Q. Discuss Dhamma policy of Ashoka.

Evaluate whether it was responsible for the

decline of the empire.
Beginning as a schismatic movement from the more traditional viewpoint of Brahmanism,
Buddhism emerged in India. Escape from Sansara, from the alleged restraints of earthly life,
and from the cycle of rebirth were the driving forces. Buddhism was a reaction to the
wrongdoings that had crept into Hindu philosophy and ritual.
At the time of his accession, Ashoka was not a devout Buddhist, but his interest in Buddhism
grew over time. Additionally, it has been asserted that Ashoka created the Dhamma on his
own. He tried to suggest a way of living that was both practical and convenient as well as
being highly moral, even though it may have borrowed from Buddhism and Hindu ideas. It is
conceivable that he did not have the older, more traditional members of the court's
enthusiastic backing in the early years of his reign, while he was establishing his position. He
was seeking the potential support of non-orthodox elements to keep people away from
orthodoxy and to make his own principles more popular with the public. He moved away
from orthodox Brahmanism while remaining neutral towards it and openly supported
Buddhism and other sects like the Ajivikas. Adopting a new religion and actively spreading it
in this situation would operate as a uniting force, forming the smaller groupings. While strong
leaders like Bimbisara, Ajatasattu, Mahapadma Nanda, and Chandragupta Maurya
contributed to the growth and consolidation of Magadhan power, it was Asoka who may have
been the first to see the necessity for an ideology to ensure the empire's unification. This can
be seen in his conception and dissemination of what he called the Dhamma. In fact, the main
idea of his edicts was Dhamma.
The Pali equivalent of the Sanskrit term Dharma is Dhamma. Religion is an often used yet
inaccurate translation of the word. Most people think of Asoka's Dhamma as having a
personal religious bent. The widely held belief is that Asoka converted to Buddhism because
of his profound and sincere regret for the atrocities committed during the Kalinga War. Asoka
ruled his empire as a devoted Buddhist following the Kalinga War. He is regarded as a sage-
like king and a Buddhist leader. This idea of Asoka is mostly based on how he is portrayed in
later Buddhist texts, particularly in the Divyavadana, Asokavadana, and Buddhist scriptures
from Sri Lanka. It is therefore not unexpected that many scholars believe that Asoka made
Buddhism the official state religion by spreading the Dhamma and that his Dhamma was
merely a synonym for Buddhism.
Recent research, however, largely considers Asoka's edicts as contemporaneous records
relating to his knowledge of Dhamma when examining the essence of his Dhamma. Although
he did not explicitly define Dhamma, he did mention several of its characteristics in his
edicts.
According to MRE I, he unequivocally identifies as an upasaka, or lay Buddhist devotee. He
is identified as a lay follower of the Buddha (Buddhupdsaka) in the MRE at Maski. Asoka
travelled to Sambodhi, modern-day Bodhgaya, the site of the Master’s Enlightenment. And
he also went to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha.
Buddhist literature mention Asoka as the king who built 84,000 stupas in Jambudvipa. The
Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang also mentioned this achievement of Asoka in the seventh century.

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According to these myths and perceptions, Asoka was revered in Buddhist tradition as the
model Buddhist king (dhammika dhammaraja).
However, his edicts make no mention of some fundamental Buddhist principles. He never
mentioned the Eight-Fold Path (Ashtangikamarga) or the Four Noble Truths
(Chaturaryasatya) in his decrees. However, he believed that reaching heaven (svaga, i.e.,
svarga: MRE I) was the most important thing for his followers to aim for. Since these
fundamental Buddhist ideas are conspicuously absent from his conception of Dhamma, the
question of whether he was promoting Buddhism through Dhamma arises.
According to SJ. Tambiah, Asoka's Dhamma was well rooted in Buddhist doctrine. He has
criticised Romila Thapar's attempt to distinguish between Asoka's private Buddhist
conviction and his formal public stance on the Dhamma. Tambiah contends that Asoka's
edicts make no reference to this essential division. He contends that the Buddhist emphasis
on metta (loving kindness), mudita (sympathetic delight), karuna (compassion), and dana
(donation) led to the content of Asoka's edicts.
The significance of Asoka's Aramaic and Greek decrees is particularly noteworthy
considering the discussions around the nature of his Dhamma. The Greek word for what
appears as Dhamma in his Prakrit edicts is Eusebia, which means Piety. The terms Data and
Qsyt, which stand for Law and Truth, respectively, are mentioned in the Aramaic edicts as
synonyms of Dhamma. Asoka had no desire to equate Dhamma with Buddhism, his personal
faith, as shown by BN. Mukherjee’s research in these edicts. Ashoka does not view the
Dhamma from a sectarian perspective. He commands his followers to behave honourably and
decently towards both Brahmanas and Sramanas for this reason (RE XI). The Samgha,
Brahmanas, Ajivikas, and Nirgranthas (Jains) are to be treated equally by the
Dhammamahamatras (officers, promoting the Law of Piety) (PE VII). According to the
inscription found in the Barabar cave, Asoka gave the Ajivikas monks a cave to live in.
Asoka placed a strong emphasis on adhering to specific behaviours when practising the
Dhamma. The adherence of non-violence is one of the cornerstones of these moral
behaviours. Following this idea, Asoka changed the sound of the battle drum (bherighosha)
to the reverberation of the drum of the Dhamma (Dhammaghosha). This also led him to
emphasise the importance of not harming or killing any living things and to abolish royal
hunting (viharayatra). His assertion that before, many animals had been murdered for the
royal cuisine; the number was reduced to just two peacocks and one animal is filled with his
own zeal and honesty in preaching non-slaughter.
Asoka recommends instilling several virtues to practise the Dhamma. According to the PE II,
these include minor transgressions (apasinave), numerous commendable deeds (bahukayane),
acts of compassion (daya), altruism (sache), and purity (Sachaye). These are supplemented
with the advice to abstain from certain vices, including cruelty (nithuliye), rage (kodhe), pride
(mane), and jealousy (isya: PE III). These behaviours are neither representative of a particular
religious belief nor do they take a sectarian stance. It is therefore simple to understand the
relevance of Asoka's emphasis on self-control (sayame), mental purity (bhavasudhi), and
gratitude (kitanata). The ideal of his Dhamma forbids exalting one's own sect excessively
while demeaning the sects of others because doing so harms one's own sect. This
unquestionably identifies his Dhamma as having a spirit of tolerance and regard for diversity.
Respect for parents, instructors, elders and brahmana-sramana; and a loving attitude towards

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the frail, miserly, and slaves and servants are inextricably linked to the practise of Asoka's
Dhamma (PE VII). Asoka undoubtedly believed that by using the Dhamma, he could take
care of his subjects, who were viewed as his children.
In the 11th RE, Ashoka speaks against fame and grandeur, saying that the only true glory is
found in adhering to the Dhamma. In the 10th RE, he goes on to further explain that adhering
to the Dhamma is challenging for fast-paced people because it necessitates greater sacrifice.
No effort was made to impose Buddhism as the official state religion. R.G. Basak, however,
sees certain similarities between the Dhammapada's teachings and the universal appeal of
Dhamma. Raychaudhuri believed that the Dhamma emphasised the moral and ethical
precepts shared by all religions. The idea that the Dhamma represented a moral rule of
conduct offered to all his subjects was initially put out by Nilkantha Sastri. Romila Thapar,
who believed that Dhamma was primarily an ethical concept relating to the individual in the
context of his community, appears to have further developed and built on this idea. Dhamma
was thus a very comprehensive set of moral and ethical principles. According to RS Tripathi,
Dhamma policy is a synthesis of all religions. DC Sarkar concurs with KAN Shashtri in his
view that the Dhamma is a societal code of ethics drawn from Buddhism.
The Dhamma missions travelled to the southern Indian lands of the Chola, Satiyaputra, and
Keralaputra. According to both Asoka's decrees and subsequent Buddhist traditions, the
Dhamma was spread in Sri Lanka. The fact that his Dhamma propagators also travelled to the
distant realms of five Greek kings in West Asia and Ptolemaic Egypt is equally remarkable.
While Asoka accepted diversity in his understanding of the Dhamma, he was unwilling to
permit criticism in decisions affecting the Buddhist Samgha. Thapar adds that PE VII, which
was published in the twenty-seventh year, showed his devotion with the Dhamma. She
remarked that some of his comments on the Dhamma may have contained "megalomaniac"
aspects or perhaps "germs of fanaticism."
However, Asoka passed away in 232 BCE, over 45 years after taking power. According to the
Puranas, the Maurya kingdom fell approximately 187 BC when Brihadratha, the dynasty's
last monarch, was deposed and killed by Pushyamitra Sunga, the first ruler of the following
Sunga dynasty. Harshacharita of Banabhatta refers to the memory of Pushyamitra’s
overthrow of Brihadratha. Romila Thapar contends that it is possible for the empire to have
been divided between two post-Ashokan monarchs based on later Buddhist stories. Such an
event might have represented the empire's waning strength. According to H.C. Raychaudhuri
and B.N. Mukherjee, the kingdom that Chandragupta Maurya and Asoka founded was
doomed to failure when weak rulers came into power after Asoka.
The role that Asoka had in the fall of the ruling house has also been severely evaluated in the
historiography of the Mauryas. According to Haraprasad Sastri's reasoning, Asoka
purposefully degraded the brahmanas' status as the highest social class by adopting the
Dhamma policy, which Sastri believed to be equal to Buddhism. He asserted that the military
rebellion headed by Pushyamitra Sunga, a brahmana by birth, was the result of the discontent
of the community of brahmanas. He also describes how Dhamma Mahaattas shattered
Brahmans' reputation. Sastri's assessment of Asoka is not without fault and error. Firstly,
Asoka's Dhamma was marvellously inclusive, lacking in sectarianism, and never promoted
Buddhism as the state cult at the expense of brahmana. The edicts of Asoka amply
demonstrate his regard for all religious traditions, including Buddhism, Jainism, Ajivikism,

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and the brahmanas. The idea that he destroyed the Maurya dynasty by assassinating
Brihadratha and representing the brahmana varna has no basis in fact. Asoka's Dhamma
policy was criticised by HC Raychaudhuri, who disagreed with Sastri, although from a
different angle. He equated Asoka's Dhamma with a pacifist approach, which was the
antithesis of the blood-and-iron approach that had been the cornerstone of Magadha's military
and political prowess ever since Bimbisara reign in the sixth century BC. To the great peril of
the following Mauryas, Asoka effectively announced the disbanding of the Maurya army by
outlawing the war drums, which were replaced with the reverberation of Dhamma. The
Maurya army was abolished following the Kalinga War, yet nowhere in the entirety of
Asoka's edicts is there even a suggestion that this happened. Asoka was neither a cowardly
nor pacifist monarch. In addition, Asoka forcefully declared in one of his decrees that he
would only grant forgiveness up to the maximum permissible. Regarding the use of violence,
he advised his successors to use only the barest minimum of force if it was essential and
inescapable. The fact that he upheld the death penalty even though he was a practising
Buddhist does not paint him as a weak leader, contrary to popular belief that he was more of a
wise man than a cunning politician. Given these defences, it is challenging to hold Asoka
accountable for weakening the Maurya state by adopting the moderate and pacifist Dhamma
doctrine.
However, one can wonder if the Dhamma's programme, with its admirable aspirations and
goals, took hold among the ordinary populace. It must be acknowledged that everything
about Asoka's Dhamma came from the highest political authority, without at any discounting
its broad appeal and method.
One of the key contributing elements to the collapse of the Mauryan empire is thought to
have been the chaos that developed in the administrative system after Asoka's death. The first
issue facing Asoka's successors was whether to carry on with his Dhamma policy and its
supremacy in the administration. It was difficult to understand how the government worked
under this kind of totally unusual rule. Asoka was successful because he had a singular
insight of the intricate social issues that face a society and because he recognised the
significance of the Dhamma principle in all its manifestations. Despite Asoka's personal
admonitions, it is unclear whether his successors gave the Dhamma the same significance that
he had. The fact that a sizable group of state officials known as Dhammamahamattas existed
was another aspect of the Dhamma's political significance. Some historians have said that by
the second half of Asoka's reign, they had grown to be extremely strong and repressive.
Asoka personally commanded them to guard against persecution and to be just and
compassionate in the First Separate Edict to the Mahamattas stationed at Dhauli and Jaugada.
Although Asoka had complete control over the government, this cannot be claimed of the
later rulers.
As the first to construct a practically pan-Indian paramountcy and an effective administrative
structure with a centralised direction, the Mauryan empire is significant in Indian history. It
will be recalled for the creation of the Dhamma's policy to emphasise and allow for diversity.
As a result, it is difficult to pinpoint the precise cause of the Mauryan empire's decline, and
the Dhamma cannot be held solely responsible. Different scholars provide several
explanations for the empire's fall. Asoka was the first to use Dhamma as a policy. It must be
remembered, nevertheless, that Dhamma might have contributed to the collapse of the
empire, either directly or indirectly.

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