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Religion and Non-Violence
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of the gods, and weighs heavily on his mind. What is even more deplorable to the Beloved of the gods, is that those who dwell there, whether Brahmins, sramanas, or those of other sects or house-holders who show obedience to their teachers and behave well and devotedly towards their friends, acquaintances, colleagues, relatives, slaves, and servants, all suffer violence, murder, and separation from their loved ones. Even those who are fortunate to have escaped, and whose love is undiminished (by the brutalizing effect of war), suffer from the misfortunes of their friends, acquaintances, colleagues and relatives. This participation of all men in suffering weighs heavily on the mind of the Beloved of the gods. Except among the Greeks, there is no land where the religious order of Brahmins and śramanas are not to be found, and there is no land anywhere where men do not support one sect or another. Today if a hundredth or a thousandth part of those people who were killed or died or were deported when Kalinga was annexed were to suffer similarly, it would weigh heavily on the mind of the Beloved of the gods.
“The Beloved of the gods believes that one who does wrong should be forgiven as far as it is possible to forgive them. And the Beloved of the gods conciliates the forest tribes of his empire, but he warns them that he has power even in his remorse, and he asks them to repent, lest they be killed. For the beloved of gods wishes that all beings should be unharmed, self-controlled, calm in mind and gentle.
"The Beloved of gods considers victory by Dhamma to be the foremost victory. And moreover, the Beloved of gods has gained this victory on all his frontiers to a distance of six hundred yojanas where reigns the Greek king named Antiochus, and beyond the realms of that Antiochus in the land of the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas and Alexander; and in the south over the Cholas and Pandyas as far as Ceylon. Likewise here in the Imperial territories among the Greeks and the Kambojas, Nabhkas and Nabhapanktis, Bhojas and Pitinikas, Andhras and Parindas, everywhere the people follow the Beloved of the god's instructions in Dhamma. Even where the envoys of the Beloved of the gods have not gone, people hear of his conduct according to Dhamma, his precepts and his instructions in Dhamma and they follow Dhamma and will continue to follow it.
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