The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c29.47

v1.c29.47

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. 492). Nor was the idea of royal responsibility 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 he exacts the taxes without maintaining the social order. But Aṣoka 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 professes¹: he has also a moral and religious responsibility and mission.