(This article is about Maurya King. For character from Hindu Epic Ramayana, see Dasharatha.) Dasharatha (IAST: Daśaratha) was Mauryan Emperor from 232 to 224 BCE. He was a grandson of Ashoka and is commonly held to have succeeded him as the imperial ruler of India. Dasharatha presided over a declining imperium and several territories of the empire broke away from central rule during his reign. He had continued the religious and social policies of Ashoka. Dasharatha was the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty to have issued imperial inscriptions—thus the last Mauryan Emperor to be known from epigraphical sources.