Early History of Orissa

SR No.: 006922
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Amarchand Mittal
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society
Publication Year: 1957
Total Pages: 506
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 221

196
AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
predatory tribes or gangs of thieves with forests as their hiding place, saying 'let them be judicious and not get killed'.
Asoka has, further, mentioned.-—“If there be none who pursuades (the Rājukas), they (the prisoners) will give alms for the sake of the other world or will perform fasts” (PE IV) that is, if the convict must dic, he should try to be better off in the next worll by gifts and fasts in this.
But such a case as above, may have occured very rarely, since Asoka says in RE V that he has employed Dharma-mahāmātras for taking steps against imprisonment, for freedom from molestation and for getting release on grounds that one has numerous offsprings or is overwhelmed by misfortune or afflicted by age.?
In this way we find that Asoki tried to benefit people to the maximum extent. Dr. Barua, however, says that the sacredness of lower animals was disproportionately emphasised, while that of human life was not recognised by abolishing capital punishment. The only concession showil was the three day's reprieve granteil to convicts condemned to death, which might have also been utilised by their relations to get them i revision of the sentence (PE IV) as well as the institution of jail-deliveries on the anniversary days of his coronation (PE IV and V). Dr. Mookerji”, in regard to the greater kindness shown by Aśoka to animals, says—"Perhaps the responsibility of man for
1. As regards these anubandhas or grounds of relief, K. P. Jayaswal was the first to explain them in the light of Smriti texts referring to the various grounds for revision o judicial sentence (M»nu, VIIT, p. 126; Gautama, XII, 51; Vāśislitha, XIX, 91; Yījîavalkya, I, 367; Artha. sāstra, IV, 85. Qtd. JBORS, IV, pp. 144-146).
2. Asoka, p. 60.