Missionary and monarch
P K Chhetri 24 July, 2015 The Statesman
Asoka might be one of the greatest emperors the world has seen; yet a lot of his history is shrouded in obscurity. For instance, did he become a monk or did he simply remain an illustrious disciple of the Buddha? It is believed that he entered the Buddhist order shortly before his death. How he reconciled the duties of a monarch and a monk is a matter of conjecture, but there is no scope for doubt that he was at once a missionary and a monarch.
Asoka converted to Buddhism sometime in 261 or 260 BC. The conquest of Kalinga was definitely not his first military exploit, but it did turn into his last. After the bloodbath at Kalinga, he did not make any attempt to extend his kingdom further, but his empire was so vast, it was enough to tax all his energies.
There are 14 rock edicts inscribed on pillars and rocks, in a language closely allied to Prakrit. It was the vernacular of Asoka’s day, and despite differences in script and dialect in certain localities, it was more or less uniformly spoken. This speaks volumes about his administration. On the eastern side of India are found revised editions of edicts dealing with the administration of Kalinga; one is located near the village of Dhauli, about seven miles south of Bhubaneswar, and another one in Ganjam district of Odisha.
Both the edicts exhort officials to do their duty, using phrases like “all men are my children” and “the world is my parish” in them. With regard to these two special Edicts known as Borderers’ Edict and Provincials Edict, it was Asoka’s command to the officials to recite their contents aloud, the former in the three seasons of hot, wet and cold, whereas the latter at least once a month. “Borderers” were the jungle tribes, who still inhabit the tributaries of Odisha, and it was Asoka’s greatest concern that his officers should win their confidence by spreading the message of love. He didn’t want them to feel afraid of their new ruler, but to trust him.
“We conquer but to save” was the spirit of his proclamation. He wanted to show them that he was like their father; he loved them as he loved himself. He knew a message in writing reaches only a small segment of the people, who could read them, whereas it’s recitation at the beginning of each of the three seasons, before the gatherings in villages, would spread the King’s message far and wide. By reading aloud the Provincials’ Edict, officials were warned to see that no one is unjustly imprisoned. By following the message incorporated in these edicts, any present government in the world can learn how to win the heart of its people and to tame any hostile elements in the country. Though Asoka’s empire was more than double the size of present day India, peace prevailed everywhere without modern day means of communication.
Asoka’s edicts are the main source of information, if we want to know about him and his strategies of administration and his Law of Piety. From his first minor rock edict, we learn that for more than two-and-a-half-years, Asoka was simply a lay disciple of Buddha’s, even though he had joined the faith more than a year before he wrote the edict. He went through the country no fewer than 256 times as an itinerating missionary in a layman’s clothes — his way to win people’s hearts. He never engaged in the pompous display of his magnificence and splendour. Asoka was not only the temporal and spiritual head of the Church, but he also had a clear conception of his responsibility as head of state. His office acted as the defender of the Faith.
The royal hunt was totally abolished, but he never shunned his kingly rank. Immediately after his conversion, he settled down to spread the faith not only throughout his own dominions and amongst his subjects, but the regions beyond it, too. The Rock Edicts II, V, and XIII furnish details about his missionary operations. His missionary activities extended to Western Asia, including Syria, North Africa, including Egypt and Cyrene, Eastern Europe, including Macedonia and the Epirus, South India, and Sri Lanka as well as the extreme northwestern slopes of the Himalayas.
Asoka’s territory in South India was up to Nellore and although the Jaugada inscription was the earliest one in the South, not far from his most northern boundary, the Mysore inscriptions are much further south than Jaugada. In August 1915, another inscription was discovered in the previous Nizam’s dominions. It is actually at Maski, a village in the Raichur district in Karnataka, and is a copy of Minor Rock Edict I. It has a peculiarity, because it is the only inscription, which incorporates the name Asoka, while in others Asoka is either addressed as “Devanapiya” or “Piyadasi”. His missionaries preached in the kingdoms of Cholas of the Coromandal Coast, Pandyas of Madurai’s Tinnevelley in Malabar and other regions on the West Coast and inspired them to make “curative arrangements for men and beasts” by digging wells and planting trees.
According to local tradition, the most important and successful missions of Asoka was establishment of Buddhist faith in Sri Lanka. Though prima facie this task appeared to be easy, it wasn’t so. It was done by exertion of Asoka’s son Mahendra, who, accompanied by a band of monks and Pitakas or scriptures, had crossed over to Ceylon or Sri Lanka from South and converted the Ceylonese King and his 40,000 subjects to Buddhism. Though we do not find reference of this remarkable achievement mentioned in any of the edicts, yet local traditions support this fact. However, Mahendra or Mahinda is sometimes confused as the brother instead of son. History records Mahendra did not go alone; his sister Sanghamitra, and a band of nuns accompanied him.
The great “stupa” of Sanchi further adds that a branch of the sacred Bo-tree of Gaya was also carried over to Ceylon. After his death, Mahendra was buried at Ceylon. Ceylon’s King Tissa followed the example of Asoka and built many beautiful buildings in support of his new religion. Thomas William Rhys Davids , a British scholar of the Pali language and founder of the Pali Text Society wrote, “I shall not easily forget the day, when I first entered that lonely, cool, and quiet chamber, so simple and so beautiful, where more than 2,000 years ago the great teacher of Ceylon had sat, and thought, and worked through the long years of his peaceful and useful life.”
Asoka undertook pilgrimage to the places associated with the Buddha in 249 BC. The commemorative records on pillars at Rummindei and Nigliva, in the Nepalese Terai testify Asoka’s visit to Lumbini Garden, where Buddha was born, and also to the stupa of Konakamana. To instruct his subjects in the Law of Piety or the Law of Duty, Asoka maintained a system of official circuits occurring every five years. Dhamma, the colloquial form of dharma, used in his edicts does not stand for Buddhism, but for simple piety, which Asoka urged all his subjects, irrespective of faith to follow. Though Asoka does not deny the existence of a supreme deity, he insists that man should free himself by his own exertion from all vices and move towards the path of happiness. The Dhammapada sums up this teaching: “By ourselves is evil done; by ourselves we pain endure; by ourselves we cease from wrong; by ourselves we become pure. No one saves us but ourselves; no one can do and no one may; we ourselves must tread the Path; Buddhas only show the way.”
In fact, Buddhists believe that there were many Buddhas before Gautama. Every officer was expected to combine the work of piety with his ordinary duties. In 256 BC, Asoka appointed special officers of high rank, called the Dharma-mahamatras, to enforce the edicts related to the Law of Piety. The subordinates were called Dharmayuktas. The emperor attached utmost importance on two virtues: one on sanctity of animal life and the other on reverence towards parents, instructors, and other superiors. Asoka disliked blood shedding of any kind. He completely stopped slaughtering of any kind of animal for the royal kitchen. Any merry-making, which involved the use of meat, was prohibited.
No mutilation of animals was allowed including castrating of cocks, young bulls, rams, etc, and branding of horses and cows. In fact, he ordered building of asylums for animals. Trees were planted, wells were dug and rest houses were built along the sides of the roads. Though death penalty was not fully abolished, yet it was used very sparingly and even then condemned criminals were allowed time to regret and reform, so that death penalty could be postponed indefinitely. He built hospitals and infirmaries for the care of the sick in villages, inspired by Chanakya’s Arthasatra. He displayed his sagacity in his efforts to plant medicinal herbs, both in his own and other countries. Now the Western medicine has gradually become more disposed than ever to recognise the importance of indigenous drugs of India, because of the toxicity associated with the use of antibiotics.
Asoka was a master builder of roads. His roads were neither metalled nor bridged, yet as a builder in stone he challenges comparison with his rivals of all ages in any land, because his works display extreme finesse and sophistication. His stupas or cupolas built in stones were found by Huien Tsang in Kapisa in Kafiristan and Nangrahar, near Jalalabad, on the bank of the river, Kabul. Very few are aware that he found a new city in Nepal called Lalita Patan. The principal stupa at Sanchi built by Asoka in about 250 BC is still famous for its historical significance. Asoka’s pillars bear testimony of his artistic and architectural genius. They all consist of fine sandstone and were queried at Chunar in the district of Mirjapur, and transported either as rough blocks or finished pillars for hundreds of miles to the places of erection. The buildings built at Sarnath, where Buddha delivered his first sermon, still stand intact.
The edicts on the whole reflect the intentions, ambitions and ideals of their author. He gave utmost importance on protecting the interests of the people. Asoka exhibited inimitable tolerance to other religions, and made no discrimination among his subjects. Asoka’s effort to spread Buddhism did not go in vain; after his death, it travelled across Eastern Turkestan via the northwest Himalayas to China, where it became the state religion in the fourth century AD, and then it spread to Korea, Japan and Mongolia. Despite his contributions to the world, nothing is known either about the circumstances of the death or about the last days of this great emperor. The world should take a leaf from the ideas on tolerance propagated by one of India’s greatest prophets.