While there is a lot of facts regarding Ashoka's story ,there is unfortunately ,a good deal of propaganda surrounding his life A lot of these of course has been used for political purposes, and sadly not everyone is quite aware about it ,and have accepted the general narrative on Emperor thanks to our Marxist historians blissfully writing tales as the truth in our history book.
Let's try to see first what part of Ashoka's Life the truth is.
He was most certainly the most famous of the Mauryan Emperors and his patronage to Buddhism turned the religion from a minor sect to a world religion. And, yes his early reign was brutal and despotic, giving him the name 'Chandasoka' or Ashoka the cruel.
Now, coming to what's not true about Ashoka, and what has been muddled and caught up in historical inaccuracies and fallacies. To begin with, we will start off our story in 272 BC. We wont be touching Ashoka’s early life and proceed directly to the time he became the ruler of the Mauryan Empire , and the events that followed, leading up-to his final years and demise.
The Story of his Conversion to Buddhism: We all know the story of Ashoka's conversion
to Buddhism post the Kalinga war. The source of this story goes back to Edict
13, where the inscription describes the events of Kalinga and how much it
affected him and his conversion to Buddhism.
Unfortunately, this is propaganda on Ashoka's part. Royal
Edicts served to justify a King's action to the people. This was to ensure it
pacified the anxiety of his subjects, ensuring stability within the kingdom and
giving a moral backing to the King. Further to note that no Buddhist text on
Ashoka has the Kalinga story in it.
So, when did he convert to Buddhism?
Ashoka's contact with the Buddhist Sangha goes back to over
a decade before the Kalinga war in 262 BC. This would put it well before he
became the Emperor. (He came to power in
roughly 268 BC). Minor rock edicts from before the war show that Asoka was
already a practicing Buddhist some 2 year before the war. His conversion to the
religion was purely out of political purposes. Religious sects acted as power
blocks for rulers and starting with Chandragupta's links with Jains and
Bindusara's with Ajivikas, and was something that Maurayan Emperors seemed to
have relied on. This was no different
for Ashoka who usurped the throne, had to reach out to Buddhists for support
because the other princes already had links with Jains and Ajivikas.
The Kingdom of Kalinga: Another lie we have been fed
is everything about the kingdom of Kalinga in itself. Let’s look at what really
happened. Kalinga as a kingdom was
already conquered by the Nanda Empire, decades ago. In fact, when Chandragupta
conquered the Nandas, all the territories were absorbed into the Mauryan
Empire, this includes Kalinga as well. Additionally, it would make little sense
for the Mauryans to keep a kingdom this close to the capital independent. It
can be fairly concluded that Kalinga was most certainly a vassal to the Mauryan
Empire and the war might have been rooted to rebellion of Kalinga against the
Mauryan Empire. Ashoka’s edicts states
that the war was equally fought with 1 lac deaths on each side. Again, this is
not the complete truth. Archaeological excavation of site of the war with
Kalinga showed an astonishingly bitter truth. What happened in Kalinga was a
complete massacre of it’s people. The
Large Mauryan Army crushed and massacred what little resistance Kalinga
offered. It’s estimated that 1 lac of Kalinga’s inhabitants died, and 1.5 lac
were captured and taken away. For the
Mauryan army itself, the casualties were minimum, and the event of Kalinga was
an act of retribution by Ashoka on the people of Kalinga for trying to rebel.
It’s highly unlikely that Ashoka would have had any remorse whatsoever over the
incident. This has been further ratified, by the inscriptions found in the
region of Kalinga, Ashoka does not bother to apologize for the events that
happened, and in fact threats further violence if they were to again rebel. No edict or inscription was found on what
happened to the people he had captured; quite likely they were never freed and
thus were never able to return to Kalinga. The people of Kalinga were humiliated, but they never quite forgot what happened. Interesting to note that, he assumes
the title of ‘Dhammasoka’ or ‘Devanampriya Asoka’(Beloved of the Gods) after
the event. Edicts from here onwards, portrays Ashoka as the protector of
Dharma, and his actions is all to ensure that Dharma prevails throughout his
empire
Not so peaceful actions post the Kalinga War: The popular narrative goes that Ashoka gave up violence post the Kalinga war. While, the actions of him propagating Buddhism to a state religion is most certainly true, his portrayed benevolence is not so. Buddhist narratives of Ashoka’s actions mentioned in Ashoka Vandana talks about two such incidents that are not actions of a benevolent ruler. In one incident he put 18,000 Bengali Ajvikas to death, one of the first instances of genocidal violence in the country, which in all likelihood hurt the sect so badly , it may have never recovered from it . A further instance was when he persecuted Jains when a Jain devotee was found to have a drawing of Buddha bowing to a Jain Tirthankara. Ashoka had the devotee locked in his home, and his house was set on fire. But, this does not end here, Ashoka proclaimed that he would pay a gold coin as a reward for every decapitated Jain head. This set off an act of systematic violence and persecution against Jains. The cycle of violence only came to an end when his only surviving brother, Tissa who was Buddhist monk was killed by mistake. The actions are certainly not in line with a King who was supposedly a peaceful pacifist, but rather a religious zealot who would resort to violence if anyone said contrary to what Ashoka believed about Buddhism.
Promotion of Buddhism: While Ashoka’s promotion of
Buddhism to state religion is well established, and needs no introduction, I
will be giving a brief overview here.
As, pointed out, Ashoka’s tone in his edicts changed post
the Kalinga war as he increasingly started using Buddhism to further his
political narrative, but to do so he needed to increase Buddhism’s influence
among the masses. The first proclamation happened three years after the Kalinga
war, in roughly 259 BC when he openly mentions in his edicts that he was now a
fully committed lay Buddhist has visited the Sangha and his endeavors has taken
him closer to the gods. Post this he undertakes a royal tour across his empire,
having his words inscribed in edicts the region wherever possible. This of
course is also when the Royal patronage towards Buddhism was made official and
Ashoka donated immense wealth to the Buddhist Sanga, an act that continued
right upto his death. His well-known stupa building programs start sometime at
around 251 BC, roughly 20 years into his reign and when Ashoka himself was
approaching 50. Buddhist sources say that Ashoka built 100,000 Stupas, but the
figure is possibly highly exaggerated, regardless Ashoka did manage to
popularize the Stupa cult within Buddhism and art of Stupa building really took
off during Ashoka’s rule.
During his years
promoting Buddhism, Ashoka convinced himself that only he was the true
protector of the Buddhist Dhamma and the Buddhist Sangha should adhere to
values he believed to be in line with his understanding of what Buddhism should
be. He was ultimately drawn to a conflict in in the Buddhist Sangha in around
254 BC. A minister was dispatched to sort of out the differences between the
Nirganthas who were a sect of naked ascetics , unfortunately his minister
bungled it up and ended up killing some monks as the sect refused to acknowledge
Ashoka’s assistance in sorting this out. This resulted in Ashoka summoning of
the entire Buddhist monastic community to his palace in Pataliputra. The event
led to expulsion of many from the Buddhist order for not accepting the
doctrines of more conservative elders as such. Following this, a great Buddhist
council was held which codified what was doctrinally correct and resulted in
sending missionaries to promote and spread the Buddhist faith in Indian and abroad.
Ashoka as a Ruler: While it is more or less summarized that Ashoka was a conqueror and imposed his rule by the sword and through political propaganda (the use of edicts), but what of his skills as a ruler? Turns out, Ashoka perhaps wasn’t all that good in this. While his empire stretched the length and breadth of the Indian sub-continent, keeping his rule in place became more challenging in the later years of his life. After his queen died in the year 239 BC, Ashoka became increasingly detached from the affairs of his empire and got embroiled in dynasty politics himself regarding the succession of his empire. When Tishyaraksa took on the role of the Queen in 235 BC, her political conspiring resulted in the blinding of Kunala, the heir apparent of the Mauryan Empire, when he was on his way to Taxila to quell a rebellion. Kunala by sheer luck survived, made his way back to Pataliputra and revealed the story to Ashoka. The events resulted in the revealation of the full plot and the ministers in the court who backed Tishyaraksa. The Queen was executed and the rebels were banished,but the result left the empire without a heir as Kunala was incapable to rule the empire any longer. A much younger, and inexperienced, Dashratha, Ashoka's grandson was appointed the heir to the throne.
Following these events, Ashoka health began to falter and he moved more and more towards religion and futher away from the affairs of his empire.While a younger Ashoka was able to maintain control over his empire through tyranny, an older Ashoka whose health was failing could not maintain the control. In just a matter of few years, Ashoka’s empire began crumbling and the northern territories were all but lost by Greek invasions and rebellions. In the South, the Satvahanas had broken away and started up their own empire (which would last many centuries). Towards the end of his life, Ashoka started donating everything away to the Buddhist church, almost bankrupting the empire. His ministers had to refuse his orders to save the empire. In 232 BC, Ashoka passed away after years of failing health and old age. He left behind a fragmented empire, embroiled in rebellion and factionalism. Multiple sources speak of who really ruled the empire post Ashoka . In all likelihood , whatever was left of the empire was nominally ruled independently by Ashoka's grandsons.The record from here on is spotty and we do not know what exactly happened, but the Mauryan record resumes and talks of the last Mauryan Emperor , Brihadratha who ruled a much weakened Empire , and whose rule barely extended beyond Magadha itself. The seeds of the Empire’s collapse were sown by Ashoka himself and it could never recover from it. The Mauryan empire lasted only a few more decades and by 185 BC, it was no more.
Kalinga after Ashoka : A final point I’d like to
touch is what happened to Kalinga after Ashoka’s brutal conquest and subjugation
of it’s people. While, post the war,
there remains no evidence of further rebellion from the region, Kalinga seems
to have regained some form of Independence post the death of Ashoka. Further evidence
confirms that the people of Kalinga never forgot the humiliation Ashoka brought
on them. When King Kharavela of Kalinga consolidated his power in the region, one
of his major actions was to invade and plunder Pataliputra. He was successful
and brought back the Jain idols to Kalinga and had his acts inscribed in Udaygiri,
confirming that his actions were an act of revenge by Kalinga in response to
what Ashoka had done to them a few decades ago.
Ashoka’s Elevation to Great and Pacifist Ruler:History is funny thing honestly, archaeological
evidence sometimes is not in line with ancient writings and ancient writings
themselves had parallel narratives contradicting each other, sometimes taking the
fantastical route as well. What one chooses to believe of these writings
depends on what you believe in how events transpired. Ashoka is one such individual. The entire
rule and his story was forgotten and lost in time and was only revived under
the work of historians like James Prinsep . The narrative grew further during
the years building up to India’s independence and was escalated to the version
of Ashoka who we now know under the patronage of Nehru and Marxist historians
who wanted to portray Ashoka and ancient India as a land of peace, tranquility,
and providing some sense of foundation of secular values set during Ashoka’s
rules. Whatever the reasons, his image was whitewashed and attained mythical
status , and emulating him as perfect human being and ruler, which he never was.
Conclusion: Ashoka will always remain an important figure in Indian history. The empire he expanded made it the largest in the subcontinent, ever. While there is much to learn from his rule, we certainly need to re -examine all the evidence presented to us about Ashoka as a peaceful ruler and look at him as akin to a more contemporary ruler who ruled with the aim to keep his empire together and doing whatever needed to keep it in place. At times cruel and at times a despot, but certainly not the Great ruler he has been ascribed as.
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