The current volume, which contains the presentations at a symposium sponsored by the South Asia Institute and the Department of Asian Studies of the University of Texts at Austin (February 4, 2006) is intended to advance the study of Asoka both as history and historical memory. The authors of these papers take as historically significant not only the "historical truth" of Asoka but also the ways in which Asoka presents himself and his political, nationalistic and religious purposes by succeeding generations both in India and in other parts of Asia, especially within the expanding Buddhist communities and nations.