Which Mauryan emperor, ruling in the 3rd century BCE, renounced violence after the bloody Kalinga War and became a patron of Buddhism, spreading the faith through edicts carved on pillars and rocks?

• A Ashoka ✓
• B Chandragupta Maurya
• C Harsha
• D Samudragupta

Emperor Ashoka (r. c. 268-232 BCE) transformed from a ruthless conqueror to a Buddhist pacifist after witnessing the carnage of the Kalinga War, and his lion capital became India's national emblem.