Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor

by Charles R. Allen

The confusion of Mauryan names continues for some forty years until Shatadhanvan emerges to become what all the Puranas agree was the penultimate ruler in the Mauryan dynasty, although his kingship may not have extended beyond the bounds of Magadha. The Puranas are equally in agreement that the last Maurya ruler of Magadha was Brihadratha, whose death at the hands of his Shunga general Pushyamitra came in or about the year 183 BCE, fifty years after the death of Ashoka.

  Pushyamitra Shunga set out to restore central Brahmanical authority, gaining a reputation as a violent anti-Buddhist by destroying a number of prominent Ashokan Buddhist sites that included the Cock monastery, Deorkothar, Bharhut and Sanchi. However, either he or his immediate successor Agnimitra (c. 150–142 BCE), who was viceroy of Vidisha during his father’s reign, very soon reversed that policy to become a patron of Buddhism – as were several later Shunga rulers.

  But even before the rise of the Shungas, other local kingdoms had used the confusion following Ashoka’s death to break away, the most successful of these being the Satavahanas from the country south and west of Kalinga. From about 180 BCE the sixth Satavahana king Satakarni (180–124 BCE) began to push back the Shungas, the Kalingas and the Greeks to establish his dynasty as the supreme power across all central and South India. At least some of the Satavahanas were demonstrably Buddhists or patrons of Buddhism.

  It is thanks to the tolerance of some of these Shunga and Satavahana rulers that we have the glories of the Bharhut, Amaravati and Sanchi sculptures. At Bharhut, Ashoka has no overt presence, hardly surprising since it was the founder of the Shunga dynasty who had brought the Mauryan dynasty to a violent end – although the sculpted figure of the king bearing a Buddha relic on an elephant on the front pillar beside the Bharhut stupa railing’s East Gateway (see illustration, p. 362) may well be a covert homage to Ashoka.

  Sanchi had also been destroyed by a Shunga before being repaired and enlarged under one of his successors, but here the Satavahanas had followed and it was with the blessing of Raja Satakarni Satavahana that its four magnificent gateways went up. It is unlikely that those masterpieces were created before 150 BCE, by which time memories of Ashoka would be at second hand at best, but still fresh enough for his frailties to be remembered and to show him as he really was: a stumpy, fat-faced and fragile king with a tendency to faint under stress. At Amaravati, however, Emperor Ashoka survives not as he really was but as the idealised Wheel-turning Monarch who bestows his blessings on the world. Here the fainting monarch has been transformed into the all-conquering Dharmarajah.

  Ashoka transformed. At Sanchi (left) the emperor is shown as a vulnerable and imperfect human being. Two centuries later at Amaravati (right) he had become an all but perfect Wheel-turning Monarch, the embodiment of the Buddhist Dharma on earth. (Andrew Whittome / British Museum)

  Despite the disaster of his last years, the triumph of Ashoka was that he made the ideal of rule by moral force acceptable, a concept that still pervades much of Asia. Some would argue that his greatest achievement was that by adopting Buddhism, funding it, helping it through a period of crisis, propagating it throughout the subcontinent and beyond, even reshaping it to some degree, Ashoka transformed a minor sect into a world religion. For the next six to seven centuries Buddhism blossomed in large parts of India, becoming the predominant faith for much of the population. Wherever its monastic centres enjoyed the patronage of local rulers and the support of the trading community, Buddhism more than held its own. It survived the persecutions of the Huna kings and Brahman rulers such as Simhavarma, Trilochana, and Sassanka of Bengal – whose tyranny was ended by Harsha the Great, perhaps the last of the Indian rulers who aspired to emulate Dharmashoka as a Wheel-turning Monarch.

  But like the Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, Buddhism needed new soil to grow, which it found in Lanka, Nepal, Gandhara and north of the Himalayas. It was here that the Ashokan ideal of the Wheel-turning Monarch governing by moral force lived on. In India itself Buddhism surrendered to the fatal embrace of tantrism and was to all intents a spent force by the time Adi Shankaracharya began his digvijaya or ‘tour of conquest’ at the start of the eighth century. It is unlikely that violence against Buddhists was ever part of this great reformer’s agenda, really because there was no need for it. Brahmanism had learned much from Buddhism and had itself evolved into the Hinduism we recognise today. Priest-led blood and fire sacrifices had given way to bhakti, or personal devotion; the ancient unapproachable gods and goddesses had evolved into the kinder deities, such as Krishna, so beloved of Hindus today; and even the Buddha himself had been brought on board as the ninth (and somewhat unfriendly) avatar of Lord Vishnu, a recognition that Buddhism shared with ancient Vedanta the belief that man’s ultimate goal is to transcend self and achieve unity with the first principle, whether it be called Brahma or Nirvana. The downside for Buddhism was that in India its holy places were absorbed, its history excised and those who clung to its heresies declared untouchable. For in the wake of Shankaracharya’s ‘tour of conquest’, and in South India in particular, the Brahmin (as we should now call him) himself remained inviolate, as did the curse of caste, which continues to blight India’s progress to this day.

  In August 2010 a highly unusual bill was placed before the Indian Parliament enabling the formation of Nalanda International University, to be built beside the ruins of ancient Nalanda in Bihar. A consortium involving representatives from India, China, Japan, Singapore and other South and South-East Asian nations is now engaged in raising one billion US dollars to build and run the university, which will be residential like its predecessor and made up of five schools: a School of International Relations and Peace; a School of Languages and Literature; a School of Environmental Studies and Ecology; a School of Business Management and Development; and a School of Buddhist Studies. Pledges of government and international support have been received and plans are now well advanced for building to begin in 2011 and for classes to open in the following year.

  The Ashokan ideals, so often trampled on, live on.

  Acknowledgements

  In researching this book I have sat on the shoulders of giants – generations of scholars of whom only the most prominent have found a mention in my main text. Here my expressions of gratitude must be confined to the living – the many good persons who assisted me, either directly or indirectly, in the research and writing of this book, some in terms of scholarly advice, some in more material ways. Of the former, my first thanks to: the Ven. Shravasti Dhammika, spiritual adviser to the Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society in Singapore, for allowing me to quote extensively from his translation of the Ashokan Edicts (by kind permission of the Buddhist Publications Society); the Ven. P. C. Chandasiri, abbot of the Wat Thai in Vaisali, Bihar, and the Ven. Waskaduwe Mahindawansa Maha Nayaka Thera, abbot of the Rajaguru Sri Subuthu Viharya in Waskaduwa, Sri Lanka, for their hospitality; and the Buddhist Society, London, for its continuing support.

  Among academics and scholars abroad my special thanks to: Professor Dr Harry Falk, Institut für Indische Philologie und Kunstgeschichte, Freie Universität, Berlin, for allowing me to quote a number of his translations of Ashokan Edicts – I have also relied heavily on his Aokan Sites and Artefacts; Professor Richard Salomon, Associate Professor of Sanskrit, Dept. of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington, for allowing me to quote from an unpublished paper on the Piprahwa inscription – I have also relied heavily on his Indian Epigraphy; Professor Sheldon Pollock, Professor of Sanskrit and South Asian Studies, Columbia University, for allowing me to quote from a lecture given at Cambridge in 2010; Dr John Strong, Faculty of Religious Studies, Bates College, for allowing me to quote (by kind permission of Princeton University Press) from his translations of the Ashokavadana in his The Legend of King Aoka, on which I have drawn heavily; Dr Imtiaz Ahmad, Director of the Khada Baksh Oriental Public Library, Patna, for making available to me the illustrated copy of Sirat-i Firoz Shahi; Gita Mehta, for allowing me to quote from an article published in Tricycle: The Bu
ddhist Review in 1998; Dr Om Prakash Kejariwal, former Director, Nehru Museum, New Delhi, for advice and suggestions on James Prinsep; Dr G. M. Kapur, Convenor INTACH for West Bengal and Kolkata, for advice on Jones, Prinsep and the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, Raymond Bickson and staff of the Taj Group for their continuing support and hospitality in India; Rohan and Sujata Samarajiva in Colombo and Geoffrey Dobbs in Galle for their support and hospitality in Sri Lanka; Dr Jona Lendering, Vrije Universitat, Amsterdam, author of Alexander de Grote, extracts of which she has translated and placed on the website Livius; Dr Gautam Sengupta, Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi; N. Taher, Supt. Archaeologist, Bhopal Circle, ASI, and staff; A. K. Patel, Supt. Archaeologist, Bhubaneshwar Circle, ASI, and staff; Sanjay Manjul, Supt. Archaeologist, Patna Circle, ASI.

  Closer to home, my thanks to: Professor Richard Gombrich, President, Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, Oxford, for advice on datings – I have relied most heavily on his Theravada Buddhism among his many published works; Professor Max Deeg, Cardiff School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, for making a number of his papers available to me; Professor Mike Franklin, University of Swansea, for making available to me a paper on Jones – I have also relied heavily on his Sir William Jones and other texts; Dr Ann Buddle, National Galleries of Scotland, for making available the papers of the late Dr John Irwin, and for advice and suggestions; Dr Andrew Grout, Centre of Research Collections, Edinburgh University Library, for making available unpublished Prinsep letters; Dr Jennifer Howes, Curator India Office Prints, Drawings and Photographs, APAC, British Library, for tracking down the Jaggayyapeta Chakravartin and for advice on Colin Mackenzie and Amaravati; and her colleague John Falconer, Curator of Photography at the British Library, for his invaluable help and advice; Kathy Lazenblatt, Librarian, Royal Asiatic Society, and Library Assistants Alice McEwan and Helen Porter, for unstinting help extending over many months; Andrew Whittome for his Sanchi photographs.

  My thanks for the continuing support of the publishing team at Little, Brown, most particularly Tim Whiting and Iain Hunt; also to my agent Vivien Green at Sheil Land; and to my fellow traveller Liz. A final thanks also to the Society of Authors for the writing award that made it possible for me to stretch my Ashokan travels that little bit further.

  A note on bibliography

  I have tried to list my main sources in my Notes. For those seeking a full Ashokan bibliography I can do no better than point them to the extensive bibliography given in Harry Falk, Aokan Sites and Artefacts, 2006.

  Appendix

  The Rock and Pillar Edicts of King Ashoka

  Taken from Venerable Shravasti Dhammika’s The Edicts of King Asoka, 2009

  This rendering is based heavily on Amulyachandra Sen’s English translation, which includes the original Magadhi and a Sanskrit and English translation of the text. I have also consulted the translations of C. D. Sircar and D. R. Bhandarkar and in parts favoured their interpretations. Any credit this deserves is due entirely to the labours and learning of these scholars. For the complete rendering, including the Minor Rock Edicts, Schism Edicts and others, together with my introduction and notes see http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/dhammika/wheel386.html.

  Venerable S. Dhammika

  The Fourteen Rock Edicts

  These fourteen edicts, with minor differences, are found at Girnar, Kalsi, Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra, with fragments at Sopara and Erragudi. This version is from the Girnar Rock Edict. In two other places, Dhauli and Jaugada, they are found minus REs 11, 12 and 13 (see Kalinga Rock Edicts below).

  1

  Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, has caused this Dharma edict to be written. Here in my domain no living beings are to be slaughtered or offered in sacrifice. Nor should festivals be held, for Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, sees much to object to in such festivals, although there are some festivals that Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, does approve of.

  Formerly, in the kitchen of Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, hundreds of thousands of animals were killed every day to make curry. But now with the writing of this Dharma edict only three creatures, two peacocks and a deer, are killed, and the deer not always. And in time, not even these three creatures will be killed.

  2

  Everywhere within Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi’s domain, and among the people beyond the borders, the Cholas, the Pandyas, the Satiyaputras, the Keralaputras, as far as Tamraparni and where the Greek king Antiochos rules, and among the kings who are neighbours of Antiochos, everywhere has Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, made provision for two types of medical treatment: medical treatment for humans and medical treatment for animals. Wherever medical herbs suitable for humans or animals are not available, I have had them imported and grown. Wherever medical roots or fruits are not available I have had them imported and grown. Along roads I have had wells dug and trees planted for the benefit of humans and animals.

  3

  Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: Twelve years after my coronation this has been ordered – Everywhere in my domain the Yuktas, the Rajjukas and the Pradesikas shall go on inspection tours every five years for the purpose of Dharma instruction and also to conduct other business.

  Respect for mother and father is good, generosity to friends, acquaintances, relatives, Brahmans and ascetics is good, not killing living beings is good, moderation in spending and moderation in saving is good. The Council shall notify the Yuktas about the observance of these instructions in these very words.

  4

  In the past, for many hundreds of years, killing or harming living beings and improper behaviour towards relatives, and improper behaviour towards Brahmans and ascetics has increased. But now due to Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi’s Dharma practice, the sound of the drum has been replaced by the sound of the Dharma. The sighting of heavenly cars, auspicious elephants, bodies of fire and other divine sightings has not happened for many hundreds of years. But now because Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi promotes restraint in the killing and harming of living beings, proper behaviour towards relatives, Brahmans and ascetics, and respect for mother, father and elders, such sightings have increased.

  These and many other kinds of Dharma practice have been encouraged by Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, and he will continue to promote Dharma practice. And the sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, too will continue to promote Dharma practice until the end of time; living by Dharma and virtue, they will instruct in Dharma. Truly, this is the highest work, to instruct in Dharma. But practising the Dharma cannot be done by one who is devoid of virtue and therefore its promotion and growth is commendable.

  This edict has been written so that it may please my successors to devote themselves to promoting these things and not allow them to decline. Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, has had this written twelve years after his coronation.

  5

  Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: To do good is difficult. One who does good first does something hard to do. I have done many good deeds, and, if my sons, grandsons and their descendants up to the end of the world act in like manner, they too will do much good. But whoever amongst them neglects this, they will do evil. Truly, it is easy to do evil.

  In the past there were no Dharma Mahamatras but such officers were appointed by me thirteen years after my coronation. Now they work among all religions for the establishment of Dharma, for the promotion of Dharma, and for the welfare and happiness of all who are devoted to Dharma. They work among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Gandharas, the Rastrikas, the Pitinikas and other peoples on the western borders. They work among soldiers, chiefs, Brahmans, householders, the poor, the aged and those devoted to Dharma – for their welfare and happiness – so that they may be free from harassment. They (Dharma Mahamatras) work for the proper treatment of prisoners, towards their unfettering, and if the Mahamatras think, ‘This one has a family to support,’ ‘Th
at one has been bewitched,’ ‘This one is old,’ then they work for the release of such prisoners. They work here, in outlying towns, in the women’s quarters belonging to my brothers and sisters, and among my other relatives. They are occupied everywhere. These Dharma Mahamatras are occupied in my domain among people devoted to Dharma to determine who is devoted to Dharma, who is established in Dharma, and who is generous.

  This Dharma edict has been written on stone so that it might endure long and that my descendants might act in conformity with it.

  6

  Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: In the past, state business was not transacted nor were reports delivered to the king at all hours. But now I have given this order, that at any time, whether I am eating, in the women’s quarters, the bedchamber, the chariot, the palanquin, in the park or wherever, reporters are to be posted with instructions to report to me the affairs of the people so that I might attend to these affairs wherever I am. And whatever I orally order in connection with donations or proclamations, or when urgent business presses itself on the Mahamatras, if disagreement or debate arises in the Council, then it must be reported to me immediately. This is what I have ordered. I am never content with exerting myself or with despatching business. Truly, I consider the welfare of all to be my duty, and the root of this is exertion and the prompt despatch of business. There is no better work than promoting the welfare of all the people and whatever effort I am making is to repay the debt I owe to all beings to assure their happiness in this life, and attain heaven in the next.

  Therefore this Dharma edict has been written to last long and that my sons, grandsons and great-grandsons might act in conformity with it for the welfare of the world. However, this is difficult to do without great exertion.

  7

  Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, desires that all religions should reside everywhere, for all of them desire self-control and purity of heart. But people have various desires and various passions, and they may practise all of what they should or only a part of it. But one who receives great gifts yet is lacking in self-control, purity of heart, gratitude and firm devotion, such a person is mean.