Ashoka’s Nine Unknown Men: India’s only recorded secret society, some believe that this was the most powerful society in the world, purely because there were only nine members in it. Formed King Ashoka of the Maurya dynasty in 270 B.C., each man had a topic of specialty. They were given the responsibility to develop, preserve, and prevent the information that they found from getting into the hands of the people who were capable of misusing it. Shrouded in mystery, this is one of the darkest and most secret societies ever created.