauryan ruler was Ashoka. He was the first ruler who tried to take his message to the people through inscriptions. Inscriptions were in Prakrit and were written in the Brahmi script.

12. Coastal Orissa not Odisha was known as Kalinga. Ashoka fought a war to conquer Kalinga. He was horrified when he saw the violence and bloodshed, and he decided not to fight any more wars. He was the only king in the history of the world who gave up after winning a war.

13. Ashoka declared it in one of his inscriptions, main points are:

14. Eight years after becoming king I conquered Kalinga.

15. About 1.5 lakh people were captured and more than 1 lakh of people were killed.

16. Brahmins and monks also die.

17. People who were kind to their relatives die or lose their loved ones.

18. That is why I am sad and have decided to observe dhamma and to teach others about it as well. I believe that winning people over through dhamma is much better than conquering them through force. I am inscribing this message for the future, so that my son and grandson after me should not think about war. Instead, they should try to think about how to spread

19. Ashoka’s dhamma did not involve worship of a god, or performance of a sacrifice. He felt that just as a father tries to teach his children, he had a duty to instruct his subjects.

20. He wanted to remove the problems related to religions, animals sacrifices, slaves and ill-treatment of servants, families and neighbours quarrels etc. He appointed officials known as the dhamma mahamatta, who went from place to place for teaching the people about dhamma.

21. Ashoka also sent messengers to spread ideas about dhamma to other lands such as Syria, Egypt, Greece and Sri Lanka.

22. He built roads, dug wells and arranged for medical treatment for both human beings and animals.

23. People performed a variety of rituals when they fell ill, children got married, children were born or when they started journey. Ashoka thought that rituals were not useful. He emphasized, being gentle with slaves and servants, respecting one’s elders, treating all creatures with compassion, and not criticizing others.

Ashoka, The Emperor Who Gave Up War Class 7 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Empire: Many kingdoms or provinces when come under a same domain is called Empire.

Capital: A place where king or emperor generally lived and performed his task through its office.

Province: State or division of kingdom.

Dhamma: Ashoka’s ideas are called Dhamma. This is a Prakrit word which means religion.

Messenger: An official or representative who passes messages from one place to another place.

Official: Employees of existing government.

Notes of History Class 6 Chapter 8 Time Period

More than 2300 years ago: Beginning of the Mauryan Empire