Born in Belgium, the House of Habsburg Emperor Charles V was heir of the Burgundians, but also of the royal households of Austria, Castile and Aragon. According to the edicts of Aśoka, the Mauryan emperor despatched emissaries to a variety of countries west of India to spread "Dharma", specially in japanese provinces of the neighbouring Seleucid Empire, and even farther to Hellenistic kingdoms of the Mediterranean.