Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

(died 232 BC) was a monarch of the Mauryan Empire of India. Ashoka, Asoka, or Ashok may also refer to:

Entertainment

* ''Ashok'' (film), a 2006 Telugu film directed by Surender Reddy * ''Ashoka'' (2006 film), a 2006 Kannada film directed by Shivamani * ''Ashoka'' (2008 film), a 2008 Tamil film directed by Prem * ''Asoka'' (1955 film), a 1955 Sri Lankan film directed by Sirisena Wimalaweera * ''Aśoka'' (film), a 2001 Bollywood historical drama film directed by Santosh Sivan * ''Ashoka the Great'' (book), a 2011 book by Wytze Keuning * Asok (''Dilbert''), a comic strip character

People

Actors

Ashok Kumar (Tamil actor) Ashok Kumar Balakrishnan is an Indian actor who has appeared in Ramanand Sagar's Shree Krishna serial and now is working in Tamil and South Indian Film Industry. Early life Ashok Kumar was born and brought up in a middle-class family to R. Ba ...

(born 1981), South Indian actor and Bharatnatyam performer *

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

(1911–2001), Indian film actor *

Ashok Lokhande Ashok Lokhande (born 9 September 1962) is an Indian film, television and theatre actor. He is best known for playing the role of Arun Rathi (Bhabasa) in the Star Plus Show ''Diya Aur Baati Hum'' and its sequel ''Tu Sooraj, Main Saanjh Piyaji'' ...

(born 1950), Indian film actor * Ashok Mehta (1947–2012), Indian film actor *

Ashok Saraf Ashok Saraf (Hindii pronunciation: �ʃoːk səɾaːf born 4 June 1947) is an Indian film and stage actor and comedian. He has appeared in many Marathi language films and stage plays in lead roles and in Hindi language films and TV serials in ...

(born 1947), Indian actor and comedian, Marathi and Hindi *

Ashok Selvan Ashok Selvan is an Indian actor who works prominently in Tamil cinema. He made his breakthrough playing one of the lead roles in ''Soodhu Kavvum'' (2013), before gaining critical acclaim for his performances in C. V. Kumar's productions '' Pizza ...

(born 1989), Indian actor *

Ashok Shinde Ashok Shinde (born 6 July 1961) is an Indian film and stage actor, who works in Marathi cinema Marathi cinema is an Indian film industry of Marathi-language motion pictures. It is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Based in old Mumbai, ...

, Indian film actor *

Ashok (Kannada actor) Ashok (born 12 September 1951) is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry, known for drama roles. His notable films include ''Ranganayaki,'' ''Sanadi Appanna'', ''Bayalu Daari'', ''Archana'', ''Chellida Rakta'', ''Thayiya Madilalli'', ''Ra ...

(born 1951), Kannada film actor

Chief Ministers of Indian states

Ashok Chavan Ashokrao Shankarrao Chavan (born 28 October 1958) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. He is one of the most influential leaders of Indian National Congress in Maharashtra. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra state from 8 D ...

(born 1958), Chief Minister of Maharashtra *

Ashok Gehlot Ashok Gehlot (born 3 May 1951) politician serving as the current Chief Minister of Rajasthan. He held this position from December 1998 to 2003, and from 2008 to 2013, and again from 17 December 2018. He represents Sardarpura constituency of Jo ...

(born 1951), chief minister of the Indian state of Rajasthan * R. Ashok, former Deputy Chief Minister of Indian State of Karnataka

Cricketers

Ashok Upadhyay Ashok Upadhyay (born 30 October 1953 in Dongapur, India) is a former Indian cricketer who played 6 first-class matches for Vidarbha cricket team from 1972/73 to 1976/77. Primarily, a slow left-arm orthodox bowler who was a tail-ended batsman. H ...

(born 1953), Indian cricketer * Asoka de Silva (cricketer) (born 1956), Sri Lankan Sinhala cricketer

Film-related

* Ashok Amritraj (born 1956), Indian American film producer * Ashok Gaikwad (born 1962), Indian film director

Law and enforcement

* Ashok Chaturvedi (born 1947), former chief of India's external intelligence agency * Ashok Desai, Attorney General of India, 1996 to 1998 *

Asoka de Silva (judge) Joseph Asoka Nihal De Silva (born 17 May 1946) was the 42nd Chief Justice of Sri Lanka. Silva obtained his primary education from St. Anthony's College, Kandy. After graduating from University of Peradeniya in 1971 he joined as an advocate of th ...

(born 1946), Sri Lankan Sinhala judge, Chief Justice *

Ashok Kamte Ashok Kamte AC (23 February 1965 – 26 November 2008) was an Indian police officer, serving as the Additional Commissioner of the Mumbai Police supervising the Eastern region. He was killed in action during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He was po ...

(1965–2008), Additional Commissioner of Mumbai Police for the East Region

Literature

Ashok Banker Ashok Kumar Banker (born 7 February 1964 in Mumbai, India) is an author and screenwriter. His writing spans crime thrillers, essays, literary criticism, fiction and mythological retellings. The author of several well-received novels including ...

(born 1964), Indian novelist and short story writer *

Ashokamitran Ashokamitran (22 September 1931 – 23 March 2017) was the pen name of Jagadisa Thyagarajan, an Indian writer regarded as one of the most influential figures in post-independent Tamil literature. He began his prolific literary career with the p ...

(1931–2017), influential figure in post-independent Tamil literature

Others

Ashoka (Gonandiya) King Ashoka, of the Gonandiya dynasty, was a king of the region of Kashmir according to Kalhana, the 12th century CE historian who wrote the ''Rajatarangini''. According to the ''Rajatarangini'', Ashoka was the great-grandson of Shakuni and son of ...

, a king of Kashmir *

Ashok Row Kavi Ashok Row Kavi is an Indian journalist and LGBT rights activist. Life He was born in Mumbai on 1 June 1947. He graduated with honours in Chemistry from the University of Bombay. Later, he dropped out of engineering college. Due to his early ...

(born 1947), Indian journalist and LGBT rights activists

Other uses

Ashoka (non-profit organization) Ashoka (formerly branded Ashoka: Innovators for the Public) is an American-based nonprofit organization that promotes social entrepreneurship by connecting and supporting individual social entrepreneurs. Their stated mission is "the creation of a ...

, an international citizen sector organization * Ashoknagar (disambiguation) or Ashok Nagar, the name of various places in India * Ashok Leyland, an Indian commercial vehicle manufacturer founded in 1948 based in Chennai