HISTORY
Subject
:
History
(For under graduate student)
Paper No.
:
Paper-I
History of India
Topic No. & Title
:
Topic-8
Mauryan Empire
Lecture No. & Title
:
Lecture-3
Reign of Asoka
Reign of Asoka
The history of the Mauryas enters its most significant
stage during the reign of the third ruler of the dynasty,
Asoka, who has left behind an enormous influence on
Indian history. He was indeed the most important and
celebrated of the political figures of this dynasty, and his
reign spanned nearly four decades (c.273-232 BC.).
One of the major advantages of studying the reign of
Asoka is the availability of a large number of his lithic
records or inscriptions, which Asoka himself caused to be
engraved on durable and imperishable surfaces (rocks
and pillars). Apart from the inscriptions, Asoka also
figures prominently in later Buddhist texts like the
Divyavadana, the Asokavadana, and in the Sri Lankan
Buddhist texts the Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa.
However these texts did not belong to the Maurya age,
and they often tried to overemphasize the role of
Buddhism in shaping Asoka’s life. This makes the
inscriptions the mainstay of our knowledge of Asoka.
The details of Asoka’s early life are not clear, except for
the fact that he succeeded his father Bindusara around
273 BC., and that his coronation (abhisheka) took place
only in 269 BC. This gap of four years may have been
because he was involved in a fratricidal struggle to
ensure his accession to the throne. Buddhist texts have
referred to Asoka as chandasoka (cruel person) for
having killed a hundred of his brothers in order to ascend
the throne. In portraying Asoka in such a poor light, the
Buddhist
texts
were
actually
trying
to
stress
the
transformative nature of the Buddhist religion, which was
able to change the character of a ruler from chandasoka
to dharmasoka (pious one). It is noteworthy however,
that nowhere in his inscriptions has Asoka spoken of any
such rivalry for neither capturing power, nor that did he
massacre his brothers. On the contrary in his edicts we
find that he clearly instructs his officials to take proper
care of his brothers (olodhanesu). The possibility of a
rivalry however cannot be entirely ruled out, as there
were precedents of such feuds in previous Magadhan
regimes.
Inscriptions of Asoka
With Asoka began the tradition of inscribing words on
stone or on other imperishable materials. There are eight
types of Asokan inscriptions, strewn over a very wide
area of the subcontinent.
The first category is termed the Major rock edicts, of
which there are fourteen. These are called major rock
edicts as they were inscribed on rocks or boulders and
were long statements. Each edict was separated from the
other by a horizontal line drawn where one edict ended
and
another
began,
instructions of Asoka.
done
consciously
under
the
The next category consists of two Minor rock edicts, also
inscribed on rock surfaces or boulders, strewn over a
large area. They are so called as the size of the edicts
was smaller.
There are seven pillar edicts, engraved on the famous
Mauryan pillars. Here too horizontal lines were used to
demarcate one edict from another. The statements
engraved on the surface of the pillar were pretty long.
Another category was known as minor pillar edicts, in
which the inscriptions engraved on the pillar were shorter
in size.
There are a few minor pillar inscriptions different from
minor
pillar
edicts,
as
these
do
not
contain
any
instructions, but record certain events.
There is only one specimen of a sixth type found from
Bairat in Rajasthan.
The seventh type of rock edicts have been found only in
Kalinga (Orissa), from Dhauli (near Bhubaneswar), and
from Jaugada (Ganjam district, and thus have been
labelled as the Kalinga rock edicts or as Separate rock
edicts.
The eighth type of inscriptions has been found in cave
shelters in the Gaya region, at the Barabar rocks near the
Nagarjuna hills.
Along with these may be included two inscriptions, of
which one is from Mahasthan, a large excavated site in
the northern part of Bangladesh; and the other from
Sohgaura, close to the Gorakhpur area of Uttar Pradesh.
All the inscriptions were written in the Prakrit language,
in Brahmi and in Kharoshti script (the earliest known
instances of Indian script). Brahmi in fact, written from
left to right, is considered the mother of all ancient
Indian scripts. Kharoshti on the other hand was written
from right to left. It must be noted that Asoka did not use
Sanskrit as the choice of his language. The Kharoshti
script was mainly used in the inscriptions found in the
north-western
part
of
the
sub
continent,
while
inscriptions written in Brahmi script are found over the
greater part of the main land of India.
Till 1984, Asokan inscriptions implied edicts written in the
Prakrit language and engraved in Brahmi and Kharoshti
script. But since the publication of the book ‘Studies in
the Aramaic edicts of Asoka’ by Professor B.N. Mukherjee
(1984) a completely new world has been revealed to us.
We learn that Asoka issued as many as seven inscriptions
(from Taxila, and different parts of Afghanistan) written
in two non Indian languages with non-Indian scripts. The
two languages and scripts used were Greek and Aramaic.
Aramaic was actually one of the most popular languages
and scripts of West Asia and written like Kharoshti from
right to left.
Asoka
himself
referred
to
these
inscriptions
as
Dhammalipi, as they were often engraved for the
propagation of Dhamma or his idea of piety. The term
edict means promulgation of certain instructions, almost
like laws or present day ordinances. Most of the Asokan
inscriptions were in the form of royal proclamations,
promulgations, or new directives, although there were
two or three which only record certain events.
In his inscriptions Asoka is systematically styled as
Devanampiya
(beloved
of
the
Gods),
Piyadasi
(of
beautiful appearance), and Raja (king). It is indeed
interesting to note that Prakrit terms have been correctly
transliterated or translated in Asoka’s Greek and Aramaic
records, like referring to him as Piodasses (Greek
records) and PRYDRS (Aramaic records), or the Prakrit
word raja appearing as basileos (Greek records) and MLK
(Aramaic records), meaning the lord or ruler.
Asoka’s personal name appears categorically only in a
few inscriptions, like those found at Maski in Karnataka,
Gujarra
in
Udegolam
Madhya
in
Pradesh
Karnataka,
and
where
Devanampiya Piyadasi Raja Asoka.
from
it
Nittur
appears
and
as
Asoka does not figure in the sculptures of the Mauryan
period (most of which belong to the time of Asoka), and
so we do not really know how he looked like. However in
very recent times a third century AD sculpture from
Kaganahali in Karnataka, reveals the figure of what
appears to be an eminent personality, with a person
holding an umbrella over his head, bearing a label that
reads, ‘the figure of King Asoka’. Although it was the
work of a third century artist, it may provide posterity
with the only idea of the appearance of Asoka.
The term ‘Devanampiya’, could have been a traditional
dynastic epithet of the Mauryas, and not a personal
epithet of Asoka. The possibility gains ground due to an
inscription of one of his successors named Dasaratha,
who also bore the title of Devanampiya. Unlike later
rulers, Asoka did not use any elaborate Sanskrit titles.
The Mauryan rulers were also not known to have
performed any Vedic sacrifices to proclaim their super
ordinate power.
In his rock edict XIII, Asoka himself says that when eight
years
had
elapsed
since
his
coronation
(i.e.269-
8=261BC), he defeated Kalinga and annexed it. This rock
edict gives a vivid description of the massacre that was
perpetrated in this Kalinga war, and the deep impact it
left on the emperor’s mind. He himself declares that he
was full of remorse at having unleashed such terrible
misery during the course of war and victory.
The annexation of Kalinga was a turning point in Asoka’s
personal career, as well as in Maurya history. Asoka gave
up war for good, and may have converted to Buddhism at
this juncture. Thus this victory was a singular and unique
event in human history, where a ruler stopped waging
war not as an outcome of defeat but of victory.
It is noteworthy that Kalinga was considered as avijita or
unconquered territory before the war, and the Rock Edict
XIII goes on to state that such killing of lives and forcible
carrying away of vanquished people became inevitable
when a territory was conquered. But that does not
indicate that Asoka’s remorse was not genuine.
The victory over Kalinga and its annexation to the
Mauryan realm, resulted in the maximum expansion of
the empire, which for the first time was given a distinct
designation. Rock Edicts II, III, XIII, and XIV used the
term vijita to denote the conquered territories of the
Mauryas. The term rajavishaya (royal domain) also
appears in rock edicts as a synonym of vijita. Asoka put
the two terms together and perceived that his realm was
carved out of military conquests or vijita rajavishaya.
In another inscription (MRE I), Asoka states that his
energetic exertions or pakama (parakrama), resulted in
significant changes in spiritual life in Jambudvipa. It is
thus reasonable to assume that he could exert his
authority and efforts over the area under his jurisdiction
which is labelled as Jambudvipa. The term Jambudvipa as
it appears in the Puranas was applicable not only to the
subcontinent, but also to some areas beyond it. Asoka
however used this term as a distinct geo-political entity
under his authority, or in other words, his empire. He
also uses the term pathivi or prithvi to denote his realm
(in MRE I from Nittur). The Prakrit word pathivi denotes
the whole world, but the Arthasashtra defines prithvi as
the area lying between the Himalayas (Himavat) and the
sea, thus using it in relation to the subcontinent. Asoka
possibly used this term to denote the territory under his
jurisdiction.
Rock Edict XIV, indicates that Asoka was aware of the
vastness of his realm, by declaring ‘Mahalake hi vijitam’.
We thus get four designations for his realm, - vijita,
rajavishaya, jambudvipa, and prithvi.
The best way to
determine the extent of Asoka’s empire is to follow the
geographical distribution of the findspots of Asokan
edicts.
His pillar edicts from Lauriya Nandangarh, Lauriya Araraj,
Rampurva (all in north Bihar), cave inscriptions from
Barabar (near Gaya), Nigali Sagar and Rummindei
(Lumbini), Sarnath, and Kosam (near Varanasi and
Allahabad), Pangurariya, Rupnath, and Sanchi (all in
Madhya
Pradesh),
(Haryana),
Kalsi
Meerut,
(near
Bahapur
Dehradun),
(Delhi),
Mansher
Topra
and
Shahbazgarhi (Pakistan), Taxila, Laghman, Pul-i-Darunto
(Afghanistan), Shar-i-kuna, Bairat, Junagarh, Girnar,
Sopara, Maski, Udegolam, Nittur, Siddhapura, JatingaRameshwar, Palkigundu, Sannathi, Yerraguddi, Dhauli,
Jaugara, Ahraura, Rupnath, Gujara.
The areas to the south of Karnataka and to the east of
the northern part of undivided Bengal have not yielded
any Asokan records. The findspots of these inscriptions
offers an image of the vastness of the Asokan realm,
stretching from Afghanistan in the north to Karnataka in
the south, and from Kathiawad in the west to Kalinga in
the
east,
if
not
as
far
as
north
Bengal.
Asoka
categorically states that the Yona (yavanas in the
northwestern borderlands), Kambojas (Hazara district of
Pakistan), Nabhaka-Nabhapamtikas (Maharashtra and
Karnataka),
Petenikas
(Vidarbha-Nagpur
(location
region),
uncertain),
Amdhas
(Andhras
Bhojas
in
the
eastern Deccan) and the Pulindas (area between the
Narmada
and
the
Vindhyas),
were
all
under
his
jurisdiction, and resided within the vijita or rajavishaya.
Asoka
was
not
only
aware
of
the
extent
of
his
jurisdiction, but also of the unconquered (avijita) areas
that lay beyond the frontiers or the amta/prachanta of
his realm. Enlisted as avijita and prachanta areas were
the Cholas (Kaveri Basin), Pada or Pandyas (Madurai),
Satyaputa (Northern Tamil nadu), Keralaputa (Kerala),
and Tambapanni (Tamraparni or Sri Lanka). Interestingly
not a single record of Asoka has been found from these
areas marked as unconquered territories. Five Greek or
Yavana rulers with their dates, who were contemporaries
of Asoka, have also been explicitly mentioned in Rock
Edict XIII. They were Amtiyoka (Antiochus Theos of Syria
261-246 BC), Turamaya (Ptolemy Philadelphos of Egypt,
285-247
BC),
Antekina
(Antigonus
Gonatus
of
Macedonia), Maga (Megas of Cyrene, death in 258 BC),
and Alikasudara (Alexander of Epirus, 272-235 BC). The
reference to these rulers as contemporaries of Asoka
have been of immense help to scholars in determining
the possible date of Asoka’s reign.
There is absolutely no doubt that the Mauryan realm
under Asoka assumed nearly pan-Indian proportions,
except the far south and the north-east of Bengal. No
other power in the history of early India held sway over a
more extensive territory than the Mauryas. But this
mighty and vast empire collapsed in 187 BC., rather
dramatically within less than half a century after the
death of Asoka in 234 BC.