Kaurvaki was the "Second

Queen Consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

" of the third Mauryan Emperor,

Ashoka The Great Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

. She was Ashoka's fourth wife and 2nd

Empress consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but historically she does not formally ...

. She was the mother of Ashoka's fourth son, Prince Tivala.

Life

Kaurvaki is mentioned in the Queen Edict wherein her religious and charitable donations were recorded as per her wishes. This gives an image of her being a self-possessed and strong-willed consort, who wanted an act of philanthropy recorded as specifically hers. The edict also identifies her as mother to their son, Prince Tivala (also referred to as Tivara), who is the only son of Ashoka mentioned by name in his inscriptions. Despite the fact that Ashoka had many

queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, Karuvaki is the only queen of Ashoka who was named in his inscriptions and edicts.

Queen's Edict

The Queen's Edict on the

Allahabad Pillar The Allahabad Pillar is a ''stambha'', containing one of the pillar edicts of Ashoka, erected by Ashoka, emperor of the Maurya dynasty, who reigned in the 3rd century BCE. While it is one of the few extant pillars that carry Ashokan edicts, it ...

refers to the charitable deeds of Kaurvaki:

In popular culture

* Kaurvaki was portrayed by

Kareena Kapoor Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress. A prolific leading lady of Hindi cinema since 2000, she is noted for her roles in a range of film genres—from romantic comedies to crime dramas. Kapoor is the recipient ...

in the 2001

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

film, '' Aśoka''. * Saumya Seth portrays Karuvaki in

Colors TV Colors TV is an Indian general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of Soap opera, family dramas, Comedy, comedies, fantasy shows, youth-oriented Rea ...

's 2015 historical drama, ''

Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat ''Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat'' () is a 2015 Indian historical drama TV series that aired on Colors TV from 2 February 2015 to 7 October 2016. with Siddharth Nigam portraying the young version of the character. Series is based on the life of Em ...

'' while Reem Sheikh portrays the young Karuvaki. * She is the main character of ''The Ashoka Trilogy'', The Prince of Pataliputra by Shreyas Bhave. * Kalinga Karuvaki Award established by Kalinga Literary Festival to honour the great warrior princess of Kalinga *

Mallika Singh Mallika Singh (born 15 September 2000) is an Indian television actress. She is known for portraying Radha in ''RadhaKrishn'', Lakshmi in '' Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki,'' and Karuvaki in '' Pracchand Ashok.'' Career In 2016, Singh appeared in Zee TV ...

portrays Karuvaki in

Ekta Kapoor Ekta Kapoor (born 7 June 1975) is an Indian television and film producer, known for her work in Hindi television and Bollywood cinema. She is the founder of Balaji Telefilms, Balaji Telefilms Limited, where she serves as joint managing directo ...

's historical drama series ''

Pracchand Ashok ''Pracchand Ashok'' is an Indian Hindi-language historical fiction drama television series that aired from 6 February 2024 to 29 March 2024 on Colors TV and JioCinema. It was produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor under their banner Balaji ...

'' on

.Adnan Khan and Mallika Singh to play leads in Ekta Kapoor's new historical drama series 'Pracchand Ashok'
/ref>

References

Sources

* * {{cite book , last=Smith , first=Vincent Arthur , author-link=Vincent Arthur Smith , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4o_URem5WMcC , title=Ashoka, the Buddhist Emperor of India , publisher=Asian Educational Services, year=1920 , pages=215–219 , isbn=8120613031 3rd-century BC women Women from Odisha Kalinga (India) History of Odisha Buddhism and Hinduism Indian Buddhists Converts to Buddhism from Hinduism Wives of Ashoka 3rd-century BC Buddhists 3rd-century BC Indian people