The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c23.26

c23.26

Asoka cared little for ritual, and was inclined to look with some scorn upon ordinary ceremonies, which, as he observes, ‘bear little fruit, and are of doubtful efficacy’. Just as true charity consists in a man’s efforts to diffuse a knowledge of the Law of Piety among his fellow creatures, so true ceremonial consists in the fulfilment of that law, which ‘bears great fruit’; and includes kind treatment of slaves and servants, honour to teachers, respect for life, and liberality to ascetics and Brahmans. These things, with others of the same kind, are called ‘the ceremonial of piety’.¹