The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c12.138.1

c12.138.1

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.