What is Ashoka's "Unknown 9"?

Ashoka's "Unknownn 9":

Ah, the sweet smell of mystery! 

The old grandiose theories of cutting edge technology & world domination. Add to it the extra dose of inherent mysticism of my dear motherland. Boy, do I love it! 

Pardon me for the long & circuitous answer, but the temptation is too much for a mere mortal like me to resist.


Some Background:

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For 'the uninitiated' among us, Unknown 9 is a secret sect. Founded by Ashoka the Great of Maurya Dynasty. 

According to a legend, Asoka, initially a ruthless & formidable military king, had change of heart after witnessing macabre sight of battlefields after the Kalinga war. He realized the meaninglessness of slaughter & embraced principles of Buddhism. 

Now, he had another task ahead of him. Preserving & containing the secret knowledge which he had gained during his less peaceful days. He couldn't afford others accessing the knowledge, as it would lead to world catastrophe. Lo & Behold! He formed a society of 9 brilliant men, whose identities are unknown. They were given the task of preserving the knowledge & guiding the future of Indian sub-continent by advising intellectuals with bits and pieces of their knowledge.

Each of them were given task of guarding and adding to secrets of:

• Propaganda
• Physiology
• Microbiology
• Alchemy
• Communication
• Gravity
• Cosmology
• Light
• Sociology

The sect returned to center stage after Talbot Mundy wrote a mystery novel by the same name.


Myth busting Time!

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A perfect myth is one which has just enough historical context to make it credible but takes care to be vague enough to become unfalsifiable. Most of it is filled with grandiose ideas to make it awe-inspiring. Many myths are but exaggeration of facts, lost in labyrinths of ancient times. (e.g.Opus Dei, Templars, Atlantis)

Our league of the Unknown 9 has all the elements:

• Founded by Ashoka: Historical context, tick.
• Their identities are unknown and they operate secretively: Unfalsifiable, tick
• Knowledge of Microbiology, Alchemy:Grandiose ideas, tick
• Indians did have primary knowledge of few scientific concepts: Exaggeration of facts, tick.

If we are to assume 9 Unknowns dudes are reality, there are a lot of questions which need answers.

History:

After the decline of Maurya dynasty, India was never ruled by a steady, peaceful ruler. ThisMahmud of Ghazni dude plundered India seventeen times. Moguls invaded and ruled for more than three centuries, before obediently making way to HH the Queen of England. Brits ruled us for good 150 years. Imagine a bunch of sailors from distant land ruling country 30 million strong for 150 years! And what were our 9 unknown dudes doing with their knowledge? Oh yes, they were operating secretively so we won't know.

Science:

Secret knowledge of Physiology, Gravity, Light (whatever that means), communications you say. But off late, a lot of work is going on in these fields. Mostly in Europe and US. There are Indians contributing to it, but mostly Indians settle over there to pursue their research interests, for the lack of advanced facilities. Odd, considering we already know a lot about these subjects because of the 9 unknown dudes. Oops! Sorry we don't. They operate secretively.

Technology:

Fields like Microbiology and communications don't exist in a book. They require infrastructure, HUGE infrastructure. We can't get away by merely stating we know communication technologies and microbiology. What about network of fiber optics which had to exist? What about electronic microscopes to carry out experiments in microbiology?What about probes to study other bodies to have any meaningful knowledge of cosmology? Shit, I forgot! They were stored away secretly, hidden from public eye.

Conclusion:

Of course, the legend is a myth unless those 9 dudes have super-secretive technologies which makes them and everything related to them invisible to the world. And if they are indeed invisible, they are as good as a myth.

But I would still like those 9 unknown dudes for what they are. A perfect and entertaining myth. Capable of engrossing imagination. I would limit them in books, for they have no reality.

Myths are beautiful, when they are myths-

[Egyptian hieroglyphics of Pharoah's helicopter]

Reality is rather boring-

['Helicopter' is superimposition of two different hieroglyphics]