The Mauryan Empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya and can be thought of as the empire that first unified India and brought in it's first golden age. The Mauryan Empire arose after Alexander the Great had withdrawn from India. The grandson of Chandragupta was Ashoka.
Ashoka is regarded as one of the greatest leaders ever. After leading his forces to victory in battle, he was horrified by the death and destruction of the battle and converted to Buddhism. The Buddha had lived about two centuries before.
Ashoka placed a pillar on the site where the Buddha had preached his first sermon. It is known as the Lion Capital of Ashoka and is the official symbol of India. Image from the Wikipedia article by that name.
The Ashoka Chakra is on the flag today, even though India is overwhelmingly a Hindu nation. Image from the Wikipedia article "Flag of India".
Image from Google Street View.
Mahatma Gandhi, who led modern India to independence, certainly resonated with Buddha, even though Gandhi was a Hindu. Gandhi in the lotus position working on his spinning wheel very much evoked Buddha and the Ashoka Chakra. The first of the following two images is from the Wikipedia article "Spinning Wheel", the second is from the article "The Buddha".
Both had renounced the luxuries that the world had to offer and adopted ascetic ways of life. Buddha was about inner peace and Gandhi's objective was outer peace. Gandhi was from the merchant caste so he could relate to ordinary people better than if he was a Brahmin.
The following images, from Google Street View, are of the Sanchi Stupa that was constructed by Ashoka as a Buddhist shrine and monastery.
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