Dhamma/dharma is a widely pervasive idea in Indian thought, but its meaning is not identical in all contexts. Most of Ashoka’s inscriptions are discourses on dhamma (the Prakrit form of dharma). Pillar edict 6 reveals that the practice of having inscriptions on dhamma (dhamma lipi) inscribed in various parts of the empire began 12 (expired) years after the abhisheka (consecration). From this time onwards, until the end of his long reign, Ashoka seems to have been obsessed with explaining and propagating dhamma. His inscriptions are a rich source of information on his ideas about the relationship between political power, goodness, and non-violence. We can imagine that Ashoka’s obsession with propagating dhamma must have been detrimental to attending to his routine royal duties. While the inscriptions are quite eloquent and precise about what dhamma consisted of, historians have different assessments of its nature, especially its relationship with Ashoka’s personal faith in the Buddha’s teaching.
According to the inscriptions, dhamma includes what is good (sadhu); because one should practise goodness, dhamma also has a sense of duty. The reasons why one should be good have to do with the idea of kamma/karma, which is not specifically mentioned but is definitely implied. Goodness yields merit (punya) and beneficial fruits in the next life and can lead to heaven (svaga). The specific virtues that are part of dhamma include self-control, purity of thought, liberality, gratitude, firm devotion, truthfulness, and purity. The conduct towards all living beings should be marked by compassion, gentleness, and abstention from injuring and killing. The theme of ahimsa (non-injury) is an important aspect of Ashoka’s dhamma and is frequently mentioned and emphasised.
Rock edict 1 announces bans on animal sacrifices (at some or all places?) and on certain kinds of festive gatherings that probably included the killing of animals, and also reports a reduction in the killing of animals for food in the royal kitchens. Pillar edict 5 refers to more sweeping prohibitions promulgated by Ashoka, 26 years after his consecration. Clearly, it would have been impossible to implement such prohibitions over the vast Maurya empire.
The good conduct and social responsibilities that were part of dhamma were anchored to certain key relationships. Rock edict 9 begins with a criticism of ceremonies performed by people, especially women, on occasions such as illness, marriage, birth, and setting forth on journeys. Such rituals are described as producing uncertain and meagre results. Ashoka contrasts these with the ceremony of dhamma, which is bound to yield results in this world (ie, this life) and the next. The ceremony of dhamma is described as consisting of proper courtesy to slaves and servants, respectful behaviour towards elders, restraint in one’s dealings with all living beings, and liberality to shramanas (renunciants) and Brahmanas. Rock edict 11 refers to the gift of dhamma being the best of all gifts. It is said to comprise the following: proper courtesy to slaves and servants, obedience to mother and father, liberality (ie, generosity) towards friends, acquaintances, and relatives as well as to Brahmanas and shramanas, and abstaining from killing living beings.
Another important aspect of Ashoka’s dhamma was the inculcation of mutual respect and concord among people belonging to different religious sects or religious communities. This clearly indicates that dhamma did not consist in the promotion of a particular sect, Buddhist or otherwise. This aspect of dhamma has often been referred to as “religious toleration”, which does not capture its full meaning or intention. Rock edict 12 makes it clear that the king expected people to exercise restraint in criticising other sects and in praising their own. But he was also asking for something much more positive. He was urging people to honour and try to understand the dhamma of others. He wanted to promote the essentials (sara-vadhi) of all religions. His was an earnest appeal for religious dialogue and concord.
One of the most remarkable and innovative aspects of Ashoka’s idea of his own dhamma and the dhamma of a king was his renunciation of warfare and his re-definition of righteous conquest. Ashoka’s goals and activities correspond in many ways to the image of the ideal king – the chakkavatti dhammiko dhammaraja (righteous universal ruler) – of the Buddhist tradition. This king establishes his control over the four quarters through righteousness, not through violence or force. Rival kings do not resist, and happily accept his sovereignty, which in any case is not about territorial conquest but spreading dhamma. At the same time, in the Mahasuddasana Sutta in the Digha Nikaya, the shadow of force is present, as the wheel of the exemplary king Sudassana moves forward, accompanied by the four-fold army.
Ashoka seems to have taken the Buddhist idea of dhamma-vijaya one step further, with dhamma missionaries replacing the king and his army. This is explicated in the 13th major rock edict. This inscription gives Ashoka’s account of the war against Kalinga, eight years after his abhisheka, and his consequent feeling of profound remorse. This is followed by a reasoned critique of war, pointing out that it led, directly or indirectly, to suffering for all. Dhamma-vijaya is described as the best kind of conquest, and the king claims to have achieved it over the Yavanas, Kambojas, Nabhakas, Nabhapanktis, Bhojas, Pitinikas, Andhras, Pulindas, Cholas, and Pandyas. Outside the subcontinent, he claims to have attained dhamma-vijaya in the dominions of Antiochus II, Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt, Magas of Cyrene (in north Africa), Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia, and Alexander of Epirus or Corinth.
The edict ends with Ashoka expressing the hope that his successors would not embark on any fresh conquest by arms, and that if they could not avoid it, they should at least not be harsh to conquered people. However, tucked away in this pacifist manifesto is a stern warning issued to the forest people. A similar sentiment is expressed in separate rock edict 2 at Dhauli and Jaugada.
The epigraphic form of Ashoka’s dhamma message coexisted with documentary forms maintained in administrative offices, and the message was also circulated orally by various officials and by the king himself. While Ashoka’s inscriptions represent a new and powerful attempt at imperial communication, he was not really trying to speak directly to his people. Most people in his empire would not have known how to read or write, and the location of some of the inscriptions would have made them difficult to read, even for a literate person. The audience of the edicts consisted of three parts – the direct audience consisted of high-ranking administrative officials; the indirect audience were Ashoka’s subjects, who were supposed to receive his message through various intermediaries, largely in oral form; and the future audience was posterity.
Due to limited literacy among his subjects and the difficulty of reading the inscriptions, Ashoka made elaborate arrangements for the oral propagation of his message. Even in the inscriptions, the king is “speaking” to his subjects – many of the edicts begin with the phrase, “Thus, speaks Devanampiya Piyadasi.” The separate rock edicts suggest that the edicts were read out and that people listened to them on certain auspicious days such as the full moon days of the months of Ashadha, Karttika, and Phalguna, and the day of the Tishya constellation. Ashoka’s message of dhamma was also orally propagated by officials such as the kumaras, yutas, rajukas, mahamatas, anta-mahamatas, pulisani, and members of the parishad. Rock edict 3 states that the rajukas and pradeshikas were to go on tours of inspection every five years as part of their other duties, as well as for preaching dhamma.
Ashoka created a special cadre of dhamma mahamatas 13 years after his consecration. Rock edict 5 enjoins them to spread dhamma within the kingdom and among border people such as the Yonas, Kambojas, Gandharas, Rishtikas, and Pitinikas. They were to move around among members of all sects and were to promote the welfare and happiness of servants, masters, traders, farmers, Brahmanas, prisoners, the aged, the destitute, and the king’s relatives.
The chief disseminator of the dhamma message was, however, Ashoka himself. In major rock edict 8, he states that earlier kings used to go on pleasure tours consisting of hunts and other pastimes. Ten years after his abhisheka, he made a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya. Thenceforth, the royal pleasure tours (vihara-yatas) were replaced by dhamma tours (dhamma-yatas). The latter involved visiting Brahmanas and shramanas and giving them gifts, visiting aged folk and distributing gold to them, meeting people of the countryside, instructing them in dhamma, and questioning them about dhamma. Ashoka asserts that he derived more pleasure from these dhamma tours than from anything else. Minor rock edict 1 tells us that he had spent 256 nights (or days) on tour, no doubt busy spreading dhamma. The time he must have spent roaming around his empire, giving dhamma lectures, and his steadily increasing obsession with making his subjects – indeed the whole world – good must have made Ashoka impatient with the routine affairs of governance.
Although Ashoka’s dhamma was clearly inspired by the Buddhist upasaka dhamma (dhamma for the laity), it was not identical to it. Ashoka was an innovator. His dhamma was a set of teachings that could not be identified with narrow sectarian belief. Ashoka’s statement that all sects have in common an emphasis on self-control and purity of mind (rock edict 7) indicates that he did not consider dhamma to be the preserve of any specific religious group. The dhamma mahamatas were to occupy themselves with all sects (pasandas). It is even more evident in Ashoka’s statements (in rock edict 12) that he honours all sects and that people should respect one another’s dhamma.
Inscriptions in the Barabar hills indicate that Ashoka extended his patronage to ascetics of the Ajivika sect. His idea of dhamma-vijaya also took the ideal reflected in Buddhist texts a step further. In rock edict 12, Ashoka’s expression of a desire for growth of the essentials of all sects and an atmosphere of concord (samavaya), went far beyond the espousal of any particular religious doctrine. It was a passionate plea for genuine inter-religious dialogue and harmony.
Ashoka’s edicts express his imperial vision, which emerged from his personal reflections and convictions, his faith in Buddhism, and the realities and problems of governing a large, culturally and economically highly variegated, 3rd-century BCE Indian empire. While the cultivation of virtues and self-control are emphasised in many early Indian traditions, Ashoka made this the cornerstone of his political philosophy and propagated it passionately throughout his long reign. Although Buddhist legend heralds him as a paradigmatic Buddhist king, his inscriptions tell a more complex story. Ashoka did not seek to create a Buddhist state but a dhammic, moral, state.
Excerpted with permission from A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, Upinder Singh, Pearson.