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Śramaņa Tradition
the practice of certain voluntarily accepted moral vows. Here the justification of social duties is in terms of the purification of the individual's psyche, which is in contrast to the Vedic view where the obligations are absolute and arise from the individual's relationship to the gods and the social tradition. Similarly even the Upanişadic notion of salvation joins the soul to a higher or cosmic self; it does not isolate the soul but unites it to cosmic yet personal reality. In contrast, the Buddhist, the Jaina and the Sānkhya views of salvation, all tend to reject creation and seek to return the soul to its original isolation or simply to end the psychic process.
Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar had argued that the Dhamma which Aśoka sought to preach in his edicts may be traced back to Buddhism for he laity.63 Even if this view is doubted there can still be no doubt that Aśoka's Dhamma represents the quintessence of Śramaņism as applicable to the laity. Asoka's Dhamma rejects animal sacrifices and possibly the privileges of the Brāhmaṇas stand rejected in his principle of Vyavahära-samatā and danda-samatā. He defines the duty of man in terms of moral qualities and humane social relations. His distrust of ritualistic religion in general comes out most clearly in R. E. IX where he declares -“Every worldly rite is of a dubious nature. It may or may not accomplish its object. Dhamma-mangala, however, is not conditioned by time. Even though it does not achieve that object here, it begets endless merit in the next world”. Dhamma mangala itself
fined as “seemly behaviour towards the servants and menial classes, reverence towards perceptors, self control in regard to animals (and) liberality to Brāhmaṇas and Sramaņas". Elsewhere reverence to parents and the aged is recommended (e. g. R. E. III). Among moral qualities, the dhamma stands for “freedom from depravity (apāsinave ), much good (bahukayāne), mercy (dayā), liberality (dāne), truthfulness (sace), purity (șocaye)” (R. E. II ). To these is added elsewhere moderation (mādave). The evil emotions to be avoided are ' violence, cruelty, anger, conceit and envy. (R. E. III). A whole edict (R. E. II) is devoted to the compassion for men and beasts by providing medical treatment for them. It is unnecessary to elaborate here on the contents of Asoka's dhamma since it has been the subject of extensive
63. Bhandarkar, Asoka (University of Calcutta, 1955 ), pp. 107-116.
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