Wikipedia has stricter style guidelines that go against that convention but in the absence of such a style guide on HN, one can see why common convention would typically be followed.

Agree in general though; I don't know why this convention exists and suspect we may be better off without it.

This historical character is fascinating to me especially, as someone who lives on the banks of river Daya where Ashoka fought his bloodiest war: the Kalinga war.

Ashoka blamed himself as the cause for destruction. In repentance, Ashoka decided to devote the rest of his life to Ahimsa and converted to Buddhism.