Samprati ((r. 224 – 215 BCE)) was the 5th Emperor of the Maurya Empire. He was the grandson of 3rd Mauryan Emperor Ashoka and the son of Kunala.He succeeded his cousin, 4th Mauryan Emperor Dasharatha, as emperor of the Maurya Empire. According to Jain tradition he built 1,50,000 Jain derasars and made 1,50,00,000 Jain idols. He was also believed to have taken an oath to dig the foundation of a new Jinalaya every day and would not do navakrashi (breakfast) until it was completed.

Claim to throne

Samprati was the grandson of Ashoka. Kunala was the son of one of Ashoka's third queen, Padmavati (who was Jain), but was blinded in a conspiracy to remove his claim to the throne. Thus, Kunala was replaced by Dasharatha as the heir to the throne. Kunala lived in Ujjain with his "Dhai Maa" (wet nurse). Samprati was raised there. Years after being denied the throne, Kunala and Samprati approached Ashoka's court in an attempt to claim the throne. Ashoka could not deliver the throne to his blind son but promised Samprati would be heir apparent after Dasharatha. After Dasharatha's death, Samprati inherited the throne of the Maurya Empire.

Reign

The Jaina text mentions that he ruled both from Pataliputra and Ujjain. According to a Jain text, the provinces of Saurashtra, Maharashtra, Andhra and Mysore broke away from the empire shortly after Ashoka's death (i.e., during Dasharatha's reign), but were reconquered by Samprati, who later deployed soldiers disguised as Jain monks.

Samprati and Jainism

Samprati is regarded for his patronage and efforts to spread Jainism in east India. While in one source, he is described as nominally a Jain from birth (Sthaviravali 9.53), most accounts emphasize his conversion at the hands of the Jain monk Suhastisuri, the eighth leader of the congregation established by Mahavira. After his conversion he was credited with actively spreading Jainism to many parts of India and beyond, both by making it possible for monks to travel to barbarian lands and by building and renovating thousands of temples and establishing millions of idols. He was a disciple of Suhastisuri. Kalpa-sutra-bhashya mentions Samprati making regions of Andhra, Dravida, Maharashtra and Coorg safe for Jain monks. He sent Jain missionaries to other countries for propagation of Jainism and southern part of India. He is popularly known as the "Jain Ashoka".

In literature

Around 1100 CE Devachandrasuri of the Purnatalla Gaccha told the story of Samprati in his commentary on the Textbook on Fundamental Purity (Mulashuddhi Prakarana), in a chapter on the virtues of building temples. A century later, Amradevasuri of the Brihad Gaccha included the story of Samprati in his commentary to the Treasury of Stories (Akhyana Manikosha). In 1204, Malayaprabhasuri, a disciple of Manatungasuri of the Purnima Gaccha, wrote an extensive Prakrit commentary on his teacher's Deeds of Jayanti (Jayanti Carita), in which he included the story of Samprati as an example of the virtue of compassion (Caudhari 1973: 201-2). There are also some anonymous and undated medieval texts devoted solely to the story of Samprati, such as the 461-verse Sanskrit Deeds of King Samprati (Samprati Nripa Charitra).

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