Which mauryan emperor converted to buddhism

Like his father and grandfather, Ashoka sponsored the construction of thousands of roads, waterways, canals, rest houses, hospitals, and other types of infrastructure. Under continued Mauryan rule, political unity and military security encouraged a common economic system, increased agricultural productivity, and enhanced widespread trade and commerce for the first time in West and South Asia.

Coins of the Maurya Empire: Chandragupta Maurya established a single currency across India, including these silver punch mark coins with symbols of wheel and elephant, 3rd century BCE.

The Khyber Pass, on the modern boundary of Pakistan and Afghanistan, became a strategically important point of trade and interaction with the outside world. Greek states and Hellenic kingdoms in West Asia became trading partners.

Trade also extended through the Malay Peninsula into Southeast Asia. The outside world gained new scientific knowledge and technology through expanded trade with the Mauryan Empire. Mauryan emperor Ashoka embraced Buddhism after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest.

Kalinga was a state that prided itself on its sovereignty and democracy. With its monarchical parliamentary democracy, it was quite an exception in ancient Bharata where there existed the concept of Rajdharma. Rajdharma means the duty of the rulers, which was intrinsically entwined with the concept of bravery and dharma.

The Kalinga War happened eight years after his coronation. When he was walking through the grounds of Kalinga after his conquest, rejoicing in his victory, he was moved by the number of bodies strewn there and the wails of the bereaved. Edict 13 on the Edicts of Ashoka Rock Inscriptions reflect the great remorse the king felt after observing the destruction of Kalinga:. His Majesty felt remorse on account of the conquest of Kalinga because, during the subjugation of a previously unconquered country, slaughter, death, and taking away captive of the people necessarily occur, whereas His Majesty feels profound sorrow and regret.

Legend says that one day after the war was over, Ashoka ventured out to roam the city and all he could see were burnt houses and scattered corpses. The lethal war with Kalinga transformed the vengeful Emperor Ashoka into a stable and peaceful emperor, and he became a patron of Buddhism.

According to the prominent Indologist, A. However, according to Basham, the Dharma officially propagated by Ashoka was not Buddhism at all. Nevertheless, his patronage led to the expansion of Buddhism in the Mauryan empire and other kingdoms during his rule, and worldwide from about BCE. Mauryan India also enjoyed an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of the sciences and of knowledge.

One of the more enduring legacies of Ashoka Maurya was the model that he provided for the relationship between Buddhism and the state. Throughout Theravada Southeastern Asia, the model of rulership embodied by Ashoka replaced the notion of divine kingship that had previously dominated in the Angkor kingdom, for instance.

Many rulers also took an active role in resolving disputes over the status and regulation of the sangha, as Ashoka had by calling a conclave to settle a number of contentious issues during his reign. This development ultimately led to a close association in many Southeast Asian countries between the monarchy and the religious hierarchy, an association that can still be seen today in the state-supported Buddhism of Thailand, and the traditional role of the Thai king as both a religious and secular leader.

Ashoka also said that his courtiers always governed the people in a moral manner. As a Buddhist emperor, Ashoka believed that Buddhism is beneficial for all human beings, as well as animals and plants, so he built a number of stupas, Sangharama, viharas, chaitya, and residences for Buddhist monks all over South Asia and Central Asia.

According to the Ashokavadana, he ordered the construction of 84, stupas to house the Buddhas relics. In the Aryamanjusrimulakalpa, Ashoka takes offerings to each of these stupas, traveling in a chariot adorned with precious metals. He gave donations to viharas and mathas. Ashoka ordered the construction of 84, stupas to house the Buddhas relics.

The use of Buddhist sources in reconstructing the life of Ashoka has had a strong influence on perceptions of Ashoka, as well as the interpretations of his Edicts.

Building on traditional accounts, early scholars regarded Ashoka as a primarily Buddhist monarch who underwent a conversion to Buddhism and was actively engaged in sponsoring and supporting the Buddhist monastic institution. Some scholars have tended to question this assessment. The only source of information not attributable to Buddhist sources are the Ashokan Edicts, and these do not explicitly state that Ashoka was a Buddhist. In his edicts, Ashoka expresses support for all the major religions of his time: Buddhism, Brahmanism, Jainism, and Ajivikaism.

His edicts addressed to the population at large there are some addressed specifically to Buddhists, which is not the case for the other religions generally focus on moral themes that members of all the religions would accept.

However, the edicts alone strongly indicate that he was a Buddhist. In one edict he belittles rituals, and he banned Vedic animal sacrifices; these strongly suggest that he at least did not look to the Vedic tradition for guidance. He erected rock pillars at Buddhist holy sites, but did not do so for the sites of other religions. Interestingly, the Ashokavadana, presents an alternate view of the familiar Ashoka.

In this source, his conversion has nothing to do with the Kalinga War or his descent from the Maurya dynasty. It thereby illuminates Ashoka as more humanly ambitious and passionate, with both greatness and flaws. The different cultures and economies began to break apart, although the kings maintained Buddhism as the state religion. The commander-in-chief of his guard, Brahmin General Pusyamitra Sunga, killed Brihadratha during a military parade and ascended the throne.

Pusyamitra was succeeded after 36 years by his son, Agnimitra, beginning the dynasty of ten Sunga rulers overall. They conducted wars with both foreign and indigenous powers, including the Kalinga, the Satavahana Dynasty, and the Indo-Greek Kingdom. Sunga rulers helped establish the tradition of royal sponsorship of education and the arts at a time when some of the most important developments in Hindu thought were taking place. The Mathura art style took hold during this time, and many small terracotta images, larger stone sculptures, and architectural monuments from the Sunga period are still in existence.

Sunga Royal Family, c. The Sungas favored Hinduism over Buddhism. Buddhist sources, such as the Ashokavadana, an Indian Sanskrit text describing the birth and reign of Ashoka the Great, mention that Pusyamitra was hostile towards Buddhists and allegedly persecuted members of the Buddhist faith. A large number of Buddhist monasteries, called viharas, were allegedly converted to Hindu temples in such places as Nalanda, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, or Mathura.

Some historians argue, however, that Buddhist accounts of Sunga persecution are largely exaggerated. This development ultimately led to a close association in many Southeast Asian countries between the monarchy and the religious hierarchy, an association that can still be seen today in the state-supported Buddhism of Thailand, and the traditional role of the Thai king as both a religious and secular leader.

Ashoka also said that his courtiers always governed the people in a moral manner. As a Buddhist emperor, Ashoka believed that Buddhism is beneficial for all human beings, as well as animals and plants, so he built a number of stupas, Sangharama, viharas, chaitya, and residences for Buddhist monks all over South Asia and Central Asia. According to the Ashokavadana, he ordered the construction of 84, stupas to house the Buddhas relics.

In the Aryamanjusrimulakalpa, Ashoka takes offerings to each of these stupas, traveling in a chariot adorned with precious metals. He gave donations to viharas and mathas.

Ashoka ordered the construction of 84, stupas to house the Buddhas relics. The use of Buddhist sources in reconstructing the life of Ashoka has had a strong influence on perceptions of Ashoka, as well as the interpretations of his Edicts. Building on traditional accounts, early scholars regarded Ashoka as a primarily Buddhist monarch who underwent a conversion to Buddhism and was actively engaged in sponsoring and supporting the Buddhist monastic institution.

Some scholars have tended to question this assessment. The only source of information not attributable to Buddhist sources are the Ashokan Edicts, and these do not explicitly state that Ashoka was a Buddhist. In his edicts, Ashoka expresses support for all the major religions of his time: Buddhism, Brahmanism, Jainism, and Ajivikaism. His edicts addressed to the population at large there are some addressed specifically to Buddhists, which is not the case for the other religions generally focus on moral themes that members of all the religions would accept.

However, the edicts alone strongly indicate that he was a Buddhist. It was an absolute monarchy - a case of pure despotism - with the seat of government in Patiliputra modern Patna , which, according to Megasthenes, was a city of dazzling magnificence.

The Maurya Empire was roughly commensurate with that of British India of the early 20th century, but excluding the territory below Madras and excluding what is now Sri Lanka. The standing army was enormous: in Asoka's time, it consisted of , infantry, , cavalry, and 9, elephants attended by 36, men, together with many thousands of chariots and charioteers, all strictly controlled by six different boards of government.

The size of this force must be remembered when considering the scale of the warfare of the day, and the casualties and losses that could result. With an army of this size at his disposal, Asoka's power was absolute. Emperor Asoka's conquest of the Kalingas and subsequent remorse. With the capability for waging war that he inherited and augmented, Asoka defeated the three Kalinga kingdoms mod ern Orissa in about BC - the sixteenth year of his reign and the eighth after his consecration.

Historical evidence - consisting of little other than the surviving thirty-four edicts[2 ] - does not reveal why he went to war with the Kalingas. However, one of his edicts - the famous Thirteenth Edict or " Rock Edict " , also known as the " Conquest Edict " , of BC -, declared that the victory was overwhelming and losses among the defeated peoples were particularly devastating: his army took , people captive and slew ,, and many times that number died in the conquest.

Asoka was at pains to declaim in this edict that the casualties, privations and suffering of the defeated Kalingas caused him " profound sorrow " and " regret " , " because " , he said, " the conquest of a country previously unconquered involves the slaughter, death and carrying away captive of the people. That is a matter of profound sorrow and regret to His Sacred Majesty ". There was, however, another reason for Asoka's feeling of " still more regret " , he said, " inasmuch as the Brahmins and ascetics, or men of other denominations, or householders who dwell there, and among whom th ese duties are practised, to wit:- harkening to superiors, harkening to father and mother, harkening to teachers and elders, and proper treatment of or courtesy to friends, acquaintances, comrades, relatives, slaves and servants, with steadfastness of devotion - to these befall violence or injury or slaughter or separation from their loved ones.

Or violence happens to the friends, acquaintances, comrades, and relatives of those who are themselves well protected, while their affection for those injured continues undiminished.

Thus for them also that is a mode of violence and the share of this [violence ] distributed among all men is a matter of regret to His Sacred Majesty, because it never is the case that faith in some one denomination or another does not exist ".

In this edict, Asoka discloses a truly remarkable degree of religious tolerance and of heightened sensitivity to the suffering - even indirect suffering - of all, especially of the righteous, regardless of their religion or denomination. Conversion to Buddhism and the inculcation of the Law of Piety. From the time of his victory over the Kalingas in BC, and the consequent remorse, until the end of his reign in BC, Asoka never waged another war. Indeed, in the years following his victory, he spent time piously retracing the steps of the Buddha and raising stupas inscribed with moral injunctions and imperatives at holy places of pilgrimage; and for some two years he became a member of a Buddhist order without relinquishing his role as Emperor.

His conversion to Buddhism, effected with the help of his own teacher, Uprag upta, was gradual. Even though he did little to change the system of government he inherited, he introduced a novel and powerful moral idealism - a moral rule or " way of life " in the Buddhist sense as he understood it - which he called the " Law of Piety ". This law, though following the tenets of the Buddha, was distinct from them and peculiar to Asoka.

It was to become one of the great turning points of the civilization of the East, having profound effects throughout the neighbouring kingdoms, not least in India itself and in Sri Lanka, and reaching China and Greece. The Law of Piety consisted in moral imperatives requiring that reverence be paid to all to whom it was due, especially to one's superiors, parents, teachers, elders and relations.

The imperatives of the Law of Piety required that respect be shown for the sanctity of all animate life, human and animal; they also required humane and just treatment of all, including backward and uncivilized peoples both inside and outside the empire.

There were injunctions and prohibitions against vices such as envy, indolence and injustice in relation to and affecting the administration of the empire. In short, the imperatives and prohibitions of the Law of Piety formed a network of righteous relationships between all sentient and animate beings, affecting public, social and familial relationships, and affecting relationships between peoples of different levels of development and between humans and animals.

No one was outside its ambit, not even Asoka or the Empress: censors were appointed to ensure that the Law of Piety was observed even in the latter's apartments in the Palace. The Law of Piety was a moral law, an imperial law, a law governing foreign relations and a way of life. At the epicentre of the network was Emperor Asoka himself, who assumed the burden of ensuring the publication and enforcement of this Law.

The Law of Piety disseminated by Asoka throughout his empire a nd beyond was not a reasoned moral system; it lacked coherence and the intellectual order normally expected of such a system. In this regard, Asoka cannot be compared with the philosophers of classical Greece.

No developed dogma or cogent philosophy can be found in his edicts, neither can any theology, except the implicit acceptance of a world other than that of the material, as revealed in the statement, inter alia , that he regards as bearing much fruit only that which concerns the other world;[9 ] and the implicit acceptance of the Law of Piety as possessing transcendental validity, as revealed in his statement that, after he had annexed the kingdoms of the Kalingas, he began his " zealous protection of the Law of Piety, his love of that Law and his inculcation of that Law ".

Asoka drew a comparison between conquest by force of arms and the conquest of the Law of Piety: he called the latter - the conquest of man's heart by the Law of Piety - " the true conquest " , quite unlike military conquests. If, perchance, a conquest should please them they should take heed only of patience and gentleness, and regard as a conquest only that which is effected by the Law of Piety. That avails both for this world and the next His officials were strongly urged to see that justice was done in the administration of the law, so the humanitarianism of the Law of Piety undoubtedly had a salutary effect on State practices.

However, the improvement was relative. The severe criminal law, for example, was not amended, except for the provision that a person condemned to death had three days between sentence and execution for pious meditation and for charitable works by friends.

Torture remained normal practice, though Asoka cautioned that sentences must be passed for just causes only: " [If ] it happens that some individual incurs imprisonment or torture and when the result is his imprisonment without due cause, many other people are deeply grieved.

In such a case you must desire to do justice. For this purpose has the scripture been here inscribed in order that the administrators of the town may strive without ceasing that the restraint or torture of the townsmen may not take place without due cause ". The dissemination and inculcation of this Law were carried out by edicts, which were inscribed in beautiful Pali calligraphy upon rock surfaces and pillars of polished sandstone.

Thirty-four of them have survived. These edicts stood by the great highways of Asoka's empire so that all who journeyed through his lands could be edified by their message.

Their evident repetition was not an oversight, but a reflection of his resolve to inculcate these inflexible principles and to ensure that they were deeply imprinted in the hearts of all who read them. It is apparent from the texts of the edicts that Asoka was determined to use to the full the resources at his disposal and the powers of an absolute monarch and despot to proclaim and enforce the Law o f Piety.

The very despotism that enabled him to lead his army to victory also enabled him to establish a new moral order in his empire and to see to its observance. There is no reasoning, no premise, no invocation of any gods in the edicts: it was sufficient that the calamity suffered by the defeated Kalingas inspired " profound sorrow and regret " in Asoka and led him to introduce a new moral order - one that he had no need of explaining or defending to the reader of the edicts.

While he indubitably thought on a universal scale and propounded moral values of great nobility, the system rested upon pure despotism: his imperatives and injunctions were both the law and the complete way of life for his people and the special charge of his officials, on whom there were tremendous despotic pressures to pursue the course he prescribed.

Public officials adminisering the towns were exhorted by Asoka to carry out his principles assiduously on pain of incurring his displeasure. He pointed out the nexus between bad government and officials who fell short in their observation of the Law of Piety; and he made it clear that he would brook no idleness or injustice, let alone any obstruction of his endeavours.

The tenor of the edicts indicates that there were some officials who did not fully heed his moral instructions, and that there were others who defaulted owing to " certain natural dispositions [which ] make success. There is evidence, too, that the moral principles expressed in Asoka's Law of Piety met with some opposition in his empire. Asoka also exhorted his officials with promises of reward and threats of sanctions, both in this world and in the next, to administer with justice and patience those beyond the pale - those recently brought under his rule by the annexation of the three Kalinga kingdoms and the " unsubdued border-dwellers ".

Such officials " , he said, " are in a position to make these people trust [him ] and to ensure their prosperity both in this world and in the next The aim was compassionate administration and to have them, too, observe the Law of Piety:. Even those well and truly beyond the pale - the " forest folk " - were not excluded from just and humane treatment and the benefits of the Law of Piety.

Upon " the forest folk in his dominions " , Asoka said, he " looks kindly, and he seeks to make them think aright for otherwise repentance would come upon His Sacred Majesty.