Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.t2.395

c4.t2.395

We may now notice a somewhat pleasanter aspect of Court-life. It is ROYAL Royal Charity which was practised on a lavish scale. Nume- CHARITIES. rous are the instances where we observe generous kings bestowing bountifuls to the poor, distressed and beggars. A king of Benares builds "six halls of Bounty, one at each of the four gates, one in the midst of the city and one before the palace; and everyday he distributes in gifts six hundred thousand pieces of money.⁵ So are other kings.⁶ Especially of interest is the royal reverence towards wandering ascetics, the *paribbājakas* who receive very warm welcome. The king sees a venerable ascetic from his window, comes down and leads him to a dais and seats him upon the throne under a white umbrella. His own food he gives him to eat and himself eats of it. He then takes him to the royal park, causes a covered walk and a dwelling to be made for him and furnishes him with all the necessaries of an ascetic during his stay there in the rainy season.⁷ These charitable activities of the king must have gone a long way to win the loyalty of the subjects and enhance his prestige. No wonder, that *Aśoka*, following his predecessors, was so enthusiastic over the distribution of bounties and appointed *Dhamma-Mahāmattas* to carry on the work of charity amid all sects and classes of men.⁸