THE MAURYA EMPIRE: ASOKA

  BY

W. H. MORELAND, C.S.I., C.I.E. 

AND

ATUL CHANDRA CHATTERJEE

G.C.I.E., K. C.S.I.

THE MAURYA EMPIRE: ASOKA

CHANDRAGUPTA was succeeded by his heir Bindusara, who reigned for a quarter of a century, and of whom practically nothing is known; but in Bindusära's son and successor, Asoka, we meet the first Indian ruler whose personality stands out clearly in history. His fame bulks largely in Buddhist literature, but the story there given has been coloured or distorted in the process of hagiography, and for the facts of his life we are indebted primarily to the edicts which, following an old Persian practice, he caused to be inscribed on rocks and pillars throughout his dominions. Many of these are still in existence, and in their simple, earnest language, marked by endless repetitions, there is no difficulty in recognising the man. We may question the extent to which his ideals were realised in practice, but there can be no question that we are in the presence of a great apostle of righteousness.

Asoka succeeded to the throne of Magadha about 274 B.C., the precise year being uncertain, and reigned, most probably, for thirty-seven years. For the first quarter of this period there is nothing to distinguish him from the ordinary Hindu ruler: apparently he had to fight for the succession, though it is safe to refuse credit to the legend that he killed ninety- nine of his brothers in the process; and, following the usual course of kingship, he conquered Kalinga, a region lying on the east coast between the Mahanadi and the Godavari rivers, corresponding to the modern Orissa with the most northerly portion of Madras. This was the turning-point of his life. Distressed by the suffering and misery caused by war, he resolved to abandon the traditional course, and turned to the teaching of the Buddha. The remainder of his life was spent in philanthropical administration, in promoting moral reform, and in propagating the doctrines which he had embraced.

For the administration of the empire Asoka employed three viceroys, one at Taxila for the north-west, a second at Ujjain in Malwa for the west and south-west, and a third for Kalinga on the south-east, apparently retaining direct control of the central region. It is impossible to distinguish the tracts in this area which were held by vassal kings, but probably most of it was administered in this way, so that the empire may be regarded as a confederation of states. Its southern limits are not clearly defined, but the presence of inscriptions in the north of what is now the Mysore State indicates that Asoka's influence, if not his actual rule, extended well to the south of the river Kistna. The prin- ciples governing the administration were drawn from the Sacred Law, and accepted by Hindus and Jains as well as Buddhists; but Asoka laid particular stress on those which bear the names of ahimsă and maitri, or ‘non-violence' and "friendliness," applied to all living creatures. In accordance with these principles we find him insisting on the provision of shade and water along the roads, and of medical aid for animals as well as human beings; restricting the slaughter of animals; enjoining the just and humane treatment of prisoners; and appointing high officials, in addition to the existing administrative staff, charged specially with the organisation of charity, the redress of wrongs and the inculcation of moral principles.

ASOKA'S POLICY

The frontier policy of Asoka represented an entire breach with the Indian tradition of enlarging the borders of a kingdom by conquest. He desired 1that' the unsubdued borderers should not be afraid of me, that they should trust me, and should receive from me happiness, not sorrow'; and he hoped that they too would accept the moral principles which he preached to his own subjects. The extent to which  his hopes were realised is not on record, but there is no reason to doubt that during his reign the frontiers were ordinarily peaceful.

As a moral reformer Asoka was essentially practical. If he cared anything about metaphysical speculations, the fact does not appear in his edicts; he laid stress on simple duties, which he considered had been too much neglected, obedience to parents, kind treatment of servants, slaves and animals, respect and generosity to priests and ascetics, toleration, friendliness, charity, simplicity of life-in a word, righteous- ness. In matters of religion he was no bigot: he discoun- tenanced certain popular ceremonials, but he inculcated respect for Brahmans among other classes, and he claimed as a merit that he had extended the knowledge of the gods of Hinduism among the jungle tribes. His activities in promoting Buddhism do not stand out as directed against the popular religion, and it is not possible to infer from the language of his edicts that he regarded himself as the cham- pion of one creed against another; he was the champion of a life rather than a faith.

One side of these activities was the establishment of Buddhist shrines: tradition attributes to him an enormous number of such buildings, and, while the number is an obvious exaggeration, there is no doubt of the essential fact. Another side was the attempt to secure unity among the followers of the Buddha; a Council was held under his patronage at Patna, when the differences between various schools were composed, and the canon of authoritative scriptures was determined; and one of his edicts imposed penalties on schism. A third side was the despatch of missionaries throughout the empire and beyond its limits. There is nothing to show that his envoys achieved any success in the distant countries they are said to have visited, in Syria, Egypt or Greece; but nearer home, in north-west India, in Burma and elsewhere, the progress of Buddhism was marked. The most important results were secured in Ceylon, which may be described as the second home of the faith; here the doctrine laid down in Asoka's Council was preserved and codified; and when this school of Buddhism disappeared from India the authority of the Sinhalese canon was accepted in Burma and Siam.

No confident estimate can be made of the results of Asoka's efforts within the limits of his empire. So far as we know, his distinctive policy was not continued by his successors, under whom the empire fell to pieces; his edicts are more concerned with the future than the past; and there is no other source of information. We know only that a high ideal of righteousness was authoritatively set before the people; we can safely conclude that it was not realised in its entirety; we may be equally sure that it was not wholly without effect. The edicts stood for future. generations to read; but the characters in which they were engraved became obsolete, and their decipherment belongs to the period of British rule. The survival of Asoka's fame in tradition shows at least that his figure struck the popu- lar imagination; but his actual achievement cannot be determined.

On the material side Asoka's reign marks an epoch in the development of the arts of building and sculpture in the Gangetic plain. No work in cut stone or burnt brick 2 of an earlier date has yet been found in this region. Megasthenes recorded that in areas liable to flood the towns were built of wood, while those on high ground were of brick and mud, the bricks being probably sun-dried rather than burnt. In Asoka's buildings the burnt bricks which have been found are of an inferior class, indicating want of experience on the part of the makers; on the other hand, the workman- ship and sculpture on his columns are of very high quality, and are recognised by experts as undoubtedly displaying a combination of Persian and Hellenic influences, so that it is safe to infer that some at least of his stone-workers were imported from the north-west, probably from Bactria, where the establishment of Greek rule would have facilitated such a combination. The inference as to the introduction of brick-burning is less certain, for the excavations at Mohenjo-daro have shown that the art was well established in the early Indus civilisation, while so little digging has yet been done in the Ganges plain that the negative evidence is not conclusive; but in the present state of our knowledge it is probable that burnt bricks were not in use, at least generally, before the Maurya epoch. From this time on their use was well established; while sculpture quickly became the most important medium for expressing the artístic feelings of the people, the foreign influences being gradually eliminated.

Foot Notes

1 The quotation is from the first Kalinga edict, as translated in Camb. Hist., i. 515.

2 Burnt bricks of very large size were used in a building on the Nepal frontier, which some scholars have assigned to the fifth century, but the present view (Camb. Hist., 1. 623) is that it belongs to the Maurya period.