Aśoka is the third king of the Maurya dynasty in Magadha in Central India (268-232 B.C.) who was responsible for building the Aśoka Pillars with inscriptions of Buddhist messages throughout the kingdom and ruled according to Buddhist ideals. It is stated in the Miscellaneous Āgama Sutra (Zō-agon-gyō), fascicle 23, that two small boys in the town of Rājagṛha offered a mud pie to the Buddha, who predicted that 100 years after His death these two boys would be reborn to be great kings to unify the country and restore Buddhism.

(Note 1, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 150-151)