The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c12.138

Language: English

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These injunctions might have run counter to the received creed of some sections of the population. But their motive was neither intolerance nor persecution. It was purely moral and humanitarian. Whatever might have been the ultimate foundation of his Dhamma in the view of Aśoka, it is non-sectarian and non-theological as it stands. The phenomenon, indeed, is so striking that some scholars are inclined to believe that Aśoka was not a Buddhist at all.¹ Yet the Kausambi Pillar Edict, the Sârnâth Pillar Edict and the Saṃchi Pillar Inscription show that the emperor was not only a Buddhist but, what is more important from our point of view, he also assumed something like the headship of the Buddhist church.² Hindu literature and epigraphy prove that priests always exercised some influence on the Hindu state but their lack of organisation and independent means exposed them in their turn to the influence of kings and nobles. The Buddhist Saṃgha certainly had an organisation but it was of an intensely local character and, therefore, ill-adapted to become a real political force or to resist the encroachment of the state. It might be willing to accept the control of a monarch whose piety and holy zeal were above suspicion. Aśoka posed as the guardian of the Buddhist Saṃgha and as the arbiter of its internal controversies. Perhaps there was a real apprehension of schism in the Saṃgha at the time.

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"My desire," says the emperor in the Saṃchi Pillar Inscription, "is that the Saṃgha may be united and of long duration." He openly threatened disciplinary action against schismatics. "That monk or nun," so runs the inscription on the Sârnâth Pillar, "who shall break up the Saṃgha should be caused to put on white robes and to reside in a non-residence." The edict is communicated to monks and nuns; a copy of it is to be retained by the Mahâmâtras, another deposited with the lay-worshippers, who should study it on the fast-day service. "And as far as your district (extends), dispatch ye (an officer) according to the letter of this edict. In the same way cause (your subordinates) to dispatch (an officer) according to the letter of this (edict) in all the territories surrounding forts.” Elsewhere in the Calcutta-Bairat Rock Inscription he offers friendly advice and guidance to his co-religionists. “The Mâgadha king salutes the Saṃgha and hopes they are well and comfortable . . . Whatever has been spoken by the Buddha has been well-spoken. But, sirs, what would indeed appear to me, ‘thus the true Dhamma will be of long duration,’ that I feel bound to declare.

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The following expositions of the Dhamma, sirs, viz., (1) the Vinaya Samukasa, (2) the Aliyavasas, (3) the Anâgata-bhayas, (4) Munigâthâs, (5) the Moneya Sûta, (6) Upatisa-pasina, and (7) the Lâghulovâda which was spoken by the blessed Buddha concerning falsehood,—I desire, sirs, that many groups of monks and (many) nuns may repeatedly listen to these expositions of the Dhamma and may reflect on them.” Laymen and laywomen should do the same. In the Brahmagiri Rock Inscription, issued in the course of a tour, the emperor declares that he had not been zealous for a year but that after visiting the Saṃgha, he had become very zealous. It will be too much to infer from this that Aśoka became a monk, though there are Pâli traditions to that effect, but it is apparent that Aśoka was on intimate terms with the Buddhist monastic order. A Burmese Inscription at Bodh-Gayâ of the thirteenth century A.D. credits Aśoka with the erection of 84,000 Caityas.¹ In the paternal attitude, the moral and spiritual leadership of the people at large, in the wide tolerance coupled with zeal for his own persuasion, which Aśoka adopted, there was nothing original in idea. All this had been preached before him or was being preached during his epoch. As incidental passages in his own testament indicate, something had been done by his predecessors to translate the ideal into practice. All the same the Aśokan state is of first-rate importance in the study of Hindu institutions.

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Amidst the surrounding twilight, it is lighted up by its own glorious bequest and displays its features so clearly. It represents, in a concrete form, the ideal which a Hindu state at its best aspired to attain. It shows more than anything else, that in ancient India the state recognised no limits to its activities; it would regulate everything. It concerned itself as much with the material as with the higher interests of its subjects. It is a culture-state. Under Aśoka it is a missionary state. Aśoka, as is well-known, dispatched missionaries beyond his dominions.¹