The Triumph and Legacy of Ashoka in the Mauryan Empire

in #education6 years ago (edited)

Today is a beautiful day, another day to be educated and to learn new things. I will be writing about the greatness of Ashoka.

Ashoka heavily relied on his moral ideology of Pacifism and combine this with Buddhism that led to his success in the Mauryan Empire.


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Ashoka or simply known as Ashoka the Great was simply regarded a legendary emperor who's widely admired and praised for his achievements politically but even more so for his moral and humanitarian approach to Governance. This great emperor with his superb historical records pushes me to further investigate into his character, his triumph and legacy and thus evaluate how his moral ideology of Pacifism makes an impact in the Mauryan Empire

I will interpret how this Pacifism combines with his religion Buddhism as an approach in governing led to his triumph. King Ashoka acceded the Mauryan throne circa 270 b.c., the grandson of the great Chandragupta. He inherited a vast empire that extended from Bengal in the east to Afghanistan in the Northwest.


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This is the map of the vast area of Mauryan empire.
Chandragupta had originally founded the dynasty having its capital on Pataliputra in which he conquered the Gangetic plain and successfully pushing back Alexander the Great. Bindisura, father of Ashoka continued the legacy as he had expanded the empires frontier as far as South as Mysore.

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However it was really Ashoka that brought the Mauryan Empire to its highest peak. He settled for almost 40 years rule in peace, prosperity and harmony within the dynasty and for the first time in History, the entire Indian continent was politically unified and controlled. So we are left hanging with question now, how does Ashoka became so successful in unifying his empire and what are his approach in ruling his empire?

Ashoka's Ideology
To further understand Ashoka triumph, I myself, dig deep in understanding his ideology. Pacifism as defined by Encyclopedia of Philosophy is the theory that peaceful rather than violent or belligerent relations should govern human intercourse and that arbitration, surrender, or migration should be used to resolve disputes.

A pacifist is a person who is opposed to war and violence and is a related term to ahimsa . Some historian argued that his anti-war ideology and his idea of converting to Buddhism has weaken the Mauryan Empire which I disagree. Ashoka was no revolutionary. But there were changes. In year, Ashoka mixed his Buddhism with material concerns that served the Buddha's original desire to see suffering among people mitigated: Hehad wells dug, irrigation canals and roads constructed. Asoka abandoned the royal tradition of fighting wars after his Kalinga War. By his pacifism, he silenced the war-drum or the Bheri-ghosha and practised the Call of Peace or Dharmaghosha.


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Historian Radha Kumud Mookerji rightly says:
“There is no evidence that Asoka disbanded his invincible Army, destroyed the military machine that came down to him from his grandfather, and did not care for the vast empire he had acquired by his India-wide military conquests already narrated"

His legacy of Non-violence

Pacifism brought prosper and peace within The Mauryan people and their society that time. After adopted the non-violence philosophy, he has still captured smaller states were left which were amalgamated in Mauryan state through peaceful treaties of inclusion. Ashoka could maintain a peace state because of evident power and aura of Mauryan Empire which was established for almost a century before he coronate himself as King of Mauryan Empire.

This just proves that even with peace he can maintain his desired power. Ashoka’s policy to consolidate the empire in this way bore fruit. The Kandahar inscription speaks of the success of his policy with the hunters and fishermen, who gave up killing animals and possibly took to a settled agricultural life.


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His ideology marks a big impact to the people that surrounds him. Ashoka's wish for peace was undisturbed by famines or natural disasters. His rule did not suffer from onslaught from any great migration.

That is the short video from Youtube that states further on Ashoka as the ruler.

During his reign, no neighboring kings tried to take some of his territory – perhaps because these kings were accustomed to fearing the Mauryan monarchs and thinking them strong. The resulting peace helped extend economic prosperity. In order to win the loyalty of the people he introduced many administrative reforms including the release of prisoners from jails on every anniversary of his coronation.

Moreover as a conclusion, Ashoka Pacifism help the empire lived in peace and prosper for more than 40 years rather than weaken. The reign of Ashoka of Maurya might have disappeared into history as the ages passed by but at the very least, it must be accepted that evidence of Ashoka’s greatness that helped shaped India today.

I hope you have learn great things with this post. THANK YOU!

Sources

Books

1.Gupta, S. (2009) Ashoka: The Great and Compassionate King. Seattle Press, USA.
2.Mookerji, R. (1962). Ashoka. Macmillan and Company. Basingstoke, United Kingdom
3.Thapar, R. (1961) Asoka and the Decline of The Mauryas. Oxford University Press. Oxford, United Kingdom

E-books/Journal

1.Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2002) Pacifism. Retrieved from https://www.iep.utm.edu/pacifism/ on May 08, 2018

2.Priyadarsini, S (2007) Causes of the Decline of the Mauryas in the Time of Asoka. Retrieved from http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/causes-of-the-decline-of-the-mauryas-in-the-time-of-asokas/2429 on May 08, 2018

Video
1.Cine Kids(2014)Lets Learn About Ashoka the Great│Kings of India│Kids Education.Retrieved on May 08, 2018 fromhttps://www.youtube.com

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