6. Rama’s realm.
7. The present day Konkan region.
8. Physician.
Chapter 7
1. Near the source of the River Narmada.
2. Rudra, another manifestation of Shiva, is the patron of physicians.
3. Bharata, Bhararatavarta, is another common name for ancient India.
Chapter 8
1. Jyeshtha: half May, before the monsoon. Sharad: mid September-mid November. Hemant: mid November-mid January.
2. Hired priests.
3. The one ordering the sacrifice.
Chapter 10
1. The marshland at the foot of the Himalayas.
2. Early July when heavy gusty winds blow.
Chapter 11
1. Indigenous breed of horses used by the Central Indian tribes.
Chapter 12
1. Song of creation, Rig Veda 10, 129.
2. Valakhilya-song RV 8.8.2.
Chapter 13
1. Here meant a Buddhist monk; a recluse.
2. Buddhist mendicant monk.
Chapter 15
1. Positioning of hands to mean something or convey a meaning.
2. First month when rains begin, starting mid-June.
Chapater 16
1. June, July.
2. Now Orissa.
3. The assembly, here: council of ministers.
4. The number One official, Supreme official.
5. Scribe, writer of documents.
6. Conqueror of the devil, conqueror unlimited.
Chapter 17
1. Karmikara and kimsuka: trees; Animukta: creeper, Priyangu: creeper, whose flowers bloom at the touch of a woman.
2. Another name for Sita, Rama’s consort, daughter of the King of Mithila.
3. Digha-Nikaya.
4. Another name for Buddha, literally: ‘thus came, thus gone’, coming as a breeze, going as a breeze.
Chapter 18
1. Highest Rani.
Chapter 19
1. The thread ceremony, ‘upanayanam’ is the initiation of a Brahmin into the Brahmin fold. Even today orthodox Brahmins wear the sacred thread.
2. Pippala or Peepal, Bodhi tree.
3. In this case, Purusha not only means a palace functionary but also an excellent man, a Krishna.
4. Tube-rose, white rose-like flower, extremely fragrant.
5. From West (Gandarva, nowadays: Kandahar region Afghanistan)- to East (Anga), North (Nepal) to South (Dakshina).
6. Literally: Sun-shine, resplendent sun.
7. Followed even to this day in temples at 6 AM. The priest awakens the presiding deity by Vedic Chants to come and bless the seeker.
8. Lord of time, Lord of art.
9. Almighty Lord.
10. Deccan: present day Andhra and M.P., Maharashtra.
11. Dakshina: the southern States.
12. Gondyana: Larger Central India, now south-east and north-west of Maharashtra.
13. Majjhima-nikaya.
Chapter 20
1. Crown Prince, heir to the thrown.
2. The king from the earlier dynasty.
Chapter 21
1. The bushy tail of a gaur, a wild ox, Bosgaurus.
Chapter 22
1. Indian fig tree.
2. Lay-Buddhist, one who waits upon in service.
3. Garden of gods.
4. The revered one, a holy one for Buddhists.
5. Stories about earlier incarnations of the Buddha.
6. Three Buddhist monasteries, forest hermitages. The word ‘Vana’ means forest.
7. ‘Becoming released’, compulsory confession in Buddhist monastery.
Chapter 23
1. Here meant: the Buddha. Dharma: the sacred laws, cosmic spiritual laws.
2. The word: bhikshu is derived from ‘bheek’, which means to ‘beg’. Thus a monk is literally a ‘beggar’, who has forsaken every attachment, including his family, home, etc.
3. Flowering medicinal plant.
4. Bhudda Saranam Gatchami; Dharmam Saranam Gatchami; Sangham Saranam Gatchami, is recited even to this day by a Buddhist upasaka.
5. Buddhist convent.
6. From Oldenberg: ‘Reden des Buddha’.
Chapter 24
1. Regions to the North-East. Yaksha means demi-god, Mani refers to Jewel while Pura means a country.
2. The layered tower over the main temple.
Chapter 25
1. The Buddha.
2. Highest provincial representative, Governor.
3. A tree of learning mentioned in the Sanskrit work, Ritusamhaara.
4. Semi-gods; happy souls.
5. Scholar priests who wrote treatises.
6. Scholar priests who wrote treatises.
7. Four-sided mushroom-like shelters.
8. Latest king of the Nanda dynasty, notorious for his avarice.
9. Buddha.
Chapter 26
1. The Summer corresponding to the months of Jyeshtha and Ashadha.
2. Heavy rains; a shower of rain.
3. Autumnal season (Sharad) and winter season (Hemant), both comprising of two.
4. A particular military array that was called ‘chariots of the Sun’.
Chapter 27
1. The bushy tail of a gaur, a wild ox, Bosgaurus
Chapter 28
1. Seventh Manu, progenitor of the world.
Chapter 29
1. Seventh Manu, progenitor of the world.
2. Vernal South wind from the mountains.
3. Type of flower which has excellent colour but no smell, mentioned in Kumaarasambhava and Ritusamhara.
4. Stages of life.
5. A reverential Salutation by circumambulating from left to right always turned towards the person.
6. One of the thirty smaller or minor Upanishads.
7. Holy vessel.
Appendix
1. The choice of the edicts is of the author. For the English translation a compilation is made of different translations and interpretations.
2. Devanampiya Pyadasi (resp: One who the gods favor, and: One who is of gracious mien) is in line with earlier scholars (Vincent Smith) considered to be a title, and translated as: His Sacred and gracious Majesty.
3. Dharma’ in English comes closest to ‘Sacred Law’; interpreted too as ‘cosmic law’, laws of existence; universal laws of energy, materially and spiritually, for balance and harmony.
Ashoka: The World’s Great Teacher
* * *
Book III
Ashoka was flowing with the milk of human kindness, and his love and sympathy embraced the whole animate creation … It was an absolute benevolent monarchy, and Ashoka laid special stress upon the paternal principle of government … He believed that followers of all sects aimed at ‘restraint of passions and purity of heart’, and therefore he desired that they should reside everywhere in his empire (R.E. VII) … so that there may be a growth in mutual reverence and toleration (R.E.XII) … These truly are lofty sentiments, which may bring solace even to the modern distracted world.
— Rama Shankar Tripathi, History of Ancient India
Part 1
* * *
THE BEAUTIFUL EYES OF THE PRINCE
1
AND EVER FLOWED AND FLOWS THE GANGA
editatively the Yuvaraja1 plucks at the strings of the veena. Its soft velvet timbre resonates through the new stone wing of Ashoka’s palace. He sits alone in the high verandah enclosed by an airy scalloped marble wall. Through the fine filigree of flowers, branches and leaves, there is a transparent view on a hall, its natural stone walls polished with great skill to an effulgent greenish bronze. The verandah offers some protection from the searing sun burning savagely down on the small, hedged-in park before him. Young areca palms, shrubs and flowers of distant origin serve to mask the encircling wall that separates it from the Ganga. The tall, slender pillars of the verandah are joined by crescent-shaped structures, resting on lotus-shaped capitals, lending support to th
e luxuriant leaves of the vines, which, like beguiling garlands, hang over the high portals. Each portal opens to a broad staircase descending to the waters of a pond hewn out of stone. Faint bas-reliefs of animals grace the base pillars which offer bathers support as they descend the steps. The carvings stretch on to the other side of the pond, where a herd of stone elephants spray refreshing water through their raised trunks, making the pond’s surface softly ripple; white and sweet-red lotuses rising ever aristocratically from the light-green undulating leaves partake in the movement.
The Yuvaraja pauses for a moment as he looks at the rays of the sun creating a rainbow on the falling spray on the other side. Transparent water, transparent sunlight, and an arched rainbow of delicate colours cover the spray like gossamer-thin muslin. Is it Rohita whose invisible rays gambol in the water with its treasure-trove of colours? Serenity of the spirit of Nature, in the pulsing of maya? Rohita! He takes up the gleaming red burnished veena and lets it lean against his shoulders. His arms embrace the neck of the instrument and sweet sounds echo softly in the hushed space. Outside, on a peepul tree in the corner of the park near the wall, a bird is dusting off the sluggish slumber from its feathers, and trills its flute-like song with the Crown Prince’s music. The Prince looks down from the verandah to the park clad in summer brilliance. He reflects, ‘Why does everyone extol my eyes? Do they also praise my invisible heart?’ He wished they would not. His beautiful eyes, his lean body, his mouth, his nose, are a gift from Prajapati, the Creator, his guru says. Do they also praise his father’s eyes which radiate with goodness, love, and compassion at all his wise decisions? When the women of the court seek to place their arms around his shoulders he tries to get away. It is at those times that he flees to the stone pond, takes up his veena, and sings away the vanity they wish to provoke in him. Praise Rohita, the divine core of the Sun. And his clear voice, deep in timbre, sings a measured melody, accompanying the instrument:
‘Soaring high up, divine countenance, smiling upon us,
From Mitra-Varuna, from Agni the eye,
And glowing over heaven, earth and space:
The Sun God, moving the All, that is2
Rohita took form in the beginning as Time, as Lord of all Creation.
Rohita, the One, who with His rays roves over sea and earth;
Gliding through all of heaven. He is its sovereign.
It is heaven, ocean and land that since eternity, He guards.
He wraps himself inside the womb of earth,
In heaven itself, in the space of the air,
He permeates distant worlds in proud flight
To the soft rose glow of the other shore,
Rohita, rich in tapas3, has ascended to heaven,
Even as he, from Mother’s womb is reborn,
And is to the gods their chosen sovereign,
One, who moves the All, to all sides is His gaze,
To all sides stretch His hands; to all sides are His palms.
He, the one God, ever on His way, carrying on His arms,
Carrying on His wings, heaven and earth …’
Ashoka has come to the verandah. He pauses, turning silent and unwilling to trespass upon the music that touches him, especially with the beauty of Kunala’s voice. When his son falls silent and the last vibrant tones of the veena fade out into the reaches of the gallery, he approaches.
‘So, my son, do you wish to be the udgatar, who accompanies the soma offering.’
Kunala walks up to his father, who has descended a few steps towards the pond, ‘No, for me music is a goddess to be worshipped, whom I wait on in submission when I am free of the duties you impose on the Yuvaraja.’
Ashoka looks at the play of the sun on the droplets.
‘Are these duties an affliction for my dearest son?’
‘No! Guruji tells me: ‘That which you do for mother and for father you do but for yourself as it enhances your karma.’ But like Mahindra, Sanghamitra, and Agnibrahma, I too have the urge to go to the Buddhist Sangha, which shelters the strength to spread the sacred teachings of the Tathagata4. Yet, I do go to the army camp to practise, I witness the parishad5, listen to what your advisors have to say and to what my wise father reveals as his decision. I keep up with your judicial decisions. But sometimes, it is as though a secret power inside me draws me away from all that duty imposed upon me and demands of me the surrender of my heart and mind to something that stirs from within, that refuses to be still. It is stronger than all that assails me from outside. Then I take up my veena and play and sing until the balance restores itself. Is it wrong, my Father, for a Buddhist to play and listen to music?’
‘For a monk of the Sangha who strives for Nirvana: yes.’
‘The monk acquires his inner peace, the restraint of his rebellious thoughts, or the directing of his will towards the good, by devoting himself to the Buddha, the Teachings and the Sangha. But for me it is through music that my soul finds strength, when I pour my heart out in the songs. And the veena for me has many secrets yet to be discovered.’
‘Rohita, as the Goddess of the Sun,’ laughs the Maharajah.
‘Rohita! If they told me that the Buddha is Rohita, that Brahman is Rohita, that the Atman, which unfolds itself through Rohita is Rohita itself, I will believe them. Take away Surya from heaven, my Father, and life ceases within the depth of darkness … ‘the divine countenance smiling upon us!’ The wheel of eternal order of the thousand-fold life, ever on its way, never pausing, not cleaving, and yet not hurtling down from heaven, and moving to its own laws. Is that not the greatest miracle of life? My guru teaches me that Nirvana is only to be obtained by control of the senses. But why then did Rohita create our senses! Is what we feel as beautiful, sinful? Or, is it the restlessness which our senses create in us that is sinful? When a thousand questions assail me and guruji only answers: ‘Buddha says’, ‘the path’, ‘the Nirvana’ … when everything in me seethes and my heart is pounding to learn as right, and not as sinful, all that is beautiful and good in my life, then, my Father, I play and I sing what my soul dreams of and is driven by, and then it is as if I already understand and know. Then peace restores itself. And you, my Father?’
Ashoka puts his arms around Kunala’s shoulders and together they walk out into the park, climb up to the farthest corner from where they watch the Ganga flowing wide and mighty, carrying the ships, cradling on its waves the bygone Aryans.
‘Has the Ganga ever known rest, my son? They say she merges with the ocean. But ever flowed and flows the Ganga. She never is. The monsoons turn her into a raging torrent. When Jyeshtha6 comes, her surface becomes calm, her course peaceful. Generations of men appear and vanish. Everything becomes; nothing just is. Like the flame of a lamp never is the same flame, all the time burning different oil, never remaining, so the Ganga today, will not be the same Ganga tomorrow. And so you will not be tomorrow, what you are today. Everything is in flux, eternally changing. The Ganga is the continuously dying and reviving heart of Aryavarta, it gives to the country its fertility and vitality. Likewise I never found rest, never sought it, but sometimes longed for it. Just as the Ganga does not know why she becomes and nourishes, I too do not know. I want the Maurya to rule in Pataliputra, to inspire the people of India with vigour and spiritual strength. Life has propelled me from being a ‘wild Prince’ to becoming a ruler. How long yet? I demand of no one that he thinks as I do, but that he strives for the essence, the sara of each religion, because that is what is eternal. There I wish to bind the peoples and hope that others, after me—and you, too—will take this task upon yourself, not for your inner peace but for their inner peace, not for your happiness, but for their happiness. I wish to clear the way for anyone who longs for this, whatever his varna. That is why you must choose for yourself, as I chose for myself. Buddha, after profound talks with his disciples, said: ‘Here are trees, contemplate and discover for yourself.’ So, I too, shall bring my son to a place where the wings of his thoughts can soar freely under the endles
s sky, in the refreshing air of the mahavana7, at the altar of flowers of a sage, like Sayana.’
‘By your life and your example, my Father, you are of more value to me than a Sayana. Yet, deep down, I often doubt: will your decision not to wage war anymore, not place India in danger? Alexander the Great, the Macedonian, came up to the eastern borders of the Punjab. Which peoples live around us on the other side of the Hindukush? Renouncing all warfare means placing us at the mercy of enemies as brazen as the Kalingans. What vigour does Buddha’s teaching of love have, if it falls prey to those who scorn it? The evil one has to know that the sword of justice awaits him, my Father.’
‘I was told that ‘hatred one does not cure with hatred, hatred one cures with love.’ India begins to understand the Buddha. Other peoples will follow. Once when all nations revere the Buddha, war will be banished.’
‘But great is the danger when they suspect you of weakness.’
‘Weakness? An army of …’
‘… that you no longer wish to use in a war that you renounce! Is it possible to renounce war? Erase it from human life? Or is battle, maybe war, necessary, law, nature? You may not want it. And I may not either. But who will succeed us? Were you to do away with your army: you are at the mercy of every conqueror, who casts his greedy eyes upon our land. If you use your army, you counter the teachings of compassion of the Buddha. And if you embrace the teachings of the Buddha, you will be lost even to a lesser country than the Kalingas.
‘Buddha’s teachings are of such beauty that alien kings and peoples too will be touched by them. A war one seeks out of self-interest. But he who reveres the Buddha will erase that self-interest from his heart. And fear of our army will deter anyone from invading India.’
‘Alexander the Macedonian, my Father!’
‘Has been repelled by a far weaker enemy.’
‘India will become weaker as more subjects embrace Buddha’s teachings.’
‘That is a blessing that will spread throughout the world.’ Kunala remains silent. Every discussion with his father runs aground at this point.
‘Go to the mahavana, reflect, and discover for yourself, my son.’ When Ashoka disappears into the palace, Kunala reflects at length. Eventually, he picks up his veena and plays, casting away his doubts.
Ashoka the Great Page 73