The British simply jumped on the Max Muellers bandwagon to propogate the Aryan superiority over all other nations. The British, 3 men of whom was mainly responsible for creating the mythical figure "King Ashok". These three, Princep, Jones and the Lankan missionary, the architects of bringing back Sanskrit a dead language, they also pretty much created Hinduism as we know it today. Ashoka is the Central figure built to create this myth of a huge land mass under the control of one mythical ruler. Ashoka was a mythical character created by the British If there is no Ashokathe whole thing falls apart. many of the pillars preceded the date ascribed to Ashokasome of them even preceded Buddhaif he was real.