Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s27.2

c11.s27.2

¹ Some stories from the Aśoka cycle have been touched upon already, particularly in the notes. The execution by the king's own hand of five hundred ministers for their refusing to carry out the order to cut down all fruit trees and flower plants and look after the thorny trees ; and the burning alive of five hundred women of the harem for their having denuded an Aśoka tree to spite the king who bore its name (*Divyāvadāna* p. 373-4) are just edifying invention meant to stress the good effects of the conversion on Aśoka ; the number 500 gives the show away. The construction of 84,000 stūpas and the distribution of Buddha relics among them (*Divy.* 380-1), the number representing the sections of Dharma according tot he Ceylonese books (DV. vi, 86-99), and Queen Padmāvatī bringing forth Kuṇāla on the day on which the stūpas were completed (*Divy.* p. 405) can hardly be accepted at face value. The story of Vitāśoka, the brother of Aśoka, (*Div.* xxviii pp. 419-29) may also be only edifying legend with no historical basis. The brother is at first devoted to the Tirthyas and accuses the Bauddha monks of being pleasure-lovers ; to teach him a lesson, Aśoka gets his ministers to entice Vitāśoka into assuming the insignia of royalty, condemns him to death as a traitor, and then grants him a seven days' respite, during which all the amenities of royalty are permitted to him ; fear of death made all enjoyment impossible to him during