The Mauryan Polity c11.s3.t3.47

c11.s3.t3.47

(8) According to Bhandarkar, the six constituents of the True Dharma addressed to the *Saṅgha* in the Calcutta Bairāṭ Edict show that “his (Aśoka’s) mind was ravished not by the ritualistic or metaphysical elements of Buddhism, but rather by the fundamentals of that religion, or for the matter of that, any religion. He was fascinated not by any specification of rules and regulations to be observed externally and mechanically, but rather what constitutes and conduces to real inner growth.”²