Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c7.46

c7.46

The *Mahābhārata* [Śānti P. 56, 45] describes the king as mother who sacrifices all that she holds dear for the good of her child (*yathā hi garbhiṇī hitvā svaṁ priyaṁ garbhasya hitamādhatte*). Asoka also repeats the same doctrine for himself: “All people are my children for whom, like their father, he wishes all happiness both in this world and in the next' (*sava-munisā me pajā* in Jaugada R. E. II, also Dhauli R. E. I.).