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{{Short description|Legendary torture chamber}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
'''Ashoka's Hell''' was, according to legend, an elaborate [[torture chamber]] 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]] (304–232 BCE) in [[Pataliputra]] (modern-day [[Patna]], India), the capital city of the [[Maurya Empire]]. The torture palace's legend is detailed in the ''[[Ashokavadana]]'', 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]]—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 [[Naraka (Buddhism)|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]]'', Emperor [[Ashoka]], prior to his conversion to Buddhism, was a fierce and sadistic ruler, known as ''Ashoka the Fierce'', or Chandashoka (Ashoka the Cruel),<ref name="Obeyesekere2002">{{cite book|author=Gananath Obeyesekere|title=Imagining Karma: Ethical Transformation in Amerindian, Buddhist, and Greek Rebirth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yllblMkRgMMC&pg=PA172|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=2002|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-23243-3|pages=172–173}}</ref> who sent his minions on a quest to find a vicious man to work as his official executioner.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/>

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.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/>

==Design==
According to legend, Girika persuaded Ashoka to design the torture chamber based on the suffering endured by people reborn in [[Buddhist hell]].<ref name="Scharfstein1995">{{cite book|author=Ben-Ami Scharfstein|title=Amoral Politics: The Persistent Truth of Machiavellism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ibkxwtmP7_UC&pg=PA61|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=1995|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-1886-5|pages=61–62}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Rich2010"/> Innocent people were not exempt from such treatment.<ref name="Alahakōn1980">{{cite book|author=Hekṭar Alahakōn|title=The Later Mauryas: 232 BC to 180 BC|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gR4dAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=1980|publisher=Munshiram Manoharla|page=161|isbn=9788121502214}}</ref>

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".<ref name="Obeyesekere2002"/><ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="Gurugé1993">{{cite book|author=Ananda W. P. Gurugé|title=Aśoka, the Righteous: A Definitive Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwjjAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=1993|publisher=Central Cultural Fund, The Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Information|isbn=978-955-9226-00-0|quote=Ashoka is reportedly ruthless enough to aid and abet with Gririka in attracting innocent people to an infernal prison, a veritable hell, ...}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="Scharfstein1995"/><ref name="SaranMishi2012">{{cite book|author1=Mishi Saran|author2=Mishi|title=Chasing the Monk's Shadow|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2hkOBNbnOGYC&pg=PA274|accessdate=18 April 2013|date=1 July 2012|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-306439-8|page=274}}</ref><ref name="Thapar1973"/>

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.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="Scharfstein1995"/><ref name="SaranMishi2012"/><ref name="Durant2011"/><ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/> The torture chamber was so terrifying, that Emperor Ashoka was thought to have visited [[hell]] so that he could perfect its evil design.<ref name="Vittachi2007">{{cite book|author=Nury Vittachi|title=The Kama Sutra of Business: Management Principles from Indian Classics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xK5CBu0UBygC&pg=PT162|accessdate=18 April 2013|date=13 April 2007|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-82223-4|page=162}}</ref> In the ''Biographical Sutra of Emperor Ashoka'' the palace is described by the sentence: 'Emperor Ashoka constructed a hell'.<ref name="Brazier2002">{{cite book|author=David Brazier|title=The New Buddhism|url=https://archive.org/details/newbuddhism00davi|url-access=registration|accessdate=18 April 2013|date=1 June 2002|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-312-29518-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/newbuddhism00davi/page/59 59]}}</ref>

''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:

{{blockquote|Finally, there are beings who are reborn in hell whom the hell-guardians grab, and stretch out on their backs on a fiery floor of red-hot iron that is but a mass of flames. Then they carry out the torture of the five-fold tether; they drive two iron stakes through their hands; they drive two iron stakes through their feet, and they drive one iron stake through their heart. Truly, O monks, hell is a place of great suffering<ref name="Obeyesekere2002"/>{{page needed|date=December 2018}}}}

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.<ref name="Obeyesekere2002"/>

==Miracle in the chamber==
The ''Ashokavadana'' further mentions that sometime later a Buddhist monk by the name of [[Samudra]] happened to visit the palace and upon entering he was informed by Girika the Cruel, or Candagirika, that he would be tortured to death,<ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka">{{cite book|title=The Legend of King Ashoka: A Study and Translation of the Ashokavadana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kp9uaQTQ8h8C&pg=PA73|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=1989|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0616-0|pages=73–74}}</ref><ref name="ConferenceSharma2008">{{cite book|author1=Indian Society for Buddhist Studies. Conference|author2=Satya Prakash Sharma|author3=Baidyanath Labh|author4=Vijay Kumar Singh|author5=Anita K. Billawaria|title=The ocean of Buddhist wisdom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnYkAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=2008|publisher=New Bharatiya Book Corporation|isbn=978-81-8315-104-7|volume=3|page=135|quote=One day he arrived at Pataliputra and entered the torture chamber built by Ashoka which was beautiful from outside. As soon as he entered he was seized by Candagirika, the chief executive who told him that he would be executed by the ...}}</ref><ref name="Haynes2008">{{cite book|author=Jeff Haynes|title=Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQm9e7KVgogC&pg=PA13|accessdate=22 April 2013|date=14 November 2008|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-89054-7|page=13}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/><ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/>

In the Eight Manifestations of [[Padmasambhava|Guru Padmasambhava]],<ref name=EMGP>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</ref> 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.<ref name=EMGP/>

Narrations detail how Padmasambhava as Shakya Senge, or Samudra, while tortured in a cauldron full of boiling water, human blood, [[bone marrow]] and excrement, caused the contents of the cauldron to cool down and then sat meditating cross-legged on a [[Nelumbo|lotus]] sprouting from the fluid.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/><ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/><ref>Watt, James (January 1999). "Padmasambhava – 8 Forms: Dorje Drolo". Himalayan Art Resources. Retrieved 26 December 2022</ref>
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<ref name=EMGP/> with half his body on fire and the other half raining water.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/><ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/> Intrigued he asked the monk to identify himself.<ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/>

Padmasambhava, or Samudra, replied that he was a disciple of [[Shakyamuni Buddha]] and adherent to the [[Dharma]],<ref name=EMGP/> and chastised Ashoka and Girika for having built the torture chamber and for torturing people. Ashoka was further instructed to build 84,000 [[stupas]] 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.<ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/><ref name="DockettDudley-Grant2002">{{cite book|author1=Kathleen H. Dockett|author2=G. Rita Dudley-Grant|author3=C. Peter Bankart|title=Psychology and Buddhism: From Individual to Global Community|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RDP6DDsXZrcC&pg=PA25|accessdate=19 April 2013|date=31 December 2002|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-306-47412-5|page=25}}</ref>

After his taming by Padmasambhava in the torture chamber, the king Ashoka the Cruel, or Candashoka, became known as the king Dharmashoka.<ref name=EMGP/>

==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.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/>

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".<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/>

From that point on, Ashoka became known as ''Ashoka the Pious''.<ref name="Rich2010">{{cite book|author=Bruce Rich|title=To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9ZoeR3r7ngC&pg=PT147|accessdate=18 April 2013|date=1 March 2010|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=978-0-8070-9553-9|page=147}}</ref><ref name="A History Of Ancient India">{{cite book|title=A History Of Ancient And Early Medieval India: From The Stone Age To The 12th Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA332|accessdate=18 April 2013|date=1 September 2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-1120-0|page=332}}</ref> Buddhist monk [[Xuanzang]] 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".<ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/><ref name="Durant2011"/> Xuanzang also claimed that he saw the column identifying the location of Ashoka's Hell.<ref name="Thapar1973">{{cite book|author=Romila Thapar|title=Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ntDAAAAYAAJ&q=ashoka+hell+on+earth|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=1973|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=29|quote=Fa-hsien repeats the story and explains that Ashoka personally visited the infernal regions and studied their methods of torture before inventing his own.1 Hsiian Tsang claims to have actually seen the pillar marking the site of Ashoka's 'Hell'}}</ref>

In India, the palace is known as "Ashoka's Hell" and its location near [[Pataliputra]] became a popular destination for pilgrims. In the 5th century, [[Faxian]], also a Buddhist monk, reports visiting it and his account of the story of the palace differs slightly from that of Xuanzang's.<ref name="Durant2011">{{cite book|author=Will Durant|title=Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ru4LPyMAxxkC&pg=PT707|accessdate=18 April 2013|date=7 June 2011|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-4516-4668-9|pages=707}}</ref><ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/><ref name="SchlagerLauer2001">{{cite book|author1=Neil Schlager|author2=Josh Lauer|title=Science and its times: understanding the social significance of scientific discovery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OYU-AQAAIAAJ|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=2001|publisher=Gale Group|isbn=978-0-7876-3933-4|page=64}}</ref> In the 1890s, British explorer [[Laurence Waddell]], while in [[Patna]], established that [[Agam Kuan]], which means the "unfathomable well", was part of Ashoka's Hell as reported also by the two Chinese monks.<ref name=doa>{{cite web|title=Agam Kuan|url=http://yac.bih.nic.in/Da-01.htm#AgamKuan|publisher=Directorate of Archaeology, Govt. of Bihar, official website|accessdate=19 April 2013|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181914/http://yac.bih.nic.in/Da-01.htm#AgamKuan|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Material Life of Northern India: Based on an Archaeological Study, 3rd Century B.C. to 1st Century B.C.|author=Asha Vishnu|publisher=Mittal Publications|year=1993|isbn=8170994101|page=173|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaJ5oyrqBakC&dq=Agam+Kuan&pg=PA173}}</ref><ref name="India Perspectives">{{cite book|title=India Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iqqyAAAAIAAJ|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=2003|publisher=PTI for the Ministry of External Affairs|page=13|quote=A little distance away is another Ashokan remain, the Agam Kuan or the fathomless well which is believed to be a part of the legendary hell created by ...}}</ref><ref name="KuraishiIndia1931">{{cite book|author1=Mohammad Hamid Kuraishi|author2=Archaeological Survey of India|title=List of ancient monuments protected under Act VII of 1904 in the province of Bihar and Orissa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uOwLfHIYK8gC&q=Agam+Kuan+hell|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=1931|publisher=Govt. of India, Central Publication Branch|page=96|quote=Waddell, the Agam Kuan " seems to be a vestige of Ashoka's hell,...}}</ref> However, in archaeological surveys, no evidence of head bones or a skeleton has been discovered from the well, which contradicts the Buddhist legend.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.35492|title=Annual Report Of The Archaeological Survey Of India|last=Blakiston|first=J. F.|date=1928 |pages=34–36}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno, a book by Dante]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

[[Category:3rd-century BC establishments in India]]
[[Category:History of Patna]]
[[Category:Maurya Empire]]
[[Category:Memorials to Ashoka]]
[[Category:Torture in India]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Ashoka]]

Ashoka's Hell - Revision history

FranceGqd9358746 at 07:46, 12 March 2026