Madhuvidya

SR No.: 006525
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 762
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Literature, & Philosophy
File Size: 17 MB

Page 570

into foreign tongues. But the fact remains that it testifies to the growing enthusiasm of the people to put the king's dhamma into practice.
The fifth Pillar Edict of Ashoka, issued twenty-six years after his coronation, is devoted primarily to the protection of animals. The king, first, gives a long list of birds and animals which are on no account to be killed. These include parrots, mainas, geese, pigeons, porcupines, bulls set at liberty, also certain kinds of fish, and tortoises. There are certain names of animals in this list like nandimukha and getāta which are not intelligible. The list ends with a general statement that all the quadrupeds which are neither useful nor edible are not to be killed.
· Ashoka, next, orders through this edict that she-goats, ewes and sows are not to be killed when they are either with young or in milk. Their young ones also were not to be killed if they were less than six months old.
He further forbids nourishing of living animals with other living beings. On certain specified days fish were not to be killed and were not to be sold..
He put restrictions on the castration of animals since this involved injury. Thus he enjoined that whereas cocks shall not be caponed at all, bulls, he-goats. rams, boars and whatever other animals are usually castrated shall not be castrated on certain specified days. Similarly, on certain days, horses and bulls shall not be branded.
The first Rock Edict of Ashoka, no less than the fifth Pillar Edict, is significant for his concern for the sanctity of animal life. The Rock Edict may be said to have three parts and the pronouncements the king made in them affected to a very large extent the people's religious and social life, and his own personal life.
In the first part of the edict the king orders a blanket ban on the slaughter of animals for the performance of the sacrifices : “Here, no animal of any sort whatsoever shall be killed and given as an offering." Although king Ashoka is rightly known for his religious tolerance -- his twelfth Rock Edict is remarkable for his catholic spirit -- he does not hesitate to put a complete stop to the animal sacrifices which must have meant in those days an interference with the religious practices of those who followed the Vedic injunctions. In fact, this is the only pronouncement in the Ashokan inscriptions which may be characterized as specifically Buddhistic. As rightly observed by the late Professor Alsdorf (Beitraege zur Geschichte von Vegetarismus und Rinder-verehrung in Indien, p. 52), it is very difficult to imagine a Hindu king of Ashoka's time ordering, "Here no animal shall be killed for sacrifice". But the attempt of Professor Alsdorf to try to bring this order, at least to some extent, in accord with the king's religious tolerance by interpreting the word 'here' to mean only 'in my capital, Pāțaliputra', and not 'throughout my empire,' is not convincing. It has rather to be admitted that on this basic issue the king was, clearly, in no mood to compromise.
Madhu Vidya/545