Ashoka the great is regarded as one of the greatest king of all times.he was the most illustration ruler of Maurya dynasty.He was the grand son of Chandragupta Maurya who was the first Maurya King. His period of reign was from about 273 B.C to 232 B.C . Ashoka's empire was the largest Indian empire.It covered the whole of India from Hindukush to Bengal. The empire extended over Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Kashmir and Valleys of Nepal. Pataliputra was his capital nto expand his empire he invaded Kalinga and captured the country. But the destruction and bloodshed in the war changed his mind and he became a Buddhist. Ashoka made Buddhism the state religion and inscribed the Buddhist principles on rocks . He sent missionaries to Ceylon, Burma , Thailand and other South Asian countries to spread the principles of Buddhism.
Kanishka was the third and greatest king of Kushan dynasty. His empire extended from Central Asia to vindhyas and from Vasi to Afghanistan. His capital was peshwar which was known as Purushapura . He started Saka era in AD 78 Saka calendar is the national calendar of India. Kanishka patronized the Gandhara school of art and Mathura school of art . Gandhara art was mixture of Indo- Greek arts . During his time Buddha's statues were installed in many public places .He constructed a tower at Peshwar . It's remains have been recently dug out. Due to his service to Buddhism , Kanishka was known as Second Ashoka.
Harsha was the last great king of ancient India. He belonged to the Vardhana dynasty and ruledfrom 606 A.D to 647A.D . He became king at the age of 16 and ruled for 41 years. His capital was kanauj . He wrote three sanskrit plays namely ‘Ratnavali’,'Priyadershika','Nagananda'. Grand scholars like Banabhatta, Dandin, and Subandhu were in his court .the chainese traveller Hieun-T-sang who visited India during this period.
