ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts

Okay, so there was a really important guy named Ashoka who lived a long, long time ago in a place called India. He was a king, which means he was in charge of lots of people and had a big army to protect them.

One day, Ashoka decided that he didn't want to be a mean king anymore. He wanted to be a kind and fair king, who cared about people and animals and the environment. So, he made some rules and wrote them down on big, heavy rocks so that everyone could see them.

These rules were called Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts. They were written in ancient writing called Brahmi and were carved onto rocks in different parts of India.

There were a lot of rules, but some of the important ones were:

- Everyone should be treated equally, no matter if they are rich or poor, young or old, or from different religions.
- People shouldn't hurt animals or cut down trees for no reason.
- Everyone should be respectful towards their parents and elders.
- People should be kind to each other and not argue or fight.
- There should be hospitals and shelters for people and animals in need.

Ashoka wanted everyone to follow these rules so that everyone could be happy and live in peace. And people did listen to him! Even though it was a long time ago, some of these rules are still important today.