Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s35.1

c11.s35.1

But they leave us in no doubt about the supreme importance of the part taken by Aśoka himself in the daily work of the State, and of the tone imparted to it by the king's precept and example. The monarch spared neither himself nor his officers in the continuous and active promotion of the well-being of the people. His devotion to duty was keen and he displayed unwonted energy in discharging it. He affirmed that no duty was more important than promoting the welfare of all people. He valued glory and fame only in so far as they enabled him to promote morality, good will and happiness among men. He attached great importance to his personal contact with the different parts of his vast empire and the different sections among his subjects. 'And whatever effort I am making', he declares, 'is made in order that I may discharge the debt which I owe to living beings'; and this time-honoured doctrine of *ṛṇa* (debt) is recalled repeatedly by Aśoka, and his officers are exhorted by him to discharge to the full the debt they owed to the monarch for the proper care of subjects placed under their charge. Firmly convinced as Aśoka was that persuasion was better than force as the means of moral reform, he had sufficient discernment to realise that in practice he could not altogether dispense with the police power of the state, or even the use of the army. He declares expressly that he will even put up with wrong-doing within limits and forgive whatever can be forgiven; and he exhorts people not to do the things that would compel him to exercise the power of punishment, for that would cause him pain and remorse, though he would not, on that account, shrink from the performance of his duty as king. The annual release of prisoners which Aśoka regularly ordered shows that he was ready to uphold traditional forms where they coincided with his inclination to be merciful and considerate to all. After once witnessing the horrors of war in the campaign against Kalinga, he was struck with remorse, renounced war as an instrument of policy, and not only abjured fresh conquests for himself but recorded his wish that his descendants should follow him in this regard; but he is by no means sure that his advice would be followed by them and takes care to add that if conquest should still have its attractions for them, they should be gentle and merciful in the pursuit of their plans, and never loose sight of the ideal of true conquest which is not conquest by force, but conquest by moral superiority (dhamma-vijaya)—another proof that Aśoka was no visionary who had lost touch with realities, but a practical statesman who had a shrewd knowledge of human nature and was not prepared to risk the possible improvements in society and administration in the uncompromising pursuit of impossible ideals. And he records with legitimate satisfaction that his example has borne fruit in his lifetime. ‘Whatever good deeds have been performed by me’, he says in the Seventh Pillar-Edict, ‘these the people have imitated, and to those they are conforming’.¹