; he
addresses
the church, naming certain passages from
?
?
Cambridge History of India - v1
450 (#488) ############################################
450
[CH.
AÇOKA
that of the saints entrusted with the conversion of Ceylon, who are
said to have been no other than Açoka's own children, his son the monk
Mahendra and his daughter the nun Sanghamitrād. Accompanied by the stha-
viras Rishtriya, Utriya, Çambala, and Bhadrasāra, they received a becoming
welcome from the king of Ceylon, Devānāmpiya Tissa, who with his people
was ultimately converted, and founded in honour of the evangelists the
Great Vihāra, thenceforward the headquarters of Singhalese Buddhism.
The special history of the island falls outside the scope of this chapter :
the mission of the princely pair was treasured in the memory of Indian
Buddhism ; and its dispatch has been supposed to be depicted in a fresco
on a wall in one of the caves of Ajanta.
We now return to Açoka's own rescripts, the concluding group of
seven edicts, which are found inscribed upon pillars, the whole number at
Delhi and six of them also at other spots in the central regions of
Hindustān. They belong to the twenty-seventh and following year from
the coronation. In tenor they open out no new courses of action, but
repeat and continue the earlier principles. One of them, however, which
will be textually introduced below (pp. 459-60), has an especial interest, as
a recapitulation of the aims and measures of the reign.
The whole duration of Açoka's rule was, according to the concurrent
testimony of the Brāhman and Buddhist historians, 36-37 years, reckoned,
no doubt, from his accession. He himself makes mention of his brothers
and sistersø, a sufficient refutation of the legend that at his accession he
began his reign by putting to death all the hundred other sons of Bindusāra,
His elder brother, known in northern literature as Susïma, and in Pāli
books as Sumana, doubtless did incur the fate of a vanquished rival : and
it is to the son of Susima, by name Nigrodha, that the king's conversion
to Buddhism is ascribed. A full brother, Tissa, plays a considerable part
in the Pāli story. He is said to have been for a time viceroy, and to have
joined the Buddhist order, along with Agni-Brahmā, husband of
-
Sanghamitrā, in the fourth year after Açoka's coronation. A Chief Queen
and her sons, no doubt the princes referred to as viceroys in Taxila and
Ujjain, are mentioned in the edicts, as also are the second queen Kāruvāki
and her son Tivara. The Chief Queen, in the Ceylon records named
Asandhimitrā, may possibly have been the heroine of Açoka's youthful
romance as Viceroy of Ujjain, the lovely maiden named Devi, of
Vedisā (Vidiça, the modern Bhilsa), mother of Mahendra and Sangha-
1 On these relationships v. inf. p. 451.
2 Griffiths, Pll. 94, 95. For the history of Ceylon see Chapter XXV.
3 Rock Edict v.
4 According to the story Nigrodha was at the time about seven years o! d ! The
date is, of course, irreconcilable with the edicts.
5 Pillar Edict VII.
a
## p. 451 (#489) ############################################
xx
FOUNDATION OF SHRINES AND CITIES
451
>
mitrāl. Another romanee is connected with the name of Tishyara-
kshitā, represented as an attendant upon Asandhimitrā and Chief Queen
of Açoka's later years, who, enacting the part of Potiphar's wife, is
stated to have occasioned the blinding of the emperor's eldest son and
heir, Kuņāla, Viceroy of Taxila, and in a still later legend founder of the
Buddhist dynasty of Khotan in Chinese Turkestān. The jealousy of
Tishyarakshitā is said to have been aroused also by Açoka's devotion to
the sacred Banyan tree at Gayā, under which the son of Çuddhodana
had attained to Perfect Enlightenment. And thus on the Sanchi stūpa,
where we find carved the propitiatory procession to the tree, by which the
threatened mischief was appeased”, we have an actual first or second
century represenation in art, though by no means a portrait, of the great
propagator of the Buddhist faith and morals and the imperially lavish
founder of its shrines.
Açoka's activity in this latter respect is not proportionally evidenced
by existing monuments. When the Chinese pilgrims refer, as they con-
stantly do, to a 'stūpa of Açoka,' we cannot in strictness understand
anything more than one of archaic style, such as are those still more or less
intact at Sanchi, or Bhārhut or figured on their sculptures and elsewhere,
nor are we allowed to ascribe en bloc to the emperor himself the pillars at
Delhi, Allahābād, Sārnāth, Rāmpūrvā and other places, on which his edicts
are found inscribed ; he himself forbids this, when he orders his edicts to be
engraven on pillars, where such should be found3.
The only works of this
nature particularised by him in the edicts relating to the places in question
are the double enlargement of the stūpa of Koṇāgamana at Nigliva, the
pillar erected at the same place and that at the Lumbuni garden : the cave-
dwellings assigned to the Ājivika monks in the Barābar hills are not
expressly stated to have been constructed by Açoka's orders.
have added the stone railing round the Bodhi-tree, whieh
to be figured on the stūpa of Sānch, we have completed the list
1 Mahendra is said to have been twenty years of age, and Sanghamitrā eighteen,
at the time of their ordination. As the former was born fourteen years before the
coronation, this brings us to the year after that event, which is again hardly to be
reconciled with the edicts. It was for Mahendra, who was ordained by Moggaliputta
Tissa and who afterwards succeeded the later as head of his followers, that Açoka built
the Açokārāma at Pāțaliputa. As well as known, Mahendra is in the northern stories
made the brother, and not the son, of Açoka, probably through confusion with Tissa
A son of Sanghamitrā, Sumana, by name, also became a monk. Of a daughter of Açoka,'
by name Chārumati, a Nepal legend will be mentioned below.
2 Foucher, The Beginn'ngs of Buddhist Art. pp. 108-9. See also Chapter XXVI,
Pl. XXII, 60.
3 Edict of Sahasrām etc. (the earlist edict). Pillars set up by Açoka's own orders
are mentioned in Pillar Edict VII (quoted in full inf. p. 459). In other cases style and
archaeological considerations must decide.
When we
seems
## p. 452 (#490) ############################################
452
(ch.
AÇOKA
of what can certainly be ascribed to him. But, no doubt, the remains of
that palace, the Açokārāma, the Kukkutārāma, and other erections at
Pātaliputra may de plausibly claime 1 for him! ; and we may also mention
the completion on his behalf, by the Yavana king Tushāspha, of the
Sudarçana tank in Junāgrah, which had been begun by his grandfather
Chandragupta”. For the rest we must be content to believe that the great
reputation which he enjoyed in this respect had a solid foundation.
Two famous cities in frontier countries have a traditional claim to
Açoka as founder, The former is Çrinagar, the capital of Kashmir,
embracing the site of the old Crinagari, which is connected with his name?
In Nepāl the ancient city of Deo. Pātan (Deva-pattana) and the adjacent
village of Chabāhil are associated with a visit of Açoka accompanied by a
daughter Chārumati and her Kshatriya husband Devapāla'. The two latter
are said to have remained in the country and to bave built respectively a
nunnery and a monastery, the latter left unfinished by its founder. The legend
- for such it is-derives some support from the archaic style of the
four neighbouring stupas ascribed to Açoka.
The name Açoka occurs in only one of the known inscriptions".
Elsewhere the emperor employes (in conjunction with rājā‘king') the official
titles derānam priya 'dear to the gods, and priyadarçana, ‘of friendly
mien. ' The founder style - which in later ages the popular grumbling, so
humorously common in India, as in other countries, diverted to the sense of
'fool'- is known to have been employed by contemporary kings in Ceylon,
and by Açoka's grandson (or still more remote descendant) Daçaratha, so
that it was probably normal; indeed Açoka himself once uses the plural in
the sense particularly of kings. ' Priyadarçin also, which has been well ren-
dered 'gracious,' may represent a customary view that the king should wear
‘a mild' pleasant, and composed aspect 6. But it is certainly quite possible, as
M. Senart suggests? , that it was adopted by Açoka at his ordination name.
The chronology of the reign is fixed within wide limits by the mention
in the thirteenth Rock Edict of the Yona King Antiochus and beyond that
Antiochus to where dwell the four kings severally named Ptolemy
(Philadelphus of Egypt 285-247 B. C. ) Antigonus (Gonatas of Macedon,
278-239), Magas (of Cyrene, died 258), and Alexander (of Epirus, 272-258? )"
1 Waddell, Report on the Excavations at Pāļaliputra (Patna), Calcutta. 1903.
2 Ep. Ind. VIII, pp. 46-7.
3 Rājatarangiņi, translation of Sir M. A. Stein, I, II. 101-7, and the notes.
4 Sylvain Levi, Le Nepal (Musee Guimet, 1905-8), I. pp. 67 and 263 ; II, 24,336;
III, 161 f.
5 Found in 1915 at Maski in the Raic hūr Dist. of Hyderābād ; see Hyderabad
Arch. Series, No. 1, 1915,
6 Mbh. XII, 61, 39 ; cf. 57, 19. In the Kharoshțhi documents from Chinese
Turkestān priyadārçınā is a common form of polite address; see Kharosthi Inscriptions,
Part I, 1920, passim.
Les Inscriptions de Piyadusi, II, pp. 227-8.
:
7
## p. 453 (#491) ############################################
xx]
CHRONOLOGY OF REIGN
453
The fact that there are all supposed to be reigning makes it unlikely that
the edict was issued long after the year 258 B. C. , when one, if not two, of
them died. A prior limit of any value does not seem to be supplied by the
passage, inasmuch as Antiochus Theos, whose reign began in 261 B. c. , was
preceded by a sovereign, his father, of like name. The omission of the
Bactrian ruler Diodotus, whose independence of the Seleucid empire dates
from about 250 B. C. , confirms the inference that the edict is not long
posterior to the year 258. Adopting 258-7 as its provisional date, and
accepting the arguments which assign it to the fourteenth year, we arrive at
270 B. C. , as the latest year for the coronation : but plainly nothing in the
calculation forbids an earlier date. That the coronation was posterior by
four years to the actual beginning of the reign is affirmed by the Ceylon
tradition and perhaps also indirectly implied by the same : which would
give the year 274 B. C. , as the latest possible for Açoka's accession. But this
may reasonably be suspected as an invention made in the interest of a
chronological system'. A provisional chronological scheme of the reign
might then take shape as follows:
274 B. C. at latest : accession.
270 B. C. at latest : coronation.
262 B. C. at latest : conquest of Kalinga and adhesion to Buddhism.
260 B. C. at latest : entry into the order of monks and beginning of active propaganda.
259 B. C. at latest : issue of first Edict (that of Sahasrām, Rūpnāth, Bairāt and Brahmagiri)
258-7 B. C. at latest : issue of the fourteen Rock Edicts ; dedication of cave dwellings in
the Barābar hills.
256 B. C. at latest : visit to Kapilavastu.
253 B. C. ? : Council of Pāțaliputra.
250 B. C. at latest : second visit to Kapila vastu and visit to the Lumbini garden.
243. 2 B. C. at latest : issue of Pillar Edicts.
237-6 B. C. ? death of Açoka (on the assumption that the reign lasted 36 or 37 years, as
the Purānas and Pāli books affirm).
According to the Ceylon tradition the coronation of Açoka took
place 218 years (i. e. in the 219th year) after the death of Buddha, and the
Council in the 236th year. The tradition of Khotan on the other hand,
as reported in Tibetan books”, places the 50th year (out of 55) in the
reign at an interval of 234 years from the Parinirvāņa. These Chinese and
Sanskrit reckonings are, as is well known, vitiated by confusion with another
Açoka, Kālāçoka or Kākavarņa of the Çiçunāga dynasty, who is placed
one century after Buddha. The number 218 may very well be deserving
of credit as a genuine traditions ; but it is of value for the determination
rather of the date of Buddha than that of Açoka. A much discussed
number 256 in the earliest edict has no bearing upon chronology4.
1 A supposition broached and rejected by M. Senart, op. cit. II. pp. 237-8. But
possibly Açoka may have been de facto ruler during the last years of Bindusāra, which
may explain the extra three years assigned by the Buddhists to that king (supra, p. 446).
2 Rockhill, Lije of the Buddha, p. 233, and the an texts there named
3 Geiger's translation of the Mahāvāmsa, Introduction pp. XXXI sqq.
4 F. W. Thomas, Ind. Ant. , 1908, pp. 19-23, and Les Vivāsāh d' Açoka (Jour. As. ,
S rie X, XV, pp. 507-22).
:
## p. 454 (#492) ############################################
454
[ch,
AÇOKA
The activity of Açoka lay wholly, so far as we are informed of it, in
the sphere of dharma, i. e. according to the Indian definition, the sphere
of conduct leading to heaven or to final liberation? ; we may say, the
spheres of religion and morality. It therefore furnishes a complement to
the strictly political system of the Arthaçāstra. We may consider it
under the aspects of the emperor's principles and personal action, his
admonitions, and his ordinances and institutions.
It was, as we have seen, the events of the Kalinga war that awoke
the humanitarian and missionary spirit in Açoka. He was impressed
both by the actual horrors of the campaign and by the interference with
the peaceful and moral influence of the religious teachers. The chords
which were struck have in Indian life a dominant note : Açoka attached
himself to the Buddhist religion, the most important of those which upheld
the doctrines of ahimsā and maitri, abstinence from doing hurt to, and
benevolent feeling towards, living creatures. Two and a half years later
he awoke to the possibilities of his position, joined the order of monks,
and entered upon a course of 'activity. '
The importance of energetic action by the sovereign was not a new
conception ; the Indian writers on policy make it the subject of constant
admonition to their rulers (v. sup. p. 443). Nor was the idea of royal res-
ponsibility for the virtue of the people a novelty : the king is, as we have
seen (ibid. ), the upholder of dharma and incurs a proportion of the sin of
the people, if the exacts the taxes without maintaining the social order.
But Açoka gives to these principles a new force and direction by calling
upon all to participate in his energy and by fixing attention upon moral
improvement as a means to happiness in the present, and further in another,
life. His position is therefore not merely paternal, as the books would
require, and as he himself professes? : he has also a inoral and religious
responsibility and mission.
The degree of Açoka's appreciation of Buddhisın is not very easily
definable ; and it was even at one tine contended that his early faith, which
laid such special stress upon the doctrine of benevolence, was rather that
of Jainism. He emphasises the principle of tolerance, wishes for the real
prosperity of all sects, and, while not discouraging discussion, always a
prominent feature of Indian religious life, earnestly preaches avoidance of
offence. If he discountenances what he considers vain ceremonials and
certain popular entertainments, which were occasions of animal slaughter,
his attitude to the Brāhman system in general is benevolent and respectful:
he believes in the gods and would have his people strive for heaven.
Nevertheless, Açoka, was undoubtedly a Buddhist: he became a lay disciple
1 For the employment of the word by Açoka see Senart, Les Inscriptions de
Piyadasi, II, pp. 308 f.
2 Kalinga Edicts I and II.
>
## p. 455 (#493) ############################################
xx)
RELIGIONS
455
and then a monk ; later he proclaims his regard for the religion and his
personal faith?
; he addresses the church, naming certain passages from
?
the scriptures as specially suitable for teaching and study ; he denounces
penalties for schism ; he holds a council which defines the canon ; and
finally he stands out as by far the greatest author of the religious foun-
dations of the sect. On the other hand we hear from him nothing concern-
ing the deeper ideas or fundamental tenets of the faith ; there is no mention
of the Four Grand Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Chain of Causation, the
supernatural quality of Buddha : the word and the idea of Nirvāņa
fail to occur ; and the innumerable points of difference which occupied the
several sects are likewise ignored. Açoka, therefore, is no theologian or
philosopher ; and only in the saying that the gift of dharma is above all
other gifts, and in the preference of meditation to liberality, do we find any
trace of such modes of thought.
Of Açoka's personal action the most important features were his
religious tours and progresses, which began at the end of the eleventh year.
They were the occasion of personal intercourse with the people, including
discussions and instructions in religious matters. In the course of these,
and on other occasions, he was wont to issue religious proclamations,
which were published by his officials and inscribed on rocks and pillars.
He claims that in little more than a year he had brought the Brāhman
gods to the knowledge of those people in India, i. e. the wild tribes, who
had formerly known nothing of them. Further he organised shows and
processions exhibiting figures of the gods in their celestial cars, of sacred
elephants, and fires. The practice of earlier times, which made the king
)
accessible to the public only at certain hours, he modified to the extent of
being ready to transact business or see officials even in his most private
seclusion“. He subjected his household to supervision by special religious
dignities : and finally he restricted the diet of the palace practically to the
point of vegetarianism. His activity in causing trees to be planted by the
”
roads, and wells for travellers to be constructed at every half-koss, also
his provision of medical aid for men and animals, and his propagation of
useful plants, need not be further dwelt upon : only in degree were they
a new feature of royal beneficence in India.
Açoka's relations with the Buddhist Sangha were, no doubt, friendly
and cordial. He had himself been ordained, as had his brother, and by
the surrender of his son and daughter also he had acquired a right to the
title 'Kinsman of the Faith. ' But no doubt the monkish chronicles go too
1 Edict of Bhābrā (prasāda in Buddhist phraseology denotes 'faith').
2 Edict of Sahasrām etc.
3 Rock Edict IV.
4 Rock Edict VI.
5 Rock Edict I; Pillar Edict V.
6 Bühler, 2. D. M. G. , XXXVII, pp. 101-2, and as regards trees, wells etc. , cf.
Arthoçīstra, 19.
>
## p. 456 (#494) ############################################
456
[ch.
AÇOK A
far in representing his devotions as without bounds. Even his lavish
expenditure upon religious edifices is exaggerated in the statement that he
thrice gave away, and purchased back, Jambu-dvipa or the continent of
Indial! It can hardly be that an emperor so conscious of the responsi-
bilities of his unique position should have been made more amenable to
the authority of a religious order by himself joining it. Nor is there in his
actual references to the Sangha any note of special deference ; nor again
do his ordinances accord to it any special regard, since the parishads whose
affairs were to be supervised by the dharma-mahāmātras included the
managing committees of all sects. On the other hand, we fail to detect
even in the advice which Açoka gives to the Sangha concerning specially
applicable passages from the scriptures any note of the arrogance which
might have betrayed an emperor himself at home in the order.
such an attitude would be both un-Indian (as sanctity and learning in India
excite a genuine respect) and anachronistic in what was still an age of
faith. On the whole, easy as it would be to imagine flaws, one way or
the other, in Açoka's relations with the clergy, it would be hard to demons-
trate them to a sound intelligence : by his grasp of the essential he rises
superior to such personal suspicions.
Of the Buddhist leaders with whom he is said to have been in
correspondence the most important is Upagupta or Moggaliputta Tissa.
This divine is reckoned as-fifth in the succession of Vinaya teachers from
the time of Buddha, the series being Upāli, Dāsaka, Sonaka, Siggava and
Chandavajji, Moggaliputta Tissa”. Tissa was 60 years old at the time of
Açoka's coronation, and he died 26 years later, being succeeded by
Mahendra. Apart from the Kathāvattu he is not known as an author,
his great monument being the Third Council. A famous stūpa was built
in his honour at Mathurā.
Mention has already been made of the missionary leaders, whose
activity is said to have followed upon the Third Council, and of Açoka's
several relatives who joined the order (v. sup. p. 450). The Pāli books
mention also Mahāvaruņa, and the two sons of Kunti, Tissa and Sumitta,
who are said to have died after Açoka's eighth year : they are not otherwise
known.
The northern books' mention a minister Rādhāgupta, who is said to
have played an important part in Açoka's attainment of sovereignty and
his administration ; and another minister, the Arhat Yaças, associated with
1 Hiuen Tsiãng states that the fact was recorded in an inscription on the pillar at
Pāțaliputra (trans. Beal, II, p. 91).
2 The identity of this Tissa with Upagupta was proved by Col. L. Waddell in the
Journal (1897, pp. 76-84) and Proceedings (1899, pp. 70-5) of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal. Concerning the succession see Geiger's translation of the Mahāvamsa intro-
duction pp. xlviif.
3 Açokāvadāna ( = Dirijāvadāna, XXIX) and Kunālāvadāna (=ibid. XXVII).
## p. 457 (#495) ############################################
xx
MORAL EXHORTATIONS
457
9
the Khotan legend of Kustana. The existence of the minister Yoças seems
deserving of credence as he is mentioned in the Sūtrālamkāra of
Açvaghoshal.
The moral exhortations which Açoka most frequently addresses to his
people refer to the practice of simple virtues, namely proper treatment of
slaves and servants, obedience to father and mother, generosity and respect
to friends, companions, relations, ascetics, and Brāhmans, abstinence from
cruelty to living creatures. For this imperial insister. ce upon such obvious
duties we are right to demand some explanation ; and we may perhaps find
an explanation in his statement that there had been during a long period
a deterioration in these respects. Not to attribute to Açoka the character
merely of a retrospective pessimism, we may think of the social and other
changes which might naturally accompany the growth of a great empire,
the succession of dynastic tragedies, the subjugation of small states, the
Greek invasion, and the initiation of numerous sects. And, apart from the
general responsibility of a paternal rule, he might have found even in the
Arthaçāstra (19, p. 47) the principle that the royal authority should ensure
the observance of proper discipline in the household, an obligation which
even the modern state does not decline. As regards the aged and the poor,
who are placed under the care of religious officials”, we have seen that-in
the absence of a 'poor law' – the care of such was a traditional obligation
of royalty (v. sup. p. 439). These primary admonitions recur also in the
.
latest of the edicts, as they had been prominent, along with the appeal for
energy and mutual exhortation, in the earliest. But we hear also from the
beginning of piety-friendship in piety, liberality in piety, kinship in piety-
concord and the growth of sects in essential matters, in a word of religion,
dharma, as something more than çila, 'morality. It was to be expected
that with advancing years the religious feeling should acquire a stronger
hold ; whence we are not surprised to find in the later edicts a special
exhortation to self-examination and the view that the chief thing is personal
adherence to a man's adopted faith. In a country where during later ages
the ecstatic, metaphysical, and fanciful aspects of religion have predominat-
ed, the sober Buddhist piety revealed in the edicts (and not uncommonly
evidenced in the literature of Buddhism, both of the Great and Little
Vehicles) deserves remark.
The measures, enactments, and institutions of Açoka need not more
than moderately detain us. His philanthropic activity in providing wells
and trees along the roads, in propagating medicinal plants, and in founding
hospitals for men and animals--an activity not confined to his own
dominions—and further his great role as propagator of his religion and
1 Translated from the Chinese by E. Huber (Paris, 1908), see the Index.
Rock Edict IV.
3 Rock Edict V.
9
2
## p. 458 (#496) ############################################
458
[сн.
AÇOK A
pious founder, also his regulations concerning the slaughter and treatment
of animals, have already received due notice. To the same sphere belong
his rules concerning prisoners, the reservation of capital punishment, and
the respite of the condemned during three days with a view to their spirit-
ual welfare and edifying works.
The official system remained for the most part unchanged'. The presence
of Açoka’s envoys even as far as the various Greek kingdoms is plainly con-
templated. The general term denoting the superior officials is mahāmātra,
while the lower, especially the clerkly ranks, are entitled yukta. The highest
local officers 'set over many hundreds of thousands of people’-corresponding
no doubt to the sthānikas of the Arthaçāstra - are mentioned as rājūkas,
and with them are associated pradeçikas, perhaps the pradeshtris whose
functions we have already defined. It is to these officers that a number of
the edicts are addresse 1. They are exhorted to adopt towards the people
under their charge the mild, patient, and benevolent principles of the
emperor himself : they are compared to nurses entrusted with the charge of
childern. An institution several times referred to is the anusamyāna, or
periodical tour, still a feature of Indian administration. This was not an
innovation on the part of Açoka, but a part of the system which he
inhertied? . However, he added to the duties of the touring officials, as early
as his thirteenth year, that of following his own example in making their
visitations the occasion of benevolent activity and religious propaganda.
For this purpose, however, he himself organised a special ecclesiastical
hierarchy of religious officers (dharma-mahāmatra), to whom these two
functions were primarily assigned, and who moreover superintended the
bounties of his own household, and those of his queens, his sons, and other
relatives, and organised the activities of the committees and councils
(parishad) at the head of the Buddhist, Jain, Ājivika and other sects. The
tolerance of all sects as regards liberty of residence in every district seems
also to be a feature of Açoka's own conception, as it is opposed to the rule
of the Arthaçāstra (19, p. 48).
Here we conclude our analytical appreciation of Açoka's rule. But
the personality which in so un-Indian a fashion pervades the whole of his
proclamations-a personality which in its rather highstrung, and by
consequence partly plaintive, energy recalls another flawless imperial saint,
the Roman Marcus Aurelius--can be communicated only in his own words :
and we are therefore justified in citing two of his edicts, one a normal
specimen of their tone, and the second the solemn review of his measures,
1 For a full discussion see Senart, Les Insctiptions de Pi yadasi. II, pp. 278 f.
2 Or rajjugrahākas, as in the Pāli book="land-measures,' the dypovou. O. Of Mega-
sthenes, concerning whom x'. sup. p. 374. 75. Cf. Bühler, Z. D. M. G. , XLVII, pp. 466-71.
3 This is implied by Açoka himself ( Rock Edict III): cf. Bühle 2. D. M. G. ,
XLI, p. 19.
1
## p. 459 (#497) ############################################
xx)
THE EDICTS
459
which, published in the twenty-seventh year from his consecration, we have
ventured to designate as the testament of Açoka. '
ROCK EDICT IV
In the past, during many centuries, there has been steady growth in the practice of
taking life, ill. usage of living creatures, misbehaviour among relatives, misbehaviour
towards Brahmans and ascetics. But now through the pious observance of king
Piyadasi, dear to the gods, the signal of the drum has become a signal of piety, displaying
to the people sights of celestial cars, sights of elephants, bonfires, and other heavenly
shapes. In such wise as has not been before in many centuries, there has been at present,
owing to the inculcation of piety by king Piyadasi, dear to the gods, growth in abstinence
from taking life, in abstinence from ill-usage of living creatures, in proper behaviour
towards relatives, proper behaviour towards Brāhmans and ascetics, obedience to mother
and father, obedience to elders. In these and other manifold ways pious observance ' has
grown, and this pious observance king Piyadasi, dear to the gods, will make still to grow.
The sons, also and grandsons, and great-grandsons of king Piyadasi, dear to the gods,
will foster this pious observance until the end of timo. Standing fast by piety and
morality, they will inculcate piety. For this is the best action, inculcation of piety: pious
observance, again, is not found in an immoral person. Hence in this respect also growth
and no falling off is good. To this end has this been inscribed, that men may effect
growth in this respect and that falling off may not be suffered. This has been inscribed
by king Piyadasi, dear to the gods, having been consecrated twelve years.
PILLAR EDICT VII
Thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
The kings who were in the past wished thus : How may the people grow with the
growth of piety? ' The people, however, did not grow with a proper growth in piety.
In this matter thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
This thought came to me : In the past the kings had this wish : 'How may the
people grow with a proper growth in piety? ' The people, however, did not grow with a
proper growth in piety. Whereby then can the people be made to conform ? Whereby
can the people be made to grow with a proper growth in piety ? Whereby can I elevate
any of them by a growth in piety?
In this matter thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
This thought. came to me, 'I will publish precepts of piety, I will inculcate instruc.
tions in piety : hearing these, the people will conform, will be elevated, and will grow
strongly with the growth of piety. ' For this purpose precepts of piety were published,
manifold instructions in piety were enjoined, so that my officers in charge of large
populations might expound them and spread them abroad. The governors also in charge
of many hundred thousand lives, they also were ordered, “thus and thus catechise the
persons of the establishment of piety. '
Thus says Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
With the same object pillars of piety were made by me, dignitaries of piety wore
instituted, precepts of piety were proclaimed.
Thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods
:
## p. 460 (#498) ############################################
460
(CH.
AÇOK A
W
On the roads also banyans were planted, to give shade to cattle and men : mango.
gardens were planted : and at each half-koss wells were dug: also rest-houses were made
many watering stations also were made in this and that place for the comfort of eattle and
men. Little indeed is mere comfort : for with various gratifications the people have been
gratified both by previous kings and by myself. But, that they might conform with &
conformity in piety, for this reason was this done by me.
This says Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
Dignitaries of piety were appointed by me in charge of manifold indulgences, these
both for ascetics and for householders; also ever all sects were they appointed. Over the
affairs of the Sangha also were they set, these shall be appointed'; likewise over
Brābmans Ājivakas also were they set these shall be appointed'; Over Nirgranthas also
were they set, 'these shall be appointed. Over various sects also were they set, these
shall be appointed. ' According to circumstances such and such dignitaries were set over
such and such. Dignitaries of piety also were appointed over both these and all other
sects.
Thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
These and various other classes were appointed in charge of the distribution of
charity, both my own and that of the queens. And in my whole harem they carry out in
manifold fashions such and such measures of satisfaction, both here and in all quarters.
The same has been done as regards the distribution of charity on the part of my sons
the other princes, 'these shall be appointed over the distributions of charity with a view
to ensamples of piety and for conformity to piety. For this is an ensample of piety and
conformity to piety, when in the people compassion liberality, truth honesty, mildness,
and goodness shall thereby be increased.
Thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
Whatsoever good deeds have been done by me, thereto the people have conform-
ed, and those they copy. And thereby they have grown and will grow in obedience to
mothers and fathers, in obdience to venerable persons in conformity to the olil, in right
behaviour towards Brāhmans and ascetics, the poor and wretched, slave and servants.
Thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
This growth in piety is a growth in two respects, in the restraints of piety and
in considerateness. Now of these restraints by piety is a little thing, but considerateness
a greater. The restriant of piety is this, that I have had such and such creatures made
exempt from slaughter, and there are other restraints of piety which have been ordained
by me. But by considerateness there has been to a greater degree a growth in piety on
the part of men conducting to abstention from ill-usage to living creatures and to non-
taking of life. This was done to his end, that sons and grandsons may continue there in
as long as moon and sun endure, and that they may conform accordingly. For by so
conforming this life and the future life are secured. This Edict of Piety was inscribed by
me when I had been six and twenty years consecrated.
Thus says the dear to the gods :
Where there are stone pillars or stone slabs, there this Ediet of Piety is to be
instructed, that it may be permanent,
## p. 461 (#499) ############################################
xx)
DYNASTIC SUCCESSORS
461
The dynastic successors of Açoka are by the Brāhman and Buddhist
traditions diversely reported according to the following scheme :
Brāhman Sources,
Buddhist Sources.
Al.
A.
(Pargiter, Dynasties of the Kali Age,
(Divyāvadāna, XXIX. )
pp. 27-30. )
1. Kuņāla or Suyaças, reigned 8 years. 1. Kuņāla.
*2. Bandhupālita, son of Kuņāla, reigned 2. Samprati, son of 1.
8 years.
*3. Indrapālita.
3. Bșihaspati, son of 2.
*4. Da ona, son of 3, reigned 7 years.
4. Vțishasena, son of 3.
5. Daçaratha, son of 4, reigned 8 years. 5.
450
[CH.
AÇOKA
that of the saints entrusted with the conversion of Ceylon, who are
said to have been no other than Açoka's own children, his son the monk
Mahendra and his daughter the nun Sanghamitrād. Accompanied by the stha-
viras Rishtriya, Utriya, Çambala, and Bhadrasāra, they received a becoming
welcome from the king of Ceylon, Devānāmpiya Tissa, who with his people
was ultimately converted, and founded in honour of the evangelists the
Great Vihāra, thenceforward the headquarters of Singhalese Buddhism.
The special history of the island falls outside the scope of this chapter :
the mission of the princely pair was treasured in the memory of Indian
Buddhism ; and its dispatch has been supposed to be depicted in a fresco
on a wall in one of the caves of Ajanta.
We now return to Açoka's own rescripts, the concluding group of
seven edicts, which are found inscribed upon pillars, the whole number at
Delhi and six of them also at other spots in the central regions of
Hindustān. They belong to the twenty-seventh and following year from
the coronation. In tenor they open out no new courses of action, but
repeat and continue the earlier principles. One of them, however, which
will be textually introduced below (pp. 459-60), has an especial interest, as
a recapitulation of the aims and measures of the reign.
The whole duration of Açoka's rule was, according to the concurrent
testimony of the Brāhman and Buddhist historians, 36-37 years, reckoned,
no doubt, from his accession. He himself makes mention of his brothers
and sistersø, a sufficient refutation of the legend that at his accession he
began his reign by putting to death all the hundred other sons of Bindusāra,
His elder brother, known in northern literature as Susïma, and in Pāli
books as Sumana, doubtless did incur the fate of a vanquished rival : and
it is to the son of Susima, by name Nigrodha, that the king's conversion
to Buddhism is ascribed. A full brother, Tissa, plays a considerable part
in the Pāli story. He is said to have been for a time viceroy, and to have
joined the Buddhist order, along with Agni-Brahmā, husband of
-
Sanghamitrā, in the fourth year after Açoka's coronation. A Chief Queen
and her sons, no doubt the princes referred to as viceroys in Taxila and
Ujjain, are mentioned in the edicts, as also are the second queen Kāruvāki
and her son Tivara. The Chief Queen, in the Ceylon records named
Asandhimitrā, may possibly have been the heroine of Açoka's youthful
romance as Viceroy of Ujjain, the lovely maiden named Devi, of
Vedisā (Vidiça, the modern Bhilsa), mother of Mahendra and Sangha-
1 On these relationships v. inf. p. 451.
2 Griffiths, Pll. 94, 95. For the history of Ceylon see Chapter XXV.
3 Rock Edict v.
4 According to the story Nigrodha was at the time about seven years o! d ! The
date is, of course, irreconcilable with the edicts.
5 Pillar Edict VII.
a
## p. 451 (#489) ############################################
xx
FOUNDATION OF SHRINES AND CITIES
451
>
mitrāl. Another romanee is connected with the name of Tishyara-
kshitā, represented as an attendant upon Asandhimitrā and Chief Queen
of Açoka's later years, who, enacting the part of Potiphar's wife, is
stated to have occasioned the blinding of the emperor's eldest son and
heir, Kuņāla, Viceroy of Taxila, and in a still later legend founder of the
Buddhist dynasty of Khotan in Chinese Turkestān. The jealousy of
Tishyarakshitā is said to have been aroused also by Açoka's devotion to
the sacred Banyan tree at Gayā, under which the son of Çuddhodana
had attained to Perfect Enlightenment. And thus on the Sanchi stūpa,
where we find carved the propitiatory procession to the tree, by which the
threatened mischief was appeased”, we have an actual first or second
century represenation in art, though by no means a portrait, of the great
propagator of the Buddhist faith and morals and the imperially lavish
founder of its shrines.
Açoka's activity in this latter respect is not proportionally evidenced
by existing monuments. When the Chinese pilgrims refer, as they con-
stantly do, to a 'stūpa of Açoka,' we cannot in strictness understand
anything more than one of archaic style, such as are those still more or less
intact at Sanchi, or Bhārhut or figured on their sculptures and elsewhere,
nor are we allowed to ascribe en bloc to the emperor himself the pillars at
Delhi, Allahābād, Sārnāth, Rāmpūrvā and other places, on which his edicts
are found inscribed ; he himself forbids this, when he orders his edicts to be
engraven on pillars, where such should be found3.
The only works of this
nature particularised by him in the edicts relating to the places in question
are the double enlargement of the stūpa of Koṇāgamana at Nigliva, the
pillar erected at the same place and that at the Lumbuni garden : the cave-
dwellings assigned to the Ājivika monks in the Barābar hills are not
expressly stated to have been constructed by Açoka's orders.
have added the stone railing round the Bodhi-tree, whieh
to be figured on the stūpa of Sānch, we have completed the list
1 Mahendra is said to have been twenty years of age, and Sanghamitrā eighteen,
at the time of their ordination. As the former was born fourteen years before the
coronation, this brings us to the year after that event, which is again hardly to be
reconciled with the edicts. It was for Mahendra, who was ordained by Moggaliputta
Tissa and who afterwards succeeded the later as head of his followers, that Açoka built
the Açokārāma at Pāțaliputa. As well as known, Mahendra is in the northern stories
made the brother, and not the son, of Açoka, probably through confusion with Tissa
A son of Sanghamitrā, Sumana, by name, also became a monk. Of a daughter of Açoka,'
by name Chārumati, a Nepal legend will be mentioned below.
2 Foucher, The Beginn'ngs of Buddhist Art. pp. 108-9. See also Chapter XXVI,
Pl. XXII, 60.
3 Edict of Sahasrām etc. (the earlist edict). Pillars set up by Açoka's own orders
are mentioned in Pillar Edict VII (quoted in full inf. p. 459). In other cases style and
archaeological considerations must decide.
When we
seems
## p. 452 (#490) ############################################
452
(ch.
AÇOKA
of what can certainly be ascribed to him. But, no doubt, the remains of
that palace, the Açokārāma, the Kukkutārāma, and other erections at
Pātaliputra may de plausibly claime 1 for him! ; and we may also mention
the completion on his behalf, by the Yavana king Tushāspha, of the
Sudarçana tank in Junāgrah, which had been begun by his grandfather
Chandragupta”. For the rest we must be content to believe that the great
reputation which he enjoyed in this respect had a solid foundation.
Two famous cities in frontier countries have a traditional claim to
Açoka as founder, The former is Çrinagar, the capital of Kashmir,
embracing the site of the old Crinagari, which is connected with his name?
In Nepāl the ancient city of Deo. Pātan (Deva-pattana) and the adjacent
village of Chabāhil are associated with a visit of Açoka accompanied by a
daughter Chārumati and her Kshatriya husband Devapāla'. The two latter
are said to have remained in the country and to bave built respectively a
nunnery and a monastery, the latter left unfinished by its founder. The legend
- for such it is-derives some support from the archaic style of the
four neighbouring stupas ascribed to Açoka.
The name Açoka occurs in only one of the known inscriptions".
Elsewhere the emperor employes (in conjunction with rājā‘king') the official
titles derānam priya 'dear to the gods, and priyadarçana, ‘of friendly
mien. ' The founder style - which in later ages the popular grumbling, so
humorously common in India, as in other countries, diverted to the sense of
'fool'- is known to have been employed by contemporary kings in Ceylon,
and by Açoka's grandson (or still more remote descendant) Daçaratha, so
that it was probably normal; indeed Açoka himself once uses the plural in
the sense particularly of kings. ' Priyadarçin also, which has been well ren-
dered 'gracious,' may represent a customary view that the king should wear
‘a mild' pleasant, and composed aspect 6. But it is certainly quite possible, as
M. Senart suggests? , that it was adopted by Açoka at his ordination name.
The chronology of the reign is fixed within wide limits by the mention
in the thirteenth Rock Edict of the Yona King Antiochus and beyond that
Antiochus to where dwell the four kings severally named Ptolemy
(Philadelphus of Egypt 285-247 B. C. ) Antigonus (Gonatas of Macedon,
278-239), Magas (of Cyrene, died 258), and Alexander (of Epirus, 272-258? )"
1 Waddell, Report on the Excavations at Pāļaliputra (Patna), Calcutta. 1903.
2 Ep. Ind. VIII, pp. 46-7.
3 Rājatarangiņi, translation of Sir M. A. Stein, I, II. 101-7, and the notes.
4 Sylvain Levi, Le Nepal (Musee Guimet, 1905-8), I. pp. 67 and 263 ; II, 24,336;
III, 161 f.
5 Found in 1915 at Maski in the Raic hūr Dist. of Hyderābād ; see Hyderabad
Arch. Series, No. 1, 1915,
6 Mbh. XII, 61, 39 ; cf. 57, 19. In the Kharoshțhi documents from Chinese
Turkestān priyadārçınā is a common form of polite address; see Kharosthi Inscriptions,
Part I, 1920, passim.
Les Inscriptions de Piyadusi, II, pp. 227-8.
:
7
## p. 453 (#491) ############################################
xx]
CHRONOLOGY OF REIGN
453
The fact that there are all supposed to be reigning makes it unlikely that
the edict was issued long after the year 258 B. C. , when one, if not two, of
them died. A prior limit of any value does not seem to be supplied by the
passage, inasmuch as Antiochus Theos, whose reign began in 261 B. c. , was
preceded by a sovereign, his father, of like name. The omission of the
Bactrian ruler Diodotus, whose independence of the Seleucid empire dates
from about 250 B. C. , confirms the inference that the edict is not long
posterior to the year 258. Adopting 258-7 as its provisional date, and
accepting the arguments which assign it to the fourteenth year, we arrive at
270 B. C. , as the latest year for the coronation : but plainly nothing in the
calculation forbids an earlier date. That the coronation was posterior by
four years to the actual beginning of the reign is affirmed by the Ceylon
tradition and perhaps also indirectly implied by the same : which would
give the year 274 B. C. , as the latest possible for Açoka's accession. But this
may reasonably be suspected as an invention made in the interest of a
chronological system'. A provisional chronological scheme of the reign
might then take shape as follows:
274 B. C. at latest : accession.
270 B. C. at latest : coronation.
262 B. C. at latest : conquest of Kalinga and adhesion to Buddhism.
260 B. C. at latest : entry into the order of monks and beginning of active propaganda.
259 B. C. at latest : issue of first Edict (that of Sahasrām, Rūpnāth, Bairāt and Brahmagiri)
258-7 B. C. at latest : issue of the fourteen Rock Edicts ; dedication of cave dwellings in
the Barābar hills.
256 B. C. at latest : visit to Kapilavastu.
253 B. C. ? : Council of Pāțaliputra.
250 B. C. at latest : second visit to Kapila vastu and visit to the Lumbini garden.
243. 2 B. C. at latest : issue of Pillar Edicts.
237-6 B. C. ? death of Açoka (on the assumption that the reign lasted 36 or 37 years, as
the Purānas and Pāli books affirm).
According to the Ceylon tradition the coronation of Açoka took
place 218 years (i. e. in the 219th year) after the death of Buddha, and the
Council in the 236th year. The tradition of Khotan on the other hand,
as reported in Tibetan books”, places the 50th year (out of 55) in the
reign at an interval of 234 years from the Parinirvāņa. These Chinese and
Sanskrit reckonings are, as is well known, vitiated by confusion with another
Açoka, Kālāçoka or Kākavarņa of the Çiçunāga dynasty, who is placed
one century after Buddha. The number 218 may very well be deserving
of credit as a genuine traditions ; but it is of value for the determination
rather of the date of Buddha than that of Açoka. A much discussed
number 256 in the earliest edict has no bearing upon chronology4.
1 A supposition broached and rejected by M. Senart, op. cit. II. pp. 237-8. But
possibly Açoka may have been de facto ruler during the last years of Bindusāra, which
may explain the extra three years assigned by the Buddhists to that king (supra, p. 446).
2 Rockhill, Lije of the Buddha, p. 233, and the an texts there named
3 Geiger's translation of the Mahāvāmsa, Introduction pp. XXXI sqq.
4 F. W. Thomas, Ind. Ant. , 1908, pp. 19-23, and Les Vivāsāh d' Açoka (Jour. As. ,
S rie X, XV, pp. 507-22).
:
## p. 454 (#492) ############################################
454
[ch,
AÇOKA
The activity of Açoka lay wholly, so far as we are informed of it, in
the sphere of dharma, i. e. according to the Indian definition, the sphere
of conduct leading to heaven or to final liberation? ; we may say, the
spheres of religion and morality. It therefore furnishes a complement to
the strictly political system of the Arthaçāstra. We may consider it
under the aspects of the emperor's principles and personal action, his
admonitions, and his ordinances and institutions.
It was, as we have seen, the events of the Kalinga war that awoke
the humanitarian and missionary spirit in Açoka. He was impressed
both by the actual horrors of the campaign and by the interference with
the peaceful and moral influence of the religious teachers. The chords
which were struck have in Indian life a dominant note : Açoka attached
himself to the Buddhist religion, the most important of those which upheld
the doctrines of ahimsā and maitri, abstinence from doing hurt to, and
benevolent feeling towards, living creatures. Two and a half years later
he awoke to the possibilities of his position, joined the order of monks,
and entered upon a course of 'activity. '
The importance of energetic action by the sovereign was not a new
conception ; the Indian writers on policy make it the subject of constant
admonition to their rulers (v. sup. p. 443). Nor was the idea of royal res-
ponsibility for the virtue of the people a novelty : the king is, as we have
seen (ibid. ), the upholder of dharma and incurs a proportion of the sin of
the people, if the exacts the taxes without maintaining the social order.
But Açoka gives to these principles a new force and direction by calling
upon all to participate in his energy and by fixing attention upon moral
improvement as a means to happiness in the present, and further in another,
life. His position is therefore not merely paternal, as the books would
require, and as he himself professes? : he has also a inoral and religious
responsibility and mission.
The degree of Açoka's appreciation of Buddhisın is not very easily
definable ; and it was even at one tine contended that his early faith, which
laid such special stress upon the doctrine of benevolence, was rather that
of Jainism. He emphasises the principle of tolerance, wishes for the real
prosperity of all sects, and, while not discouraging discussion, always a
prominent feature of Indian religious life, earnestly preaches avoidance of
offence. If he discountenances what he considers vain ceremonials and
certain popular entertainments, which were occasions of animal slaughter,
his attitude to the Brāhman system in general is benevolent and respectful:
he believes in the gods and would have his people strive for heaven.
Nevertheless, Açoka, was undoubtedly a Buddhist: he became a lay disciple
1 For the employment of the word by Açoka see Senart, Les Inscriptions de
Piyadasi, II, pp. 308 f.
2 Kalinga Edicts I and II.
>
## p. 455 (#493) ############################################
xx)
RELIGIONS
455
and then a monk ; later he proclaims his regard for the religion and his
personal faith?
; he addresses the church, naming certain passages from
?
the scriptures as specially suitable for teaching and study ; he denounces
penalties for schism ; he holds a council which defines the canon ; and
finally he stands out as by far the greatest author of the religious foun-
dations of the sect. On the other hand we hear from him nothing concern-
ing the deeper ideas or fundamental tenets of the faith ; there is no mention
of the Four Grand Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Chain of Causation, the
supernatural quality of Buddha : the word and the idea of Nirvāņa
fail to occur ; and the innumerable points of difference which occupied the
several sects are likewise ignored. Açoka, therefore, is no theologian or
philosopher ; and only in the saying that the gift of dharma is above all
other gifts, and in the preference of meditation to liberality, do we find any
trace of such modes of thought.
Of Açoka's personal action the most important features were his
religious tours and progresses, which began at the end of the eleventh year.
They were the occasion of personal intercourse with the people, including
discussions and instructions in religious matters. In the course of these,
and on other occasions, he was wont to issue religious proclamations,
which were published by his officials and inscribed on rocks and pillars.
He claims that in little more than a year he had brought the Brāhman
gods to the knowledge of those people in India, i. e. the wild tribes, who
had formerly known nothing of them. Further he organised shows and
processions exhibiting figures of the gods in their celestial cars, of sacred
elephants, and fires. The practice of earlier times, which made the king
)
accessible to the public only at certain hours, he modified to the extent of
being ready to transact business or see officials even in his most private
seclusion“. He subjected his household to supervision by special religious
dignities : and finally he restricted the diet of the palace practically to the
point of vegetarianism. His activity in causing trees to be planted by the
”
roads, and wells for travellers to be constructed at every half-koss, also
his provision of medical aid for men and animals, and his propagation of
useful plants, need not be further dwelt upon : only in degree were they
a new feature of royal beneficence in India.
Açoka's relations with the Buddhist Sangha were, no doubt, friendly
and cordial. He had himself been ordained, as had his brother, and by
the surrender of his son and daughter also he had acquired a right to the
title 'Kinsman of the Faith. ' But no doubt the monkish chronicles go too
1 Edict of Bhābrā (prasāda in Buddhist phraseology denotes 'faith').
2 Edict of Sahasrām etc.
3 Rock Edict IV.
4 Rock Edict VI.
5 Rock Edict I; Pillar Edict V.
6 Bühler, 2. D. M. G. , XXXVII, pp. 101-2, and as regards trees, wells etc. , cf.
Arthoçīstra, 19.
>
## p. 456 (#494) ############################################
456
[ch.
AÇOK A
far in representing his devotions as without bounds. Even his lavish
expenditure upon religious edifices is exaggerated in the statement that he
thrice gave away, and purchased back, Jambu-dvipa or the continent of
Indial! It can hardly be that an emperor so conscious of the responsi-
bilities of his unique position should have been made more amenable to
the authority of a religious order by himself joining it. Nor is there in his
actual references to the Sangha any note of special deference ; nor again
do his ordinances accord to it any special regard, since the parishads whose
affairs were to be supervised by the dharma-mahāmātras included the
managing committees of all sects. On the other hand, we fail to detect
even in the advice which Açoka gives to the Sangha concerning specially
applicable passages from the scriptures any note of the arrogance which
might have betrayed an emperor himself at home in the order.
such an attitude would be both un-Indian (as sanctity and learning in India
excite a genuine respect) and anachronistic in what was still an age of
faith. On the whole, easy as it would be to imagine flaws, one way or
the other, in Açoka's relations with the clergy, it would be hard to demons-
trate them to a sound intelligence : by his grasp of the essential he rises
superior to such personal suspicions.
Of the Buddhist leaders with whom he is said to have been in
correspondence the most important is Upagupta or Moggaliputta Tissa.
This divine is reckoned as-fifth in the succession of Vinaya teachers from
the time of Buddha, the series being Upāli, Dāsaka, Sonaka, Siggava and
Chandavajji, Moggaliputta Tissa”. Tissa was 60 years old at the time of
Açoka's coronation, and he died 26 years later, being succeeded by
Mahendra. Apart from the Kathāvattu he is not known as an author,
his great monument being the Third Council. A famous stūpa was built
in his honour at Mathurā.
Mention has already been made of the missionary leaders, whose
activity is said to have followed upon the Third Council, and of Açoka's
several relatives who joined the order (v. sup. p. 450). The Pāli books
mention also Mahāvaruņa, and the two sons of Kunti, Tissa and Sumitta,
who are said to have died after Açoka's eighth year : they are not otherwise
known.
The northern books' mention a minister Rādhāgupta, who is said to
have played an important part in Açoka's attainment of sovereignty and
his administration ; and another minister, the Arhat Yaças, associated with
1 Hiuen Tsiãng states that the fact was recorded in an inscription on the pillar at
Pāțaliputra (trans. Beal, II, p. 91).
2 The identity of this Tissa with Upagupta was proved by Col. L. Waddell in the
Journal (1897, pp. 76-84) and Proceedings (1899, pp. 70-5) of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal. Concerning the succession see Geiger's translation of the Mahāvamsa intro-
duction pp. xlviif.
3 Açokāvadāna ( = Dirijāvadāna, XXIX) and Kunālāvadāna (=ibid. XXVII).
## p. 457 (#495) ############################################
xx
MORAL EXHORTATIONS
457
9
the Khotan legend of Kustana. The existence of the minister Yoças seems
deserving of credence as he is mentioned in the Sūtrālamkāra of
Açvaghoshal.
The moral exhortations which Açoka most frequently addresses to his
people refer to the practice of simple virtues, namely proper treatment of
slaves and servants, obedience to father and mother, generosity and respect
to friends, companions, relations, ascetics, and Brāhmans, abstinence from
cruelty to living creatures. For this imperial insister. ce upon such obvious
duties we are right to demand some explanation ; and we may perhaps find
an explanation in his statement that there had been during a long period
a deterioration in these respects. Not to attribute to Açoka the character
merely of a retrospective pessimism, we may think of the social and other
changes which might naturally accompany the growth of a great empire,
the succession of dynastic tragedies, the subjugation of small states, the
Greek invasion, and the initiation of numerous sects. And, apart from the
general responsibility of a paternal rule, he might have found even in the
Arthaçāstra (19, p. 47) the principle that the royal authority should ensure
the observance of proper discipline in the household, an obligation which
even the modern state does not decline. As regards the aged and the poor,
who are placed under the care of religious officials”, we have seen that-in
the absence of a 'poor law' – the care of such was a traditional obligation
of royalty (v. sup. p. 439). These primary admonitions recur also in the
.
latest of the edicts, as they had been prominent, along with the appeal for
energy and mutual exhortation, in the earliest. But we hear also from the
beginning of piety-friendship in piety, liberality in piety, kinship in piety-
concord and the growth of sects in essential matters, in a word of religion,
dharma, as something more than çila, 'morality. It was to be expected
that with advancing years the religious feeling should acquire a stronger
hold ; whence we are not surprised to find in the later edicts a special
exhortation to self-examination and the view that the chief thing is personal
adherence to a man's adopted faith. In a country where during later ages
the ecstatic, metaphysical, and fanciful aspects of religion have predominat-
ed, the sober Buddhist piety revealed in the edicts (and not uncommonly
evidenced in the literature of Buddhism, both of the Great and Little
Vehicles) deserves remark.
The measures, enactments, and institutions of Açoka need not more
than moderately detain us. His philanthropic activity in providing wells
and trees along the roads, in propagating medicinal plants, and in founding
hospitals for men and animals--an activity not confined to his own
dominions—and further his great role as propagator of his religion and
1 Translated from the Chinese by E. Huber (Paris, 1908), see the Index.
Rock Edict IV.
3 Rock Edict V.
9
2
## p. 458 (#496) ############################################
458
[сн.
AÇOK A
pious founder, also his regulations concerning the slaughter and treatment
of animals, have already received due notice. To the same sphere belong
his rules concerning prisoners, the reservation of capital punishment, and
the respite of the condemned during three days with a view to their spirit-
ual welfare and edifying works.
The official system remained for the most part unchanged'. The presence
of Açoka’s envoys even as far as the various Greek kingdoms is plainly con-
templated. The general term denoting the superior officials is mahāmātra,
while the lower, especially the clerkly ranks, are entitled yukta. The highest
local officers 'set over many hundreds of thousands of people’-corresponding
no doubt to the sthānikas of the Arthaçāstra - are mentioned as rājūkas,
and with them are associated pradeçikas, perhaps the pradeshtris whose
functions we have already defined. It is to these officers that a number of
the edicts are addresse 1. They are exhorted to adopt towards the people
under their charge the mild, patient, and benevolent principles of the
emperor himself : they are compared to nurses entrusted with the charge of
childern. An institution several times referred to is the anusamyāna, or
periodical tour, still a feature of Indian administration. This was not an
innovation on the part of Açoka, but a part of the system which he
inhertied? . However, he added to the duties of the touring officials, as early
as his thirteenth year, that of following his own example in making their
visitations the occasion of benevolent activity and religious propaganda.
For this purpose, however, he himself organised a special ecclesiastical
hierarchy of religious officers (dharma-mahāmatra), to whom these two
functions were primarily assigned, and who moreover superintended the
bounties of his own household, and those of his queens, his sons, and other
relatives, and organised the activities of the committees and councils
(parishad) at the head of the Buddhist, Jain, Ājivika and other sects. The
tolerance of all sects as regards liberty of residence in every district seems
also to be a feature of Açoka's own conception, as it is opposed to the rule
of the Arthaçāstra (19, p. 48).
Here we conclude our analytical appreciation of Açoka's rule. But
the personality which in so un-Indian a fashion pervades the whole of his
proclamations-a personality which in its rather highstrung, and by
consequence partly plaintive, energy recalls another flawless imperial saint,
the Roman Marcus Aurelius--can be communicated only in his own words :
and we are therefore justified in citing two of his edicts, one a normal
specimen of their tone, and the second the solemn review of his measures,
1 For a full discussion see Senart, Les Insctiptions de Pi yadasi. II, pp. 278 f.
2 Or rajjugrahākas, as in the Pāli book="land-measures,' the dypovou. O. Of Mega-
sthenes, concerning whom x'. sup. p. 374. 75. Cf. Bühler, Z. D. M. G. , XLVII, pp. 466-71.
3 This is implied by Açoka himself ( Rock Edict III): cf. Bühle 2. D. M. G. ,
XLI, p. 19.
1
## p. 459 (#497) ############################################
xx)
THE EDICTS
459
which, published in the twenty-seventh year from his consecration, we have
ventured to designate as the testament of Açoka. '
ROCK EDICT IV
In the past, during many centuries, there has been steady growth in the practice of
taking life, ill. usage of living creatures, misbehaviour among relatives, misbehaviour
towards Brahmans and ascetics. But now through the pious observance of king
Piyadasi, dear to the gods, the signal of the drum has become a signal of piety, displaying
to the people sights of celestial cars, sights of elephants, bonfires, and other heavenly
shapes. In such wise as has not been before in many centuries, there has been at present,
owing to the inculcation of piety by king Piyadasi, dear to the gods, growth in abstinence
from taking life, in abstinence from ill-usage of living creatures, in proper behaviour
towards relatives, proper behaviour towards Brāhmans and ascetics, obedience to mother
and father, obedience to elders. In these and other manifold ways pious observance ' has
grown, and this pious observance king Piyadasi, dear to the gods, will make still to grow.
The sons, also and grandsons, and great-grandsons of king Piyadasi, dear to the gods,
will foster this pious observance until the end of timo. Standing fast by piety and
morality, they will inculcate piety. For this is the best action, inculcation of piety: pious
observance, again, is not found in an immoral person. Hence in this respect also growth
and no falling off is good. To this end has this been inscribed, that men may effect
growth in this respect and that falling off may not be suffered. This has been inscribed
by king Piyadasi, dear to the gods, having been consecrated twelve years.
PILLAR EDICT VII
Thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
The kings who were in the past wished thus : How may the people grow with the
growth of piety? ' The people, however, did not grow with a proper growth in piety.
In this matter thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
This thought came to me : In the past the kings had this wish : 'How may the
people grow with a proper growth in piety? ' The people, however, did not grow with a
proper growth in piety. Whereby then can the people be made to conform ? Whereby
can the people be made to grow with a proper growth in piety ? Whereby can I elevate
any of them by a growth in piety?
In this matter thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
This thought. came to me, 'I will publish precepts of piety, I will inculcate instruc.
tions in piety : hearing these, the people will conform, will be elevated, and will grow
strongly with the growth of piety. ' For this purpose precepts of piety were published,
manifold instructions in piety were enjoined, so that my officers in charge of large
populations might expound them and spread them abroad. The governors also in charge
of many hundred thousand lives, they also were ordered, “thus and thus catechise the
persons of the establishment of piety. '
Thus says Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
With the same object pillars of piety were made by me, dignitaries of piety wore
instituted, precepts of piety were proclaimed.
Thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods
:
## p. 460 (#498) ############################################
460
(CH.
AÇOK A
W
On the roads also banyans were planted, to give shade to cattle and men : mango.
gardens were planted : and at each half-koss wells were dug: also rest-houses were made
many watering stations also were made in this and that place for the comfort of eattle and
men. Little indeed is mere comfort : for with various gratifications the people have been
gratified both by previous kings and by myself. But, that they might conform with &
conformity in piety, for this reason was this done by me.
This says Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
Dignitaries of piety were appointed by me in charge of manifold indulgences, these
both for ascetics and for householders; also ever all sects were they appointed. Over the
affairs of the Sangha also were they set, these shall be appointed'; likewise over
Brābmans Ājivakas also were they set these shall be appointed'; Over Nirgranthas also
were they set, 'these shall be appointed. Over various sects also were they set, these
shall be appointed. ' According to circumstances such and such dignitaries were set over
such and such. Dignitaries of piety also were appointed over both these and all other
sects.
Thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
These and various other classes were appointed in charge of the distribution of
charity, both my own and that of the queens. And in my whole harem they carry out in
manifold fashions such and such measures of satisfaction, both here and in all quarters.
The same has been done as regards the distribution of charity on the part of my sons
the other princes, 'these shall be appointed over the distributions of charity with a view
to ensamples of piety and for conformity to piety. For this is an ensample of piety and
conformity to piety, when in the people compassion liberality, truth honesty, mildness,
and goodness shall thereby be increased.
Thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
Whatsoever good deeds have been done by me, thereto the people have conform-
ed, and those they copy. And thereby they have grown and will grow in obedience to
mothers and fathers, in obdience to venerable persons in conformity to the olil, in right
behaviour towards Brāhmans and ascetics, the poor and wretched, slave and servants.
Thus says king Piyadasi, dear to the gods :
This growth in piety is a growth in two respects, in the restraints of piety and
in considerateness. Now of these restraints by piety is a little thing, but considerateness
a greater. The restriant of piety is this, that I have had such and such creatures made
exempt from slaughter, and there are other restraints of piety which have been ordained
by me. But by considerateness there has been to a greater degree a growth in piety on
the part of men conducting to abstention from ill-usage to living creatures and to non-
taking of life. This was done to his end, that sons and grandsons may continue there in
as long as moon and sun endure, and that they may conform accordingly. For by so
conforming this life and the future life are secured. This Edict of Piety was inscribed by
me when I had been six and twenty years consecrated.
Thus says the dear to the gods :
Where there are stone pillars or stone slabs, there this Ediet of Piety is to be
instructed, that it may be permanent,
## p. 461 (#499) ############################################
xx)
DYNASTIC SUCCESSORS
461
The dynastic successors of Açoka are by the Brāhman and Buddhist
traditions diversely reported according to the following scheme :
Brāhman Sources,
Buddhist Sources.
Al.
A.
(Pargiter, Dynasties of the Kali Age,
(Divyāvadāna, XXIX. )
pp. 27-30. )
1. Kuņāla or Suyaças, reigned 8 years. 1. Kuņāla.
*2. Bandhupālita, son of Kuņāla, reigned 2. Samprati, son of 1.
8 years.
*3. Indrapālita.
3. Bșihaspati, son of 2.
*4. Da ona, son of 3, reigned 7 years.
4. Vțishasena, son of 3.
5. Daçaratha, son of 4, reigned 8 years. 5.
