The name ‘Piyadassi’ is associated with whom among the following Mauryan kings?

Correct — A. Ashoka's own inscriptions almost never use his personal name. They call him Devanampiya Piyadasi, meaning Beloved of the Gods, of Pleasing Appearance — a title, not a name.

The identification was settled by the Maski minor rock edict in Karnataka, which prints Devanampiya Asoka and so joins the title to the king. Option (a) is Ashoka.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Brihadratha — Brihadratha is the last Mauryan ruler, assassinated by his commander-in-chief Pushyamitra Shunga. No edicts are issued in his name.
• (c)
  Bindusara — Bindusara is Ashoka's father, known to Greek writers as Amitrochates. He left no inscriptions of his own.
• (d)
  Chandragupta Maurya — Chandragupta Maurya founded the dynasty and is the Sandrocottus of the Greek accounts; his reign precedes the edict-writing that Ashoka began.

Ashoka is one of the very few ancient Indian kings we can read in his own words, because he had his messages cut into rock and pillar across the subcontinent.

Those inscriptions use titles rather than a name: Devanampiya, Beloved of the Gods, and Piyadasi. For a long time nobody was certain whose they were.

James Prinsep deciphered the Brahmi script in 1837 and made the edicts readable, and later finds that print the personal name beside the titles fixed them on Ashoka.

Key facts

• Ashoka's edicts style him Devanampiya Piyadasi.
• The Maski minor rock edict in Karnataka carries the personal name Asoka.
• James Prinsep deciphered the Brahmi script in 1837.
• Bindusara was Ashoka's father and Chandragupta Maurya his grandfather.

Common traps

• Assuming the edicts name Ashoka directly, when almost all of them use only his titles.
• Attaching Piyadasi to Bindusara because Greek sources give him a title as well.

No directly related past PYQ was found.