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How Did a Mauryan Emperor Use Morality to Govern an Empire? - Ashoka's Edicts and the Politics of Remorse | Sleepy Facts About History · Sleepy Facts About History

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Welcome to Sleepy Facts About History. Most people
0:13
know a simple story about the emperor Ashoka.
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He was a cruel conqueror who felt remorse after
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a bloody war, converted to Buddhism, and became
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a peaceful ruler. But the historical Ashoka left
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his own words carved into stone across the Indian
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subcontinent, and those inscriptions tell a much
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more complicated story. This episode examines
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the Mauryan Empire's rock edicts to understand
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how Ashoka actually governed and what his moral
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language was designed to achieve. The inscriptions
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reveal a ruler who expressed profound regret
0:49
for the suffering of the Kalinga War, but who
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also maintained his army, kept his throne, and
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warned rebellious forest peoples of violent punishment.
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Ashoka's concept of Dhamma was not simply Buddhism.
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but a broad civic ethic of tolerance, welfare,
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and respect for authority that served to legitimize
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a coercive state. By appointing moral officers,
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planting trees along imperial roads, and carving
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proclamations in multiple languages from Afghanistan
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to the Deccan, Ashoka created a sophisticated
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system of imperial propaganda. I kept returning
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to one question while working on this episode.
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How far can we trust a conqueror's own words
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about his remorse it is fascinating to look at
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these polished stone pillars and see not just
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a historical confession but a calculated political
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strategy this episode explores the gap between
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the saintly legends and the coercive reality
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of ancient empire looking at how an ancient ruler
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made ethical self -presentation a systematic
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instrument of power the emperor ashoka had 150
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Zero people carried away captive, one hundred
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and zero slain, and many times that number dead.
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Then he had the remorse carved into polished
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rock, low enough for passers -by to read, across
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an empire that stretched from Afghanistan to
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the Deccan. What remains is not a confession,
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but a calculation. It is the earliest systematic
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attempt to make moral language itself an instrument
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of imperial power. There is a story most people
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have heard about the Emperor Ashoka. He was cruel.
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He conquered. He saw the suffering he had caused.
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He converted to Buddhism. He became peaceful,
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even saintly. The lion capital at Sarnath, now
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the national emblem of India, seems to confirm
2:55
this image. It shows a serene wheel of Dharma
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atop four lions. proclaiming a nation built on
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moral awakening. But the real Ashoka left his
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own words carved into stone. At Koli, near the
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eastern coast where he fought his bloodiest war,
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a rock face was smoothed and shaped. Then it
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was cut with Brahmi letters deep enough to catch
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the afternoon shadow. The surface was polished
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to a soft gleam. The inscription sits low on
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the rock. visible to passers -by on the road
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below. It is roughly the size of a small room,
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large enough to be read from a distance, permanent
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enough to outlast any perishable proclamation.
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Similar faces and pillars appear across the Indian
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subcontinent, from Afghanistan to the Deccan.
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They appear in Greek and Aramaic in the northwest,
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and in Brahmi and Karosti scripts elsewhere.
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These inscriptions are the earliest substantial
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corpus of royal proclamations in South Asian
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history. They speak in the king's own voice,
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or at least the voice of his chancery, and they
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tell a more difficult, more interesting story
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than the legend. The question this episode pursues
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is simple to state, and hard to answer. How far
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can we trust a conqueror's own words about his
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remorse? What do Ashoka's edicts actually reveal
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about how he governed, what he believed, and
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what he did? And what does the gap between his
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moral language and the coercive realities of
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the Mauryan state tell us about power, remorse,
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and self -presentation in ancient empire? To
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begin, we need to understand what Ashoka inherited.
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The Mauryan Empire. Founded by his grandfather
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Chandragupta around 322 BCE, was the first large
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-scale imperial state in South Asia. By Ashoka's
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accession, probably around 268 BCE, it stretched
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from Afghanistan to Bengal and south into the
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Deccan Plateau. This was not a nation -state
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in any modern sense. It encompassed dozens of
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peoples, languages and religious traditions.
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These included Brahmanical priests, Buddhist
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monks and nuns, Jain ascetics, Ajivika wanderers,
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local cults, forest dwellers, traders, farmers,
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herders, and slaves. The Mauryan state was centralized
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and coercive, but it was also a physical machine.
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A network of roads connected the imperial capital
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at Pataliputra to provincial centers. Way stations
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stood at measured intervals where official travelers
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could rest, change animals, and obtain supplies.
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Revenue flowed inward through a system of assessment
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and collection that tied agricultural production
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to state granaries and treasuries. A standing
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army, provincial governors, and what appears
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to have been a substantial bureaucracy maintained
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order and extraction. Information moved along
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these same roads carried by officials and perhaps
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by the spies that later tradition, and likely
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reality, attributed to the Morian apparatus.
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The state was visible in its infrastructure.
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It was visible in the maintained surfaces of
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its highways, in the standardization of its weights
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and measures, and in the labor it could command
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to build and to conquer. It was also, by its
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nature, coercive. Empires are built on conquest
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and maintained by the threat and reality of force.
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Ashoka came to this throne in circumstances that
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remain unclear. Later Buddhist sources describe
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a violent succession struggle, but contemporary
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evidence is silent. What we do know is that early
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in his reign, perhaps around 261 BCE, he fought
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a major war against the kingdom of Kalinga on
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the eastern coast. In what is now the state of
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Odisha, the Kalinga War is the pivot point of
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Ashoka's story as he himself tells it. It appears
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in the 13th of his Majorok Edicts, the longest
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and most personal of his inscriptions. Majorok
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Edict the 13th is worth examining closely. It
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is the source of Ashoka's reputation for remorse,
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and it does not say what many people assume it
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says. The edict describes the suffering caused
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by the conquest in formulaic but still striking
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language. 2 ,000 persons were carried away captive,
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it states. 2 ,000 were slain. Many times that
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number died. These numbers are almost certainly
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not literal. They follow conventional formulas
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for expressing catastrophe in ancient Indian
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texts. But the practical meaning of such formulas
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was real enough. Deportation in the ancient world
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meant the breaking of households. It meant the
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removal of people from their land and livelihood.
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It meant the transfer of their labor and lives
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to the conqueror's use. A conquered city meant
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defenders killed, populations marched away, fields
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and houses left to be reoccupied or to stand
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empty. The scale of suffering conveyed by these
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numbers was significant. and the king's response
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to it is the core of the edict. Ashoka writes
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that he was overcome with remorse. The slaughter,
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death, and deportation of the Kalinga campaign
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weighed heavily on him. He felt a profound conversion,
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a turning toward what he calls Dhamma. From this
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point forward, he declares, he will pursue conquest
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by Dhamma rather than by force. He will seek
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to conquer through morality. through persuasion,
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through the example of his own conduct. This
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sounds like pacifism. It is not. The same edict
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that expresses this remorse also contains a warning
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to forest peoples at the edges of the empire.
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They should obey or they will be punished. Ashoka
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did not dissolve his army. He did not renounce
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his throne. He did not become a Buddhist monk,
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as later legends would claim. He remained emperor
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of a conquering state, and he retained the means
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of coercion. What changed was the language in
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which he justified his rule, and the methods
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he claimed to prefer. Conquest by Dammer was
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still conquest. The sword remained in the scabbard,
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but the hand remained on the hilt. This distinction
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matters enormously for understanding what follows.
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Ashoka's remorse was real enough to be carved
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into rock across his empire. but it was also
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a political act. It was a way of legitimizing
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continued rule after a brutal and, by his own
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account, spiritually costly war. The edict is
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a public document, not a private confession.
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It was meant to be read, or heard read aloud
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by subjects, officials, and perhaps by future
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generations. We cannot know how much of Ashoka's
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grief was personal. and how much was performative.
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The edict itself does not permit that separation.
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What we can say is that Ashoka made his remorse
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visible, permanent, and central to his self -presentation
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as ruler. That was itself a remarkable choice
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in ancient statecraft. To understand what Ashoka
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meant by Dharma, we need to set aside the assumption
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that it was simply Buddhism by another name,
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the word Dhamma. The Prakrit form of Sanskrit
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Dharma appears constantly in the Edicts, but
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its content is broader and more civic than sectarian
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doctrine. Across the inscriptions, Dharma means
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a code of ethical conduct. It includes non -injury
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to living beings, truthfulness, respect for parents
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and elders, generosity to ascetics and Brahmins,
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proper treatment of servants and slaves. restraint
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in violence, and religious tolerance. It is a
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language of welfare, respect, and moral instruction.
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It draws on vocabulary shared across multiple
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religious traditions of the period, not on the
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specific metaphysics or monastic discipline of
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Buddhism. Ashoka makes this breadth explicit.
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In Major Rock Edict III, he urges respect for
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all sects. He names Brahmanical, Buddhist, Jain.
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Ajuvaka, and others. He condemns praise of one's
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own sect and denigration of others. He sponsors
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religious donations to multiple communities,
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not only to the Buddhist Sangha. The Barbara
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Edict, addressed specifically to the Buddhist
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clergy, lists texts he recommends. But this is
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one inscription among many, and its specificity
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stands out precisely because the rest of his
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Dhamma language is so deliberately non -sectarian.
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What Ashoka created then was an imperial ethic.
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It was a moral framework for governance that
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could appeal across the religious diversity of
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his empire. It could be presented as universal
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rather than partisan, and it could serve as a
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legitimizing ideology for a state that still
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rested on conquest. This was not secularism in
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any modern sense. The edicts invoke divine witnesses,
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cosmic order, and the king's responsibility for
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the welfare of his subjects in ways that embed
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Dhamma in religious cosmology. But it was also
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not Buddhist missionary work disguised as governance.
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It was something more unusual. It was a ruler
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who made ethical self -presentation a systematic
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instrument of imperial administration. The institutionalization
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of Dhamma is where the edicts become most concrete.
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It is also where we can begin to ask how far
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proclamations reveal practice. Ashoka appointed
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a new category of officials, the Dhamma Hamah
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Matas, or Officers of Dhamma. These appear in
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Major Rock Edict Phi as officials charged with
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promoting ethical conduct and welfare across
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the empire. Their work extended among his own
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household, among his relatives, among officials,
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among soldiers, among ordinary people, and even
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among religious communities. Their precise functions
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are not fully described but the edicts suggest
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something of their scope. They were to ensure
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that wells were dug where promised. They were
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to ensure that medical herbs were available.
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They were to ensure that disputes between sects
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were resolved. They were to ensure that servants
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and slaves were treated properly. They were to
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ensure that the king's moral instructions reached
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the places they were meant to reach. They seemed
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to have combined moral supervision with welfare
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administration, and perhaps with judicial or
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conciliatory roles. They were, in effect, an
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innovation in imperial governance. They were
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officials whose explicit purpose was not extraction
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or military control, but moral improvement. Their
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work would have taken them along the same roads
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that carried soldiers and tax collectors, but
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with a different charge. Other measures follow
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in the edicts with surprising specificity. Major
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Rock Edict II describes the provision of medical
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care for humans and animals. It describes the
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planting of medicinal herbs, roots, and fruits.
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It describes the digging of wells and planting
15:30
of trees along roads for the benefit of travelers
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and beasts of burden. Pilar Edict VII returns
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to this theme. It mentions the planting of banyan
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trees and mango groves, the construction of rest
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houses, the digging of wells and the installation
15:47
of watering stations. These are not abstract
15:50
moral exhortations. They are concrete infrastructure
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projects. They are the kind of thing that leaves
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archaeological traces, and that would have been
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visible to people using the imperial roads. A
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traveller in the dry season might pass from the
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open sun into the shade of a banyan planted by
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royal order. He might find water at a well dug
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for people and animals alike. He might rest at
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a house built for that purpose. The road itself,
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with its maintained surface and its stations,
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was an imperial project the trees and wells along
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it made that project feel at least an intention
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like something more than mere passage for armies
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and officials we also find evidence of administrative
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communication across the empire's linguistic
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diversity the edicts were not issued in a single
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imperial language in the northwest at kandahar
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in modern afghanistan Ashoka's inscriptions appear
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in Greek and Aramaic. They were carved into the
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same rock face where other messages might have
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appeared in other tongues, reflecting the region's
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cultural heritage under Achaemenid and Hellenistic
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influence. A traveler from the Hellenistic world,
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literate in Greek, could read the emperor's words
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in a script he recognized at the edge of an empire
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that stretched far beyond the familiar Mediterranean.
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Elsewhere, The edicts appear in various Prakrit
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dialects. They appear in Brahmi script in most
17:29
of India and in Kharoshti in the northwest. This
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multilingual, multi -script approach was not
17:36
merely practical. It was a statement about the
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nature of the empire. It was an empire that could
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speak in local voices while maintaining a unified
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message. The content varies slightly by region,
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suggesting adaptation to local circumstances.
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rather than rigid central dictation. So, what
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can we conclude about practice? The edicts certainly
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reveal intention. They show a ruler who thought
18:05
systematically about moral legitimation. They
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show a ruler who created new administrative structures.
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They show a ruler who sponsored visible public
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works. And they show a ruler who communicated
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across cultural boundaries with considerable
18:22
sophistication. The archaeological remains of
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Ashurkan pillars and rock edict sites confirm
18:30
that these inscriptions were physically produced,
18:33
transported and installed across vast distances.
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The pillars themselves were a massive undertaking.
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They were quarried from sandstone beds and polished
18:44
to a high sheen that catches and holds light.
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Some of these monoliths weigh 50 tons or more.
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They were moved over land and river. perhaps
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on rollers perhaps on rafts to sites chosen for
18:59
visibility they were placed at crossroads near
19:02
sacred places at the edges of empire erected
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upright with their animal capitals of lions elephants
19:09
and bulls carved with remarkable skill they stood
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taller than a person standing on the capital
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they were visible from a distance They were markers
19:21
of imperial presence that required coordinated
19:23
labor across vast territories to produce and
19:26
install. But the edicts also raise questions
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they cannot answer. How effective were the Dhamma
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Hamatas? Did the wells and trees reach the places
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claimed? Were the medical provisions substantial
19:42
or symbolic? The inscriptions tell us what Ashoka
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wanted people to believe about his governance.
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not what subjects actually experienced. Archaeological
19:53
evidence for Mauryan welfare infrastructure remains
19:56
limited. We cannot assume that proclaimed measures
19:59
were fully implemented any more than we can assume
20:02
they were entirely fictitious. The honest answer
20:06
is that we do not know, and the edicts themselves
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are not designed to tell us. What we can say
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with confidence is that Ashoka's moral language
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remained embedded in the unequal power of empire.
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The same ruler who planted trees for travelers
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warned forest peoples of punishment. The same
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ruler who expressed remorse for Kalinga retained
20:29
the army that had conquered it. The same ruler
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who urged respect for all sects spoke from a
20:36
position of absolute authority. His edicts were
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carved into immovable rock. His image was stamped
20:43
on currency. His name was carried on pillars
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that required massive, coordinated labor to produce
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and install. Dhamma was not an alternative to
20:53
imperial power. It was a mode of imperial power.
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It was a way of making conquests palatable, of
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making authority seem benevolent, of making the
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emperor appear accessible to his subjects, even
21:07
as he remained fundamentally unaccountable to
21:10
them. This brings us to the other major source
21:13
for Ashoka's life. and to a crucial correction
21:16
in how we understand his historical image. The
21:21
Buddhist legends that have so powerfully shaped
21:23
popular memory of Ashoka were composed centuries
21:27
after his death. They appear in texts like the
21:31
Ashokavadana in Sanskrit, the Divyavadana, and
21:35
the Pali chronicle Mahavamsa from Sri Lanka.
21:38
These are not contemporary records. They are
21:42
hagiographies. They are saint -making literature
21:46
produced by and for Buddhist communities, with
21:50
their own didactic and sectarian purposes. The
21:54
later legends magnify both poles of Ashoka's
21:57
story. They magnify his cruelty before conversion
22:01
and his sanctity afterward. The Ashoka Vardhana,
22:05
probably compiled around the 2nd century CE,
22:08
describes Ashoka's early reign as a reign of
22:12
terror. It tells of a hell prison he supposedly
22:15
built, a place of ingenious tortures where he
22:18
tested the limits of human suffering. It describes
22:22
the massacre of Atuvika ascetics, the execution
22:25
of ministers, and the general atmosphere of arbitrary
22:29
violence. Then, after his conversion to Buddhism,
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the legends describe an equally exaggerated sanctity.
22:38
They describe the building of 84 ,000 stupas,
22:42
They describe the convening of the Third Buddhist
22:44
Council. They describe the sending of missionaries
22:48
to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. They describe
22:51
the transformation of the empire into a Buddhist
22:54
paradise. None of this appears in the edicts.
22:59
The 84 ,000 stupas are a legendary number, not
23:03
an archaeological fact. The Third Buddhist Council
23:07
is mentioned only in later Buddhist sources,
23:10
not in Ashoka's own inscriptions. The Hell Prison
23:14
is almost certainly a fiction, a narrative device
23:17
to heighten the drama of conversion. The missionaries
23:21
to Sri Lanka may reflect some historical memory
23:24
of contact, but the edicts say nothing about
23:27
organized missionary expeditions. What the legends
23:31
give us is not Ashoka as he was, but Ashoka as
23:35
Buddhist communities needed him to be. They give
23:38
us a model of the wicked king redeemed, the persecutor
23:41
turned patron. the supreme example of Buddhist
23:44
transformative power. This does not mean the
23:47
legends are worthless as historical sources.
23:50
They tell us a great deal about how Buddhist
23:53
communities remembered and used Ashoka's image
23:55
in the centuries after his death. They shaped
23:59
his reputation for 2 ,000 years, and they continue
24:03
to shape it today, but they cannot be read as
24:06
transparent records of his reign. When we compare
24:10
the legends with the edicts, What emerges is
24:13
not a simple choice between truth and fiction.
24:17
What emerges is a layered history of memory and
24:20
self -presentation. Ashoka crafted one image
24:24
of himself in his inscriptions. Later Buddhist
24:28
tradition crafted another. Modern popular history
24:31
has often conflated the two. It has taken the
24:35
emotional arc of the legends and attributed it
24:38
to the edicts. The edicts themselves are, of
24:42
course, also crafted. They are royal self -presentation,
24:46
not unmediated confession. Ashoka chose what
24:51
to inscribe, where to place it, and how to frame
24:54
it. The very permanence of rock and polished
24:58
pillar was part of the message. This king's words
25:02
would endure, unlike the perishable proclamations
25:05
of earlier rulers. The physical act of carving
25:09
was itself a demonstration of imperial capacity.
25:12
It was visible, labor -intensive, and required
25:16
coordination across vast distances. The edicts
25:21
are propaganda in the neutral sense of the term.
25:23
They propagate a particular view of the ruler
25:26
and his regime. They are also, in many cases,
25:30
beautiful objects. The polished sandstone gleams.
25:36
The animal capitals are carved with remarkable
25:38
skill. The Brahmi script is clear and confident.
25:43
To read them well requires holding several things
25:47
in mind at once. They are the earliest substantial
25:51
royal voice from ancient India, and they are
25:54
precious for that reason. They are also carefully
25:57
constructed performances of royal virtue. They
26:01
describe genuine administrative innovations.
26:06
The welfare measures and the multilingual communication
26:09
all suggest real engagement with governance.
26:13
They also contain silences and evasions. They
26:17
say nothing about the succession struggle. They
26:21
say nothing about the continued functioning of
26:23
the coercive state. They say nothing about the
26:26
labor required to produce these monuments. They
26:30
say nothing about the perspectives of those who
26:32
are conquered or enslaved. The central question
26:36
of this episode, How far proclamations reveal
26:39
practice does not admit of a simple answer. What
26:43
the Edicts reveal most clearly is that Ashoka
26:46
understood the political utility of moral language.
26:50
He was not the first ancient ruler to present
26:52
himself as benevolent, but he was among the earliest
26:56
to make ethical self -presentation so systematic,
27:00
so geographically extensive, and so central to
27:03
the legitimation of empire. Whether he also felt
27:07
genuine remorse for Kalinga is a question the
27:10
edicts raise but cannot settle. The grief he
27:13
expresses is public, formulaic in its numbers,
27:17
and strategically placed at the centre of his
27:20
self -presentation. It is also, by the standards
27:23
of ancient royal inscriptions, unusually personal
27:26
and sustained. We are left with the probability
27:30
that both elements were present. He was a ruler
27:33
who felt something genuine. and who also understood
27:36
how to use that feeling to consolidate his authority.
27:40
The Mauryan state that Ashokra ruled did not
27:43
long survive him. Within about 50 years of his
27:47
death, perhaps around 232 BCE, the empire had
27:51
fragmented. The causes of this decline are debated.
27:55
They include succession disputes, regional pressures,
27:59
economic strains, and the difficulty of holding
28:02
together such a diverse and extensive realm.
28:06
But the edicts give us little direct evidence
28:08
about it. They are the voice of a ruler at the
28:12
height of his power, not a retrospective account
28:15
of failure. What remains, then, is the voice
28:19
itself. It is carved in stone, distributed across
28:23
a subcontinent, speaking in multiple languages
28:26
of remorse and welfare. It speaks of trees planted
28:30
and wells dug. It speaks of respect for all sects
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and obedience to the king. Ashoka's edicts allow
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us to see, for the first time in South Asian
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history, an emperor publicly justifying his rule
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in ethical terms. He did this while still holding
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the sword, still warning the recalcitrant, still
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presiding over an empire built on conquest. He
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was neither the saint of Buddhist legend nor
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the cynical hypocrite that a too skeptical reading
29:01
might suggest. He was a ruler who found in Dhamma
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a way to govern. to remember, and to be remembered.
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He found a moral language that could travel across
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cultures, that could outlast his dynasty, and
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that could make the violence of empire appear,
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in the record he left behind, as something that
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might be redeemed.