History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.318

v7.c91.318

The above examples show that in all parts of India in the North as well as in the South, the general rule among kings and their officers was tolerance and care for all faiths. If there was rarely some persecution it was by an individual king or officer or the like. On the other hand, though Aśoka, as an inheritor of the Indian royal tradition of showing honour and respect to all faiths of the subjects irrespective of his own religious views, breathes a striking spirit of tolerance in his 7th and 12th Rock edicts, one cannot help a suspicion that in the later part of his life he seems to gloat over the fact that the gods worshipped as divinities in Jambudvīpa had been rendered false and he proudly proclaims that this result is 'not the effect of my greatness but of my zeal'.