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Dr. Vincent Smith says "The Dhamma or Law of Piety which Asoka preached and propogated unceasingly with amazing faith in the power of sermonizing had few, if any, distinctive features. The doctrine was essentially common to all Indian religions, although one sector denomination might lay particular stress on one feature in it rather than on another". It is in agreement, more or less, with this view that Dr. R.K. Mookerji is inclined to appraise Asoka's Dhamma as something like a universal religion."
Dr. Senart is inclined to interpret Asoka's Dhamma in the light of Buddha's words." The most powerful advocate of this opinion is Dr. Bhandarkar for whom Asoka's Dhamma is nothing short of that aspect of primitive Buddhism that is meant for the upasakas or lay worshippers of Buddha.
Prof F.W. Thomas says "We hear from Asoka nothing concerning the deeper ideas or fundamental tenets of that faith; there is no mention of the Four Grand Truths. the Eightfold path, the chain or Causation and the word and idea of Nirvana fails to occur". The position taken up by Dr. Barua is that Asoka's Dhamma is wholly consistent with the principles of secular Buddhism and not altogether inconsistent with those of other systems of faith and thought."
Before we analyse the nature of the policy of Dhamma expounded by Asoka, it is necessary to inquire into the reasons for this new policy. It is difficult to state precisely what the personal prejudices of the king may have been. We can make a guess by using his edicts as our source and attempt to explain why the outside conditions e.g. environmental demanded this policy. During the latter years of the Nanda dynasty, the first attempt was made under Mahapadma, at building a centralized empire on a large scale. The fact that it was not entirely a success was due largely to the failure of the individual rulers to understand the workings of an empire. Chandragupta Maurya, on conquering the Nanda domains, completed the policy of centralisation with great success. The empire, administered by an efficient bureaucracy, extensively covered by good communications and under the control of a powerful ruler was probably as centralized as was possible during that period. All these three characteristics existed under the Mauryas. The central control of the ruler had to be maintained at all costs and this could be achieved by the adoption of either of two policies. One was that of exercising a ruthless control through armed strength. self deification and various other means. The other was certainly subtler. The king declared himself in favour of a new belief, possibly even an electric collection of views from varying groups. Thus the dominance of the other groups could be undermined and the central authority could increase its power. This was the policy selected by Asoka.
Asoka was not an avowed Buddhist at the time of his accession and that his interest in Buddhism grew after some years. He had considerable trouble fighting his way to the throne. It is quite possible that in the early years of his reign, while lie was consolidating his position, he did not have the enthusiastic support of the older and more orthodox elements at the court. By moving away from orthodox Brahmanism though not opposing it and by giving open support to Buddhism and certain other sects, he was seeking the potential support of non orthodox elements which may eventually have succeeded in weaning the people away from orthodoxy, and in the end making his own principles more acceptable to the populace., He was aided in this by the fact that these sects had the support of the newly risen commercial class and the mass of the population was not antagonistic to them. In addition to this, the new beliefs were not violently opposed to the old and it was therefore possible to bring about a compromise. Thus Asoka saw the practical advantage of adopting the idea of the Dhamma.
