History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c16.s2.17

c16.s2.17

The Seventh Pillar Edict³ is found in only one version, on the Delhi-Topra pillar. It was issued in the twenty-seventh year of Aśoka’s consecration, or 237 B.C., according to Hultzsch’s computation. It describes the imperial policy for the propagation of *dharma*, and especially the duties of the officers of public morals (*dharma-mahāmātra*), who, in Hultzsch’s translation, “were ordered . . . to busy themselves with the affairs of the *saṃgha*; likewise others were ordered . . . to busy themselves also with the Brāhmaṇas (and) Ājīvikas; others were ordered . . . to busy themselves also with the Nirgranthas; others were ordered . . . to busy themselves also with various (other) sects; (thus) different Mahāmātras (are busying themselves) specially with different (congregations).”⁴