Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor (54 page)

The Pillar Edicts

These are the edicts on the stone columns found at Firoz Shah’s Lat (originally from Topra), Delhi Ridge (originally
from Meerut), Allahabad (originally from Kausambi), Lauriya-Nandangarh, Lauriya-Araraj and Rampurva. Only the first of these carries RE 7. The so-called Queen’s Edict found at Allahabad has not been included.

1

Beloved-of-the-Gods speaks thus: This Dharma edict was written twenty-six years after my coronation. Happiness in this world and the next is difficult to obtain without much love for the Dharma, much self-examination, much respect, much fear (of evil), and much enthusiasm. But through my instruction this regard for Dharma and love of Dharma has grown day by day, and will continue to grow. And my officers of high, low and middle rank are practising and conforming to Dharma, and are capable of inspiring others to do the same. Mahamatras in border areas are doing the same. And these are my instructions: to protect with Dharma, to make happiness through Dharma and to guard with Dharma.

2

Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: Dharma is good, but what constitutes Dharma? (It includes) little evil, much good, kindness, generosity, truthfulness and purity. I have given the gift of sight in various ways. To two-footed and four-footed beings, to birds and aquatic animals, I have given various things including the gift of life. And many other good deeds have been done by me.

This Dharma edict has been written that people might follow it and it might endure for a long time. And the one who follows it properly will do something good.

3

Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: People see only their good deeds saying, ‘I have done this good deed.’ But they do not see their evil deeds saying, ‘I have done this evil deed’ or ‘This is called evil’. But this (tendency) is difficult to see. One should think like this: ‘It is these things that lead to evil, to violence, to cruelty, anger, pride and jealousy. Let me not ruin myself with these things.’ And further, one should think: ‘This leads to happiness in this world and the next.’

4

Beloved-of-the-Gods speaks thus: This Dharma edict was written twenty-six years after my coronation. My Rajjukas are working among the people, among many hundreds of thousands of people. The hearing of petitions and the administration of justice has been left to them so that they can do their duties confidently and fearlessly and so that they can work for the welfare, happiness and benefit of the people in the country. But they should remember what causes happiness and sorrow, and being themselves devoted to Dharma, they should encourage the people in the country (to do the same), that they may attain happiness in this world and the next. These Rajjukas are eager to serve me. They also obey other officers who know my desires, who instruct the Rajjukas so that they can please me. Just as a person feels confident having entrusted his child to an expert nurse thinking, ‘The nurse will keep my child well’, even so, the Rajjukas have been appointed by me for the welfare and happiness of the people in the country.

The hearing of petitions and the administration of justice have been left to the Rajjukas so that they can do their duties
unperturbed, fearlessly and confidently. It is my desire that there should be uniformity in law and uniformity in sentencing. I even go this far, to grant a three-day stay for those in prison who have been tried and sentenced to death. During this time their relatives can make appeals to have the prisoners’ lives spared. If there is none to appeal on their behalf, the prisoners can give gifts in order to make merit for the next world, or observe fasts. Indeed, it is my wish that in this way, even if a prisoner’s time is limited, he can prepare for the next world, and that people’s Dharma practice, self-control and generosity may grow.

5

Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: Twenty-six years after my coronation various animals were declared to be protected – parrots, mainas,
aruna,
ruddy geese, wild ducks,
nandimukhas, gelatas,
bats, queen ants, terrapins, boneless fish,
vedareyaka, gangapuputaka, sankiya
fish, tortoises, porcupines, squirrels, deer, bulls,
okapinda,
wild asses, wild pigeons, domestic pigeons and all four-footed creatures that are neither useful nor edible. Those nanny goats, ewes and sows which are with young or giving milk to their young are protected, and so are young ones less than six months old. Cocks are not to be caponised, husks hiding living beings are not to be burnt and forests are not to be burnt either without reason or to kill creatures. One animal is not to be fed to another. On the three Caturmasis, the three days of Tisa and during the fourteenth and fifteenth of the Uposatha, fish are protected and not to be sold. During these days animals are not to be killed in the elephant reserves or the fish reserves either. On the eighth of every fortnight, on the fourteenth and fifteenth, on Tisa, Punarvasu, the
three Caturmasis and other auspicious days, bulls are not to be castrated, billy goats, rams, boars and other animals that are usually castrated are not to be. On Tisa, Punarvasu, Caturmasis and the fortnight of Caturmasis, horses and bullocks are not be branded.

In the twenty-six years since my coronation prisoners have been given amnesty on twenty-five occasions.

6

Beloved-of-the-Gods speaks thus: Twelve years after my coronation I started to have Dharma edicts written for the welfare and happiness of the people, and so that not transgressing them they might grow in the Dharma. Thinking, ‘How can the welfare and happiness of the people be secured?’ I give attention to my relatives, to those dwelling near and those dwelling far, so I can lead them to happiness and then I act accordingly. I do the same for all groups. I have honoured all religions with various honours. But I consider it best to meet with people personally.

This Dharma edict was written twenty-six years after my coronation.

7

Beloved-of-the-Gods speaks thus: In the past kings desired that the people might grow through the promotion of the Dharma. But despite this, people did not grow through the promotion of the Dharma. Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, said concerning this: ‘It occurs to me that in the past kings desired that the people might grow through the promotion of the Dharma. But despite this, people did not grow through the promotion of the Dharma. Now how can the people be encouraged to follow
it? How can the people be encouraged to grow through the promotion of the Dharma? How can I elevate them by promoting the Dharma?’ Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, further said concerning this: ‘It occurs to me that I shall have proclamations on Dharma announced and instruction on Dharma given. When people hear these, they will follow them, elevate themselves and grow considerably through the promotion of the Dharma.’ It is for this purpose that proclamations on Dharma have been announced and various instructions on Dharma have been given and that officers who work among many promote and explain them in detail. The Rajjukas who work among hundreds of thousands of people have likewise been ordered: ‘In this way and that encourage those who are devoted to Dharma.’ Beloved-of-the-Gods speaks thus: ‘Having this object in view, I have set up Dharma pillars, appointed Dharma Mahamatras, and announced Dharma proclamations.’

Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, says: Along roads I have had banyan trees planted so that they can give shade to animals and men, and I have had mango groves planted. At intervals of eight
krosas,
I have had wells dug, rest-houses built, and in various places I have had watering-places made for the use of animals and men. But these are but minor achievements. Such things to make the people happy have been done by former kings. I have done these things for this purpose, that the people might practise the Dharma.

Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: My Dharma Mahamatras too are occupied with various good works among the ascetics and householders of all religions. I have ordered that they should be occupied with the affairs of the Sangha. I have also ordered that they should be occupied with the affairs of the Brahmans and the Ajivikas. I have ordered that
they be occupied with the Niganthas. In fact, I have ordered that different Mahamatras be occupied with the particular affairs of all different religions. And my Dharma Mahamatras likewise are occupied with these and other religions.

Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: These and other principal officers are occupied with the distribution of gifts, mine as well as those of the queens. In my women’s quarters, they organise various charitable activities here and in the provinces. I have also ordered my sons and the sons of other queens to distribute gifts so that noble deeds of Dharma and the practice of Dharma may be promoted. And noble deeds of Dharma and the practice of Dharma consist of having kindness, generosity, truthfulness, purity, gentleness and goodness increase among the people.

Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: Whatever good deeds have been done by me, those the people accept and those they follow. Therefore they have progressed and will continue to progress by being respectful to mother and father, respectful to elders, by courtesy to the aged and proper behaviour towards Brahmans and ascetics, towards the poor and distressed, and even towards servants and employees.

Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: This progress among the people through Dharma has been done by two means, by Dharma regulations and by persuasion. Of these, Dharma regulation is of little effect, while persuasion has much more effect. The Dharma regulations I have given are that various animals must be protected. And I have given many other Dharma regulations also. But it is by persuasion that progress among the people through Dharma has had a greater effect in respect of harmlessness to living beings and non-killing of living beings.

Concerning this, Beloved-of-the-Gods says: Wherever there are stone pillars or stone slabs, there this Dharma edict is to be engraved so that it may long endure. It has been engraved so that it may endure as long as my sons and great-grandsons live and as long as the sun and the moon shine, and so that people may practise it as instructed. For by practising it happiness will be attained in this world and the next.

This Dharma edict has been written by me twenty-seven years after my coronation.

Prakrit
, meaning ‘ordinary’, is the name given to a group of Indo-Iranian vernacular languages from which both Pali and Sanskrit emerged as ‘classical’ languages restricted by caste and religion. The dominant form of Prakrit was that spoken across the Gangetic plains centred on the ancient kingdom of Magadha. This became the lingua franca of the subcontinent with regional variations.

Sanskrit is a classical form of Prakrit, its structure probably formalised in the fourth century
BCE
by the grammarian Panini, who refined the archaic Vedic Sanskrit of an earlier age to make it more cultured. Hindus, Jains and (originally) Buddhists considered Sanskrit to be a language of the gods, and thus a sacred language exclusive to the Brahman priestly caste.

Pali originated as a sophisticated form of Prakrit, probably that spoken by the educated classes in the Magadhan region at the time of Sakyamuni Buddha and his contemporary the Jain teacher Mahavira, so that when the canonical texts of the Buddhists and Jains came to be written down in the first–second century CE they were first set down in Pali. It was most probably formalised at or just before the time of Ashoka, afterwards becoming the sacred language of the Theravada or Southern tradition of Buddhism, centred on the island of Tamraparni, Singhala or Lanka (afterwards Ceylon and now Sri Lanka). Within India, however, Pali was supplanted by Sanskrit as a sacred language, and it was in Sanskrit form that the Buddhist sacred texts were exported into Tibet and along the Silk Road to China and beyond.

The Kharosthi script was developed by the Gandharans in what is today the Afghan–Pakistan border region to write not only their own Gandhari language but Prakrit. It was almost certainly developed and applied before the Brahmi alphabet was invented in India proper, most probably but not verifiably at the time of Ashoka’s grandfather Chandragupta. It has obvious links with the Aramaic alphabet that entered the Gandharan region following the Achaemenid conquest but was conceived to better express the sounds of the Prakrit languages.

The Brahmi alphabet has been described as the ancestor of most of the alphabets of South-East Asia. Despite claims that proto-Brahmi writing dating back to the sixth century
BCE
has been found in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu,
the general consensus today is that the Brahmi alphabet was formalised at about the time of Emperor Ashoka, possibly from a pre-existing script, but devised to give written expression to Prakrit speech and was intended to be an improvement on the Kharosthi script used in Gandhara and the Upper Punjab. Like Kharosthi, Brahmi is a script in which each letter of the alphabet represents a consonant preceding the vowel ‘a’, the other vowels being represented through diacritical marks added to the consonants. Its early usage appears to have been restricted initially to royal edicts and royal donors’ inscriptions on religious structures.

For the full picture see Professor Richard Salomon’s masterly
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages
, 1998.

Preface. The King Without Sorrow

1
Built in the form of a giant chariot drawn by horses, the Surya temple at Konarak was erected by Raja Narasimhadeva in the thirteenth century to mark his victory over the forces of darkness, with the Buddhist elephant represented as a malign beast crushing man in his trunk. Pockets of Buddhism survived in what was then Kalinga and is now Orissa longer than anywhere else in India before its final extinction in the thirteenth century.

2
In his book
Orientalism
, published in 1978, Said argued that these Orientalists were inspired not by the new spirit of enquiry central to the European Enlightenment but by an intellectual imperialism that sought to control and contain subject peoples and to objectify them. Said’s
Orientalism
has since been thoroughly discredited. See, for example, Robert Irwin,
The Lust for Knowing: the Orientalists and the Enemies
, 2006, and Ibn Warraq,
Defending the West: a Critique of Edward Said’s Orientalism
, 2007. For a wider take on the debate in the Indian context see Sheldon Pollock,
The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India
, 2006.