The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.s3.t5.1

c10.s3.t5.1

Asoka's Edicts¹ are well known to have been mainly moral or social in their scope. Some of these declarations can be scheduled as "sumptuary" regulations in a wide sense. Not all the proclamations of the Emperor-propagandist were, however, *râjnâm âjnâ* or statutes binding on the empire as a political organization. The *corpus* of Asokan rescripts had, on the whole, no greater authority on the state than are the announcements of a zealous and sincere educational missionary. Constitutionally speaking, they belong to the same category as the Educational Rescript (1890) of Mikado Mutshuito in *Meiji* Japan, or the "messages" to Congress from the Presidents of the United States.