Samprati

Samprati Biography

Samprati was the fifth emperor of Maurya dynasty who ruled during the period - 224-215 BCE. He was the son of Ashoka's blind son, Kunala. When Kunala became blind making him unfit for the rule, he was succeeded by his nephew, Dasharatha Maurya. Dasharatha Maurya succeeded Ashoka. Kunala was made blind by a conspiracy to remove his claim to the throne. However after the death of Dasharatha, the kingdom was taken over power by Kunala’s son Samprati, who was Dasharatha’s nephew. Samprati is best known as a propagator of Jainism who erected more than 1 Lakh Jain temples and several monasteries across his empire.

After losing the claim to the throne, Kunala along with his family moved to Ujjain where Samprati was brought up. After years when both approached Ashoka's court in an attempt to claim the throne, he promised Samprati to be heir apparent after Dasharatha, as he was not willing to hand over the power to a blind son. As promised, Samprati received the throne. He ruled almost the entire present-day Indian subcontinent.

Dasharatha Maurya succeeded Ashoka as imperial ruler in India, though different sources give different names to the successor of Ashoka, after he accepted Buddhism. The names of Samprati and Dasharatha are mentioned frequently. As per certain sources, a division of empire between the two has also recorded; Dasharatha ruled Patali Putra and eastern parts of the empire while Samprati took the power of Ujjain. But there is no clear evidence to support this hypothesis.

According to the Jain tradition he ruled for 53 years and ruled both Pataliputra and Ujjain. Samprati is regarded as the "Jain Ashoka" who spread Jainism in East India. He was influenced by the teachings of a Jain monk, Suhastin and later made more than one lakh Jain temples and many more idols of Jain Tirthankars throughout his empire. He also started several Jain monasteries and many unknown monuments and temples related to Jainism are attributed to him.

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Updated: September 24, 2017