The Mauryan Polity c11.s3.t2.1

c11.s3.t2.1

What is then the message of the Aśokan Edicts inscribed on rocks and pillars? Do they aid us in settling once for all the vexed question of the king’s personal religion? It is rather an intricate task to attempt anything like a definite answer to these questions. Still an humble effort is made here and a decision is arrived it. It may not be out of place to examine here the alleged Buddhist inscriptions of Aśoka. These are the Calcutta-Bairāṭ rock inscription, the Rummindēī and Nigālī Sāgar Pillars, the Kauśāmbī, Sāmchi and Sārnāth Pillar Edicts. Says D. R. Bhandarkar: “It is no longer permissible to call in question the Buddhist faith of Aśoka. That is now established beyond all doubt by the Bhābru Edict, otherwise called the Second Bairāṭ Edict. It opens with Aśoka expressing his reverence for Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha, exactly in the well-known trinitary formula of Buddhism.¹ Thus this Edict is taken to be a declaration of Aśoka’s faith in the Buddhist Trinity. This explanation is largely dependent upon the interpretation of the phrase am mamayā saghe upayāte (M.R.E. I).² This D. R. Bhandarkar explains: ‘I have lived with the Saṅgha,’³ and R. K. Mookerjee ‘I visited the Saṅgha.’⁴ If Bhandarkar’s interpretation is accepted, the expression must signify that Aśoka became a monk while he continued to rule as emperor. This position is taken by V. A. Smith who remarks: “The fact is undoubted that Aśoka was both monk and monarch at the same time. . . . Throughout his reign he retained the position of the Head of the Church and Defender of the faith.”⁵ That he became a member of the Saṅgha or the order of the Buddhist clergy is also accepted by F. W. Thomas.⁶ This position cannot stand a critical test as we shall see presently.