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CHAPTER VI ASOKA MAURYA A CCORDING to credible tradition, Asoka-vardhana, -j^- or Asoka, as he is generally called, served his ap- prenticeship to the art of government during the life- time of his father, Bindusara, as viceroy successively of the northwestern frontier province and of Western India. He was one of several sons, and was no doubt selected by his father, in accordance with the usual practice, as Yuvaraja, or crown prince, on account of his ability and fitness for the imperial suc- cession. Taxila, the capital of the northwestern viceroyalty, which probably included Kashmir, the Panjab, and the provinces to the west of the Indus, was in those days one of the greatest and most splendid of the cities of the East, and enjoyed a special reputation as the head- quarters of Hindu learning. The sons of people of all the upper classes, chiefs, Brahmans, and merchants, flocked to Taxila, as to a university town, in order to study the circle of Indian arts and sciences. The terri- tory surrounding the capital was rich and populous, and, two generations earlier, had formed a small inde- 130