History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.389

v7.c94.389

In India Emperor Aśoka in the 3rd century B. C. inculcated in his Edicts tolerance for the Brahmanic and the Buddhist faith (vide pp 1011-12 above). Aśoka does not enter into dogma of any kind, but regarding himself as the father of all his subjects enjoins on them a morality that is practical and would be acceptable to all, such as tolerance, humanity, charity to monks and also to the poor and compassion towards dumb animals. Later on, it was at the most necessary to show that the doctrines put forth by reasoning were not directly opposed to the dicta of the Veda. To take only one example : though the Upanisads express Advaita in such Mahāvākyas ‘aham brahmāsmi’ (Ch. Up. III. 14. 1), ‘tat-tvam-asi’ (Ch. Up. VI. 8. 7), Madhvācārya could expound his thorough-going *dvaita* doctrine, could explain away by reasoning the above passages and claim to be the only true expounder of Veda and denounce the *advaita* doctrine as Buddhism in disguise without any serious persecution on either side. Yājñavalkya (II. 192) calls upon the king to safeguard the special usages of guilds and heretics and their modes of livelihood. This tolerance for multiplicity of forms and practices in religion and for diametrically opposed philosophic views has had also its weakness viz it permitted the growth of endless variations in the formulation of faith, ritual and philosophic doctrines and led in great measure to several abuses, to some unhealthy and even revolting practices.