ASOKA AS A FATHER

As a loyal son, Kunala accepted the honourable commission and met his father to receive the fatherly blessings and necessary credentials.

Asoka taught Kunala state craft in brief and asked him to personally scrutinize the royal orders sent from the capital. "The genuine orders" he said, "shall be sealed with red wax and bear the impression of my teeth". Kunala, as crown prince knew of this practice. He assured Asoka of personal scrutiny and left for Taxila with blessings.

It was the harvest time for Tishyarakshita. She found Kunala's absence congenial to work for his doom. She rose to the occasion. With wiles and guiles, she pressed into service the concerned officers and henchmen to accomplish her deed. They yielded and her plot took final shape. Soon she dispatched to Taxila an order, bidding the ministers to pluck out Kunala's eyes without loss of time, and to send him into the desolate mountains to perish there. 

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