Samprati Maurya, 5th Emperor of Maurya

• Preferred Name: Samprati Maurya, 5th Emperor of Maurya
  
• Gender: M
  
• Religion: Jainism - also known as Jain Dharma
  
• FSID: LYPF-JBB
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: 5th Emperor of MauryaBET 224 BC AND 215 BC
  
• Death: 215 BC
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  Samprati (r. 224 – 215 BCE) was an emperor of the Maurya dynasty. He was the son of Ashoka's blind son, Kunala, and succeeded his cousin, Dasharatha, as emperor of the Maurya Empire. He was the only great Mauryan emperor after Ashoka, and was a great patron of Jainism. He built 1,50,000 Jain Derasars (Jainalaya/Jain Mandir/Jain Temple) and made 1,50,00,000 Jain idols. Also he was believed to have taken an oath to dig foundation of a new Jinalaya everyday and then only he used to do navakrashi (Jain breakfast).
  
  Kunala was the son of one of Ashoka's queens, 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". Samprati was brought up 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.
  
  According to the Jain tradition he ruled for 53 years. The Jaina text Pariśiṣṭaparvan mentions that he ruled both from Pataliputra and Ujjain. According to a Jain text, the provinces of Saurashtra, Maharashtra, Andhra, and the Mysore region 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 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 Shri Suhastisuri, the eighth leader of the congregation established by Lord Mahavira Swami. 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 Suhastisuriji.