King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

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Present-day India has been so impressed with Aśoka’s denunciationof war and his formulation of simple but essential virtuesthat he is showered with unbounded adulations. Howwas it that a similar reaction did not manifest itself duringhis own time and subsequent centuries? Why did his servicesappeal only to the Buddhists? Could it be that, despite the rigorouslynon-sectarian wording in the edicts and inscriptions,what Aśoka strove for and achieved was the propagation ofBuddhism? The impact of such an effort has, of course, beentremendous and the place in history which the Buddhists haveaccorded to him for it is undisputed.(3) Like most of the theories which recent scholars have advancedon Aśoka’s role and achievements, those ascribing tohim responsibility for the decline and fall of the MauryanEmpire are founded on either inadequately evaluated evidenceor on prejudices and pre-conceived notions having abearing on nationalistic and religious feelings of such scholars.It appears far-fetched to attribute the weakness of Aśoka’ssuccessors to his pacifist religious policies. Even more difficultis it to support the view that Aśoka’s patronage to Buddhismcaused the fall of the dynasty fifty years later.An overall conclusion which emerges from this study isthat much work has yet to be done to obtain a clear picture ofAśoka’s life, career and achievements. A fair assessment of theBuddhist sources, in general, and Sri Lankan Pali sources inparticular, is a pre-requisite for the removal of quite a numberof misconceptions and the clarification of many a puzzle.T223
Notes1. Although Asiatic Researches had published the transcriptsof the Delhi Topra Pillar Inscription and parts of theAllahabad-Kosambi Pillar Inscription in 1801 and theJournal of the Bengal Asiatic Society had published a transcriptof the Allahabad Pillar in 1834, the major landmarkin Aśokan studies was the publication by James Prinsepof the reading and translation of the Delhi-Topra PillarInscription in JASB Vol. VI in 1837, followed by his comparativestudy of Aśokan inscriptions of Gimar and Dhauli inJASB Vol. VII in 1838. Even then the Maski Rock Inscriptionwith the name of Aśoka was not discovered until 1915.2. F.E. Pargiter, Ancient Indian Historical Tradition (Delhi:Banarsidass, 1972), p. 63. He identified six causes for suchconfusions:(1) confusing different persons of the same name;(2) confusing kings, rishis and others with mythological personsof the same names;(3) not distinguishing between different periods andoften misplacing persons chronologically and bringingtogether as contemporaries persons who were widelyseparated in time;(4) obliterating the difference between reality and mythology;(5) misapplying freely historical or other tradition to newplaces and conditions to subserve religious ends;(6) taking a person or incident from historical tradition andfabricating edifying religious tales thereon.For examples of confusions of each type, see Ibid, pp. 63 – 77.See also note 18 for A.L. Basham’s explanation.224
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King Asoka and BuddhismHistorical &
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Buddhism / Indian History / Asian S
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ContentsThe Contributors ..........
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3. The Gathering of the Relics ....
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owing to the inability of certain s
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1Aśoka — The Great UpāsakaRICHA
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Buddhism which Aśoka announced in
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not only urges diligence on others,
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84,000 monasteries and as many stū
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e Aśoka, a layman, who tests monks
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eousness can hardly have been Buddh
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Notes1. P.H.L. Eggermont, The Chron
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2Aśoka and Buddhism as Reflectedin
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elation to Brahmanism. There was ce
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the correct doctrine. What is of si
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is the nearest that we get in the i
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days remains unclear unless the com
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since he showed them the way and th
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the importance of trade, the first
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accordance with dhamma was preferab
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in Kalinga, is interestingly omitte
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was largely absent. The phrase that
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That the larger corpus of edicts we
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3Emperor Aśoka and Buddhism:Unreso
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to punish them for their crimes, so
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Aśokan scholars since the 1830’s
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Pandukabhaya had built them a resid
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The Mahāmātras stationed at Kauś
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The Sri Lankan Pali records, which
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problem. Nor would there be a diffi
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17 th Gets concerned over indiscipl
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to gratify ambition and enrich the
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whose central theme is the conquest
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are altogether silent on a Kalinga
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All men are my children. Just as, i
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within his dominions. The frontier
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tendents of matters relating to the
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edicts addressed to the Saṅgha; a
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evidence of Aśoka’s own lithic r
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all these sermons could be describe
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ecords relating to Dharma, appointe
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the other peoples dwelling about th
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earlier, the creation of the new ca
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five Greek kings among themselves a
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gratitude, amounting at times to sh
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e inconsistencies begin to make sen
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onistically with a brahmin exponent
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3 rd ed. rev. (New Delhi: Governmen
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far been found, the latest being th
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made, it rendered subsequent steps
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its Culture, 2nd. ed. rev. (Colombo
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The central theme in the majority o
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on a statement made by I-tsing 5 th
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confused accounts of the Sanskrit S
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the Vinaya. Some of them tended the
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In the foregoing data we have two i
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Aśoka cannot be expected to decide
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and while Aśoka who meted out such
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(2) Aliyavasāni (P. Ariyavaṃsān
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to it as sambuddhasamayaṃ, “the
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5Aśoka and the Emergence of a Sinh
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5. the Mahābodhivaṃsa (10 th or
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3. The Mission to Sri Lanka: Brief
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was planted in the Mahāmegha Park
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disbelieve these events associated
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and he saw to it that his actions s
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at Kalinga, would have paid special
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missionaries to propagate the Buddh
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To the first question the answer is
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fore Mahinda Thera’s Buddhist mis
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and the countries they visited. 47
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order. 55 Their son Sumana was a me
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it to wither away. But Aśoka manag
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Notes1. G.P. Malalasekera, ed. Va
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ical and Social Studies, Vol. I, No
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6Images of Aśoka:Some Indian and S
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legends and stories that were told
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Sanskrit avadānas each have their
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who pointed out the honey store bec
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the Fierce — an appellation that
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the end of Aśoka’s life, it is o
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somewhat regained consciousness, he
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elics of the Buddha for redistribut
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the glory of Sri Lanka and on its p
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Secondly, related to this are the d
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It is clear, then, that this is a t
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how in the Aśokāvadāna these wer
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eborn as a god in one of the heaven
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the night, the guardian gods came t
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monarch bested by a nāga, nor, out
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as Japan were inspired to emulate i
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Page 200 and 201: of Jalauka’s name in other record
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Page 204 and 205: Upagupta commanded immense venerati
Page 206 and 207: (5) His conversion to Buddhism is a
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Page 214 and 215: Aśoka and, by implication, these m
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Page 220 and 221: ascribed to Aśoka ideas and deeds
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Page 224 and 225: such a way that no heretical monks
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Page 238 and 239: 3. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Age of th
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Page 242 and 243: Pali et Traduction, L’Ecole fran
Page 244 and 245: I have drawn closer to the Sangha a
Page 246 and 247: The chronological constraints have
Page 248 and 249: MapsAśoka’s Indian Empire235
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