The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c5.31

c5.31

The prime example is, perhaps, the third century B.C. Maurya Empire, whose ruler Asoka went to the unusual length of posting the tenets of the transcendent Buddhist-inspired dharma on rocks and pillars throughout his empire so as to galvanize, as it were, his widespread domains into a universalistic, suprapersonal unity. There are, however, no indications that the empire was much more than a segmentary concatenation that perhaps derived some extra strength and resources from its command of important trade routes—the routes along which the famous inscriptions were placed. But the reality of the universal dharma as the foundation of the empire becomes apparent when Asoka claims to have achieved the final victory of the imperial dharma by sending missions propagating the dharma to the courts of all rulers known to him—missions that went completely unnoticed except for their elaborate mention in his own inscriptions. In the same way, we can understand the Mughal Aurangzeb's effort to establish an Islamic polity, as well as the failure to achieve it.