Samprati Maurya King, ‘Jain Ashoka’

Samprati Maurya King Early Days:

Samprati Maurya king is one of the famous kings of India and the grandson of Samrat Ashoka. He was born and raised in Ujjain; his father was Kunala, blind, and his mother was Kanchanamala. Due to Kunala’s blindness, his cousin Dasharatha denied the throne to him and his son Samprati. During his time, their kingdom was under Mauryan Empire. So both Samprati and Kunala approached the court of the Maurya Empire Ashoka and asked Ashoka for justice to claim the throne. Then Ashoka was impressed by Samprati’s administration and battle skills and declared Samprati as the successor to Dasharatha. Due to Emperor Ashoka’s declaration, Samprati inherited the throne after Dasharatha’s death, and he was crowned in 230 B.C. but had been handling the administrative duties long before.

Samprati Maurya King Contribution to Jainism:

Hence Samprati ruled Ujjain with a skilful administration and admirable decisions in favour of good governance for his people. As per the Jain tradition, he headed for 53 years. The great Jain monk Suhastin influenced Samprati with his preaches and explanations of Jain principles. Though Samprati greatly affected the principles of Jainism and sent Jain scholars overseas to spread the principles and doctrines of Jainism. According to the Jain scriptures, Samprati ruled from Pataliputra, Patna, Bihar, and Ujjain.

Samprati and Buddhism:

Samrat Ashoka was famous for spreading Buddhism Samprati is also considered the ‘Jain Ashoka’ for his endless efforts in spreading Jainism worldwide. He worked very hard to spread Jainism through all possible methods, bringing the Jainism scriptures into existence. Samprati also concentrated on the old existing temples to repair. He renovated the Old Jain temples and set up in all of them holy statues made of gold, stone, silver and other mixture of metals. He gave importance to the Jains ceremony Anjankala. This ceremony is still a very sacred event to the Jains. He built one thousand five hundred new temples, repaired thirty-six thousand temples, and installed ninety-five thousand metal structures within three and a half years. His service to Jainism was very magnificent to every Jain. Still, we can see his built temples at Viramgam and Palitana(Gujarat) and Agar Malwa(Ujjain).

Samrat Ashoka’s Influence on Samprati:

Samprati Maurya king, like the qualities of his grandfather Ashok, was a peace-loving, affectionate and brave king. Throughout his life, he focused on spreading the peace and principles of Jainism. He maintained a close relationship with Acharya Suhastisuri and strictly followed his directions. We can find the life story of Samprati in Jain scriptures like ‘Sampratikatha’, ‘Parishistaparva’, and ‘Prabhavakcharita’. He broadly encouraged religious celebrations to bring harmony among the people and remove the variations among the same people. His contribution to Jainism was the cause become Jainism, a world religion. The great peace lover and devotee of Jainism and a powerful King Samprati Maurya king died in 190 B.C. He had no children.