A short note on Asoka

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The various sources in history present a fascinating story of Asoka,

the Mauryan king.

 

Asoka was called by many names such as Devanam priya and priyadarsi.

There are obviously many Asokas etc in history

 

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In fact, Priyadarsi as a title to Asoka is a misnomer, as Asoka was

known to be ugly and hence, disliked by his father.

 

Quote

" The Sanskrit Divy & #257;vad & #257;na elaborates the ugly appearance

and fierce nature of A & #347;oka and presents a grotesque and

gruesome episode of how he converted his royal pleasance

into a place of terror, horror, oppression and tragic deaths of

the unwary visitors and passers-by through his agent Candagirika.

17 It also attributes to A & #347;oka the beheading of 500 ministers

with his own sword and the burning to death of 500 court

ladies. The Chinese A & #347;ok & #257;vad & #257;na resorts to higher levels of

poetical imagination in representing A & #347;oka as a most wicked

character. "

 

Unquote

 

 

The name of his mother is mentioned as Janapada Kalyani, which was

also the name of an unfortunate bride married to Nanda, the Sankya

prince who Buddha has converted to a monk on the night of his marriage.

 

In any case, it is apparent that Asoka's mother is a Brahmin, coming

from the banks of River Champa, perhaps married to Bindusara on his

campaigns to Anga, the country of Bihar lying on the other side of the

river. Some sources mention her name as Dharma, a disciple of Ajivaka

preceptor Jan & #257;sana (Jar & #257;sana, Jarasona, skt : :Pingalavatsa)

 

 

Some people cling to his obviously false connection to a Greek

mother, perhaps because of the romanticism that is offered by such a

connection.

 

His mother, fallen out of grace with the king due to palace intrigues

, had named Asoka since the birth of the child has made her " sorrow

less " His brother was named Vitasoka since the queen felt that the

birth of the second male child has ultimately put an end to her sorrows.

 

Asoka was a man of great tact.

 

There was a great revolt against the oppression by the officers in the

province of Taxila, who were a republic before being brought under the

rule of the empire of Bimbisara. Asoka was sent there as Viceroy to

quell the same, which he did to a great aplomb, without using much

force or inviting resentment from the people of Taxila. In fact, he

might have been fondly remembered into the later days as priyadarsi(?)

by these people, connected to Iranians, as evinced by an Aramaic

edict found in Taxila.

 

He was later sent to Ujjain as the regent there by his father.

The ceylone sources mention a 4 year interregnum between the demise of

his father and his ascension to the throne. This must be true since

Asoka had no less than 7 brothers contending for the throne, each one

of them being strong in his own right.

 

 

 

The same tact which was exhibited at Taxila was displayed by him in

his later years of rule, though not so openly . Romila Thapar once

said he is a ruler of great ambition.

 

 

I feel he used the concept of dharma, not for religious reasons but to

discipline people into his fold – In other words, he has used religion

as a political tool. This is apparent since most of his edicts are

found in gold bearing areas This has influenced the common man so much

that the guilds of artisans, mostly consisting of common people, have

heavily donated to Sangha (Amaravati and Ajanta epigraphy)

 

For example, how he uses carrot and stick method can be seen in one of

the famous edicts:

 

" Now the Beloved of the Gods thinks that, even if a person should

wrong him, the offense would be forgiven if it was possible to forgive

it. And the forest-folk who live in the dominions of the Beloved

of the Gods, even them he entreats and exhorts in regard to

their duty. It is hereby explained to them that, in spite of his

repentance, the Beloved of the Gods possesses power enough

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to punish them for their crimes, so that they should turn away

from evil ways and would not be killed for their crimes. "

 

That he did not place the edict of his repentance due to the kalinga

war, which has been placed in many places anywhere in or around

Kalinga country raises many doubts about the sincerity of his

repentance. Why did he not want the people of Kalinga know about his

repentance?

 

He prohibited animal sacrifices and eating of meat even at his

palace. But by his own admission, the cooking of meat has continued

daily at a low level, obviously for the consumption of the king,

whereas he prevented most of the palace dwellers from partaking meat.

 

Also, he talked of respecting Brahmins and Sramanakas (monks, not

necessarily Buddhist) and he dedicated two caves to Ajivakas, perhaps

in the tradition of his mother., in the 12th year of his coronation,

much later to Kalinga war.

 

 

In view of this, it is often doubted the stories of his conversion are

ever true.

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He does not mention the names of Nyagrodha and Mogaliputta Tissa in

his edicts, who the Buddhist sources have eulogized as the main

preceptors for Asoka. On the other hand, these sources do not discuss

Kalinga war at all. The Buddhist sources say that Asoka got converted

to Buddhism in 4th year of his coronation, whereas as per his own

confession, Asoka started following as a lay upasaka (which does not

mean conversion) only after Kalinga war.

 

Further, his edicts also do not speak of his foreign missions, for

which Tissa was more responsible.

 

Perhaps, What is spoken by Buddhist sources may not be about Mauryan

Asoka but about somebody else, one immediate name that comes to my

mind is Asoka of Kashmir, who was mentioned in Raja Tarangini.

 

I invite comments from the group,

 

Kishore patnaik