The Mauryan Polity c6.s4.t3.4

c6.s4.t3.4

Towards this end Aśoka directed all his energy and effort. He protected the rights of individual associations in the land whether it be Brahmanical, Buddhist, Jaina, Ājīvaka or any other. He strove to promote brotherly feeling among these sects of various denominations and character. He allowed them to have their own ways of religious worship and philosophical speculation. He aided these associations in their functioning and in their accomplishment. He promulgated regulations and ordinances to prevent a breach of the peace among these sects. Aśoka felt these to be the primary duties of the state and executed them to the best of his abilities. Why these things were zealously pursued is explained by him and by the author of the *Arthaśāstra*. These are towards realising the ultimate end, which, according to the belief of the times, was to find an honoured place in Heaven.