- c. 261 BCEAsia
Ashoka's conquest of Kalinga and conversion
After the devastating Kalinga war, Emperor Ashoka embraces Buddhism, renounces conquest, and spreads an ethic of dharma through inscribed edicts across his vast empire.
Era: Classical Empires: Maurya and the Gupta Golden Age
Sources: Mauryan Empire · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- c. 3rd century BCEAsia
Buddhism introduced under Devanampiya Tissa
The missionary Mahinda, sent during the reign of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, converts King Devanampiya Tissa near Mihintale, establishing Theravada Buddhism as the island's defining faith.
Era: Anuradhapura and the Coming of Buddhism
Sources: Sri Lanka: Conversion to Buddhism · Encyclopædia Britannica, Buddhism Established in Sri Lanka · EBSCO Research Starters
- c. 249 BCEAsia
Ashoka's pillar at Lumbini
The Mauryan emperor Ashoka visits Lumbini and erects an inscribed sandstone pillar, the earliest material evidence identifying the Buddha's birthplace.
Era: Lumbini and the Birth of the Buddha
Sources: Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Religion in the 3rd century BCE
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged religion — faiths, institutions and religious change, narrowed to the 3rd century BCE — 3 of them, drawn from 3 nations, running from 261 BCE to 249 BCE. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 3
- Nations
- 3
- Earliest
- 261 BCE
- Latest
- 249 BCE
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.