King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

of the land’s greatest moments in history were erased duringthe exceptionally long period when India remained undercolonial domination. It is often overlooked that no country inthe world other than India had suffered such a long period offoreign subjugation, extending beyond a millennium. All thatis great in Indian culture had thus to be rediscovered duringthe last hundred years or so. It is, therefore, our contentionthat the obliteration from the popular mind is not confined toAśoka and his Dhamma only.As regards Aśoka’s achievements and claim to greatness, ifhis conquest by righteousness through his edicts and inscriptions,diplomatic envoys and Dhamma Mahāmātras had beenforgotten by the people, his patronage to Buddhism, his munificence,his involvement in the affairs of the Sangha, his pilgrimagesand his support to the propagation of Buddhismhave been preserved in living memory unbroken for twentythreecenturies. As we have shown, his contribution to Buddhismhas been gratefully recalled and appreciated throughoutthe centuries by the beneficiaries of his interventions outsidethe Indian subcontinent. Thus, if Aśoka gained no placein the history of India through his Dharmavijaya, his role visa-visBuddhism assured him a secure and lofty place in theecclesiastical history of Buddhism.7. Aśoka and the Decline and Fall of the Mauryan EmpireMainly by disregarding the evidence of the Buddhist sources,Sukumar Dutt and Romila Thapar underplayed Aśoka’s contributionto the rise and spread of Buddhism. In contrast, anothergroup of Indian scholars, belonging to an earlier generation,blamed Aśoka for his religious policy and particularly his217