# Ashoka was not the eldest son of Bindusara and so was not the heir presumptive. # Bindusara wanted his elder son Susima to be crowned the next king. # But Ashoka was trained in military and weapons and showed great skills as an administrator when he was made the governor of Ujjain. # In the war of succession that followed Bindusara’s death in 272 BC, Ashoka emerged victorious aided by his father’s ministers. # When he became the king, he was said to be bad-tempered, ruthless and very cruel. # He even built a torture chamber to torture his prisoners to death. This earned him the moniker Chandashoka (cruel Ashoka). # Once he became the king, he started expanding his empire by conquest. In the ninth year of his reign, he waged war with Kalinga (in present-day Odisha).