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Asokan ideal of Dhamma Vijaya/ 351
Another factor connected with the general scheme of centralization, is that of unifying small political units, of welding divergent groups into a basic cohesion. This is of practical importance where centralization extends over large areas including a diversity of social and cultural types. It demands loyalty to a larger cross frontier group than to its own immediate group. If racial variations were not so great, cultural differences were certainly tremendous in the Mauryan Empire. The adoption of a new faith and its active propogation would act as a cementing force. welding the smaller units. It could be used as a measure to consolidate conquered territory. provided that it was used wisely. and was not forced upon unwilling people. Asoka certainly showed a considerable degree of understanding.7
In analysing the political implications of Asoka's new policy the question of the cakravartin ideal is of some importance. Buddhist literature gives us a description of the cakravartin. 18. He is described as a universal emperor whose dominions included the whole of Jambudvipa. His rule was just and his reign prosperous. He was so virtuous a king that he came to be regarded as having the power of divinity. Pali Chronicles and legends portray Asoka as a Dhammika Dhammarājā the builder of many stupas, defender of the Therava2din Buddhism as given in the account of the third council and as a propogator of Buddhism in India and abroad. His edicts portray him as a righteous monarch,, founder of a socio moral order propounder of a system of piety and duty, who tried to provide the conditions for a virtuous society in which the Sangha and its dhamma could flourish.
Asoka made an attempt to combine in his person the idea of the Cakkavatti Dhammika Dhammarājā" as portrayed in the Pali Canon. He seems to have emulated an already set precedent of Buddha who as a Cakkavatti Dhammika Dhammarajā rules justly and righteously and resorts to use of force of his world conquest. abandoning the rod or sword only when his conquests are complete.20 Asoka too sought to renounce force (violence), espoused ahimsa and advocated Dhammavijaya only after accomplishing conquest and empire building."
Dhamma was Asoka's own invention, though it may have borrowed from the Buddhist and Hindu thought, but it was in essence an attempt on the part of the king to suggest a way of life which was both practical and convenient, as well as being highly moral. The edicts gave Asoka the opportunity to expound his Dhamma. Therefore the best reconstruction of the latter is by an examination of the principles as expressed in the edicts. These can be divided into two categories: one group consisted of his public pronouncements, the second were personal epistles directed to the Samgha. The Edicts contain the prohibition of animal sacrifices and festive gatherings, or samaja," Here the emphasis is laid more on the sacrificing of animals rather than their killing. The prohibition is of the ritual sacrifice of animal. If there was a general bans on the killing of animals for food, then surely the king would be the first to discontinue the practice himself for he himself confesses the animals being killed for the royal kitchen. The hints against useless practices in other edicts23 and the prohibition of festive gatherings would suggest that he did not approve of the ritual that finally led to the sacrificing of animals. Possibly the idea was even more repugnant to him than the act, as he associated it with primitive cults. The prohibition of animal sacrifice could not have been a popular move with the brahmanas, since it was a regular source of livelihood for them.24
In this connection it has been stated, Animal or Vedic sacrifices went out of fashion with the pastoral economy when independent petty kingdoms had been wiped out. The agrarian economy had won at last, the pastoral life and ritual were finally defeated'.25 This interpretation gives too much
