History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.310.3

v7.c91.310.3

136) admits that everything tends to prove that Buddhism became extinct from sheer exhaustion and that it is in its own inherent defects that we must seek for the causes of its disappearance. He prefaces this remark with the words 'the most reliable documents, coins and inscriptions, bear evidence of a tolerance exceptionally generous on the part of the civil powers' (p. 133) and illustrates this by examples.1645a It should be noted that great Smṛtikāras like Yājñavalkya laid down that when an Indian king reduced a kingdom to subjection, it was the conqueror's duty to honour the usages, the transactions and family traditions of the conquered country and to protect them. Aśoka, though himself a believer in Buddha's teachings, shows great tolerance by requiring honour to be shown to all beliefs and sects in his 12th Rock Edict in the words 'Neither praising one's own sect nor blaming other sects should take place,' that 'other sects ought to be duly honoured in every case', that 'concord (samavāya) alone is meritorious, that is they should both hear and honour each other's Dhamma'¹⁶⁴⁶ In the 7th Pillar Edict (Delhi-Topra p 136) Aśoka proclaims that he appointed officers called Mahāmātras to look after the Sangha (the community or body of preaching Buddhist mendicants), brāhmanas, Ājivikas, Nigganthas and all other *pāsaṇḍas* (sects).