The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c12.138.3

c12.138.3

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.