Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s37.29

c11.s37.29

The Dharma of Aśoka was thus a practical code of social ethics, and had little to do with religion or theology as such; and the emperor showed in many ways that he attached the greatest importance to the practice of the virtues he commended to his subjects. He lays stress on śīla (conduct); points out how easy it is to fall into evil ways and how difficult it is, particularly for the highly placed, to be always well-behaved. He deprecates evil passions like fierceness, cruelty, anger, pride, envy, and warns all against being led to commit evil deeds by the force of such passions. He praises dhammadāna (the gift of morality) as the highest of gifts, and exhorts friends and relations, even neighbours, to practise mutual help by telling one another as occasion demanded: 'This is meritorious, this ought to be done.' He recognises the immensity of the task of the moral regeneration of a whole nation, and says in the epilogue to the fourteen Rock-Edicts: 'My dominions are wide, and much has been written, and I shall cause still more to be written. And some of this has been stated again and again because of the charm of certain topics and in order that men should act accordingly'. And he recognises the superiority of conversion due to moral education to administrative regulation as a means of moral upliftment, and avers his faith in the Seventh Pillar-Edict: 'Now this progress of morality among men has been promoted by me only in two ways, viz. by moral restrictions (dhamma-niyama) and conversion (nijhati). But among these two, those moral restrictions are of little consequence; by conversion, however, morality is promoted more considerably'. Above all he reinforced his exhortations by his untiring personal example; he gave up the traditional pleasure tours (vihārayātras) in which royal hunt was included, and substitued dharmayātras (tours of morality) in their place, and explained their object thus: ‘On these tours the following takes place, (viz.) visiting Brāhmaṇas and Śramaṇas and making gifts to them, visiting the aged and supporting them with gold, visiting the people of the country, instructing them in morality, and questioning them about morality’¹. And he repeatedly expresses the hope that his sons and grandsons will follow his steps in promoting morality among men.