Asoka (Aso`ka) , a king of Behar, in India; after his accession in 264 B.C. became an ardent disciple of Buddha; organised Buddhism, as Constantine did Christianity, into a State religion; convened the third great council of the Church of that creed at Patna; made a proclamation of this faith as far as his influence extended, evidence of which is still extant in pillars and rocks inscribed with his edicts in wide districts of Northern India; (d. 223 B.C.)
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Asmonæ`ans * Asp