PREFACE.
There has been a great out-put of Telugu Works in recent years and yet an adequate supply of biographical literature has been a desideratum. This little book on Asoka, the Great Buddhist Emperor of India is therefore a welcome addition to the smaller number of biographies in Telugu of Indian worthies, ancient or modern.
The purpose of a Biography, especially as one of the chief agents in influencing young minds, is too well known to need any mention in this foreword. This book is, I believe, mainly intended for Juvenile readers and I have no hesitation in saying that both from the point of the simplicity and lucidity of style in which it is written and the accuracy of facts, it is eminently suitable for them.
It is written in short chapters, each dealing with either an episode of the story or the features of an important movement or the character of men and women or these times. Short, rippling sentences, full of power, animated descriptions of war, hunt and natural scenery. free from the usual taint of extravagance, delineation of character in its true historical setting and rapid narration where necessary, are some of the characteristics of style in this book. On the whole there is a happy blending of the new and the old methods of writing Telugu books.
The material for this short sketch has been drawn from the little volume on "Asoka" in "The Rulers of India" series. It must be said to the credit of the author that in steering clear of the ugly stories connected with one of the queens of Asoka, Tishyarakshita, he has shown
