Ashok

What does Ashok mean?

Ashok means ‘without sorrow’, from Sanskrit aśoka, which combines a negative prefix with śoka, ‘grief’. Wiktionary records the adjective, the Mauryan emperor Ashoka and the Hindi given name. The same word also names the ashoka tree. These are distinct uses of one word: freedom from grief is the literal meaning, while the emperor supplies a historical association. The shorter form Ashok reflects the loss of the Sanskrit final vowel in Hindi pronunciation.

Source: Wiktionary, अशोक. How we use sources.

Spelling and pronunciation

अशोक is read a-shok in Hindi, with two syllables and a steady o vowel. Ashoka retains a third syllable, a-sho-ka, and Asoka appears in older Roman spellings. The sh is like that in ‘ship’. The shorter and longer forms may reflect different language or historical contexts.

Also spelled Ashoka, Asoka.

Ashok in tradition and story

Ashoka was the third-century BCE Mauryan emperor remembered for his rock and pillar edicts and his embrace of Buddhism after the Kalinga war. His Sarnath lion capital is India's national emblem, and the Ashoka Chakra appears at the center of the national flag.