Tishyaraksha

Tishyaraksha or Tissarakkhā (c. 3rd century BCE) was the fifth and last wife of the third Mauryan emperor, Ashoka. According to the Ashokavadana, she was responsible for blinding Ashoka's son and heir presumptive Kunala. She was very jealous of the attention paid by Ashoka to the Bodhi-tree, and caused it to be killed by means of poisonous thorns.

Early life
It is believed that Tishyaraksha was possibly born in Gandhara and was a favourite maid of Ashoka's chief empress, Asandhimitra, and after her mistress died, she went to Pataliputra becoming a great dancer and charmed Ashoka with her dance and beauty.

Kunala
It is also believed that Kunala, a son of Ashoka who was religious in nature. He was announced to be next Mauryan emperor but the empress wanted enthrone her own son. So she decided to poison eyes of Kunala and made a conspiracy.

Plot
When the Chandragupta Sabha led by Radhagupta (the then great minister (mahamatya) of the Mauryan Empire) decided that Kunala would proceed to subjugate the revolt of Takshashila (Taxila), Tishyaraksha conceived a plot. The plot succeeded after the conquest by Kunala.

As per the plot, Ashoka had to request two very precious jewels from the governor of Takshashila which were believed to have been the most unusual of their kind. The decisive language of the letter written by Tishyaraksha was sent by Ashoka who did not understand the hidden meaning and therefore could not explain it to Kunala. However, Kunala immediately understood the hidden meaning, but due to his love for his father and his loyalty towards Magadha, he felt forced to remove his own eyes. Then he sent both of his eyes to the court of Magadha at Pataliputra. Ashoka realized his fault but by then it was too late. Immediately Radhagupta ordered Tishyaraksha's death. However, it is believed that Tishyaraksha committed suicide after finding out this news.

In popular culture
Haraprasad Shastri's second novel " Kanchanmala" features Tisshyaraksha in a prominent role. The story of Tishyaraksha has also been captured by the Bengali writer Samaresh Majumdar in his novel "Saranagata", however, with very different strokes and shades that are attributed to the life of Ashoka.The same line of story was developed by a prominent Bengali dramatist Amit Maitra into a drama titled 'Dharmashok'.