King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

identification with Buddhism for many an ill that befell India,immediately after him as well as much later. They were convincedthat Aśoka’s pacifist policy undermined the strength ofthe empire, on the one hand, and on the other that his partialityto Buddhism brought about a Brahmanical reaction whichfifty years later resulted in the overthrow of the MauryanDynasty by Puṣyamitra.It is true that the Mauryan Empire began to crumbleimmediately after the death of Aśoka. No powerful emperorsucceeded him. The chaotic accounts of his successors aspreserved in the Northern Buddhist records and Purāṇascan best be explained as reflecting the disintegration of theempire to kingdoms and principalities. Obviously, TheravādaBuddhist tradition was not interested in the history of theMauryan Empire after Aśoka. It represented the last days ofthe Emperor as unhappy and attributed his death to the sorrowcaused by the destruction of the Bodhi Tree by his jealouswife Tissārakkhā. 92Among the scholars who traced the decline and fall of theMauryan Empire to the impact of or reaction to Aśoka’s policy,the most important were Hariprasad Sastri, D.R. Bhandarkar,K.P. Jayaswal and H.C. Raychaudhuri. Hariprasad Sastri’sarguments were based on certain passages in the inscriptionswhich he interpreted as indicative of deliberate anti-Brahmanical policy. These have, however, been refuted byRomila Thapar. 93Bhandarkar’s opinion was based less on facts and more ongeneral impressions. His analysis was as follows:The effects of this change of policy of the replacement ofVijaya by Dharmavijaya were politically disastrous thoughspiritually glorious…. The Hindu mind, which was spiritual,218