The Mauryan Polity c11.s3.1

c11.s3.1

"I intend to make a conscientious study of Aśoka's Dharma and Religion, based only upon contemporary documents. The Buddhist chronicles of the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries have deceived many a scholar. To count so great a monarch as Aśoka among the disciples of Gautama was unquestionably a distinct advantage to the declining Buddhist monachism. Hence their statement is not reliable at all. Centuries after, some Jain authors claimed an analogous honour for themselves as regards Akbar." In this strain the Rev. Fr. Heras, S.J., begins his very interesting paper on Aśoka's Dharma and Religion.¹ The theory that Aśoka was a Buddhist is primarily supported by the Buddhist books which were reduced to writing centuries after the Buddha's *nirvāṇa*. Writers who have thrown their weight in this behalf claim that the theory is partially supported by the inscriptions of Aśoka. There is a school of savants who deem that Aśoka was originally a Jaina by faith² and was afterwards attracted by the Buddhist ideals and doctrines. There is also another view that Aśoka was neither a Buddhist nor a Jaina, but one who professed the Brahmanical faith.