[00:06] The Third Century BC was a notoriously violent
time, filled with titanic clashes and amazing
[00:13] personalities. Alexander’s conquests gave
way to a period of constant warfare amongst
[00:19] his Seleucid, Ptolemaic and Antigonid successors,
while the rising Roman juggernaut began a
[00:25] series of conquests to unite the Italian Peninsula,
and fought its Carthaginian Rival, paving
[00:31] the way for future dominance. India during
this period was also experiencing revolutionary
[00:38] change, which culminated in the rise of the
Mauryan Empire and the reign of Ashoka the
[00:43] Great.
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[01:37] In 326 BC, Alexander the Great crossed the
Hindu Kush mountains and entered India for
[01:44] the first time, calling his veteran army to
a halt at the Indus River, and demanding that
[01:50] two rival kings in the region - Omphis and
Porus - to come to him and submit. Omphis
[01:56] of Taxila surrendered to Alexander, but Porus
of Paurava resisted, and forced Alexander
[02:02] into a climactic battle at the Hydaspes River,
which he won nonetheless.
[02:08] Wishing to conquer all India, Alexander marched
onward, but his army mutinied at the Hyphasis
[02:14] River, and he was forced to withdraw to Babylon.
Their refusal to march on was in part due
[02:20] to rumours of a massive Indian kingdom, possessing
innumerable legions, further to the east.
[02:26] This was the Nanda Empire centered on the
Magadha region, which supposedly fielded a
[02:31] colossal force of 250,000 infantry, cavalry,
chariots and war elephants. Though he had
[02:39] retreated, Alexander’s conquests had destabilised
northern India, a fact which would play a
[02:45] key role in what was to come.
Once the historical shroud falls away once
[02:51] again, we see in 320 BC that it was a man
named Chandragupta Maurya who stood victorious.
[02:59] This Indian conqueror’s origins are not
clear, but less favourable Brahman sources
[03:04] state that he was a shudra - a peasant or
serf - whilst more favourable Buddhist texts
[03:09] designate him as a member of the prestigious
kshatriya - or warrior caste. He likely knew
[03:15] about Alexander’s stunning conquests, and
was given a crash course in ancient warfare,
[03:21] tactics and geopolitics, which he would use
to conquer his own empire.
[03:26] Having gathered followers, he initially attacked
the Nanda Empire’s capital, but failed a
[03:31] few times. Then he changed his tactics and
conquered the northwestern lands, which had
[03:37] been weakened by Alexander, using his subsequent
control of these prosperous regions to cut
[03:42] off supplies to the capital, resulting in
the fall of Nanda dynasty.
[03:48] After he established his realm he fought,
decisively defeated and made an alliance with
[03:53] Seleucus, famously gifting him 500 war elephants
in exchange for peace and the hand of Seleucus’
[04:00] daughter in marriage. Chandragupta’s successor,
Bindusara, continued his father’s wise domestic
[04:06] and foreign policies, such as his friendship
with Seleucus and his religious tolerance.
[04:12] In addition, he thrust south into the Deccan
plateau and expanded the Empire.
[04:18] It is the second of Bindusara’s three sons
who is the subject of this video - Ashoka,
[04:24] whose eldest brother was Susima, and whose
younger brother was Tissya. It seemed as though
[04:30] the future Mauryan emperor at this point had
no chance of ever inheriting the throne. For
[04:36] one, his mother, Subhadrangi, was a commoner,
while the crown prince and favourite child
[04:42] Susima’s mother was a royal princess. Nevertheless,
Indian princes were often sent to govern faraway
[04:49] provinces, and Ashoka was no different. At
the age of 18, the young Mauryan royal was
[04:55] sent to the cosmopolitan silk road hub of
Taxila to quell a revolt, a task which he
[05:00] supposedly accomplished quickly.
The nature of Taxila as a scholarly and cosmopolitan
[05:06] settlement, where intellectual debates were
often had amongst different faiths, would
[05:11] have improved Ashoka’s knowledge of the
world, as well as making him more tolerant
[05:15] and sophisticated. His next appointment was
at the important city of Ujjaini - capital
[05:21] of Avanti province. The high quality of the
governorship that Ashoka provided is shown
[05:27] by the fact that he was entrusted with this
station - that of administering a crucial
[05:32] region connecting the capital city and the
coast.
[05:35] It was in this new station that Ashoka fell
in love with Devi, the daughter of a trader.
[05:41] Interestingly, she was a member of the ‘Sakya’
clan, the clan of Siddhartha [Sidd’art-ha]
[05:45] Gautama - the Buddha himself. It is widely
thought that she was a Buddhist upon bearing
[05:51] Ashoka his two children: their son Mahendra
and their daughter Sanghamitra.
[05:57] This relatively peaceful life would come to
an end when, in 274 BC, Emperor Bindusara
[06:03] passed away. What happened next is the subject
of much debate, but it is thought that a brief
[06:10] four-year civil war occurred between Ashoka
and his brothers. By acting decisively and
[06:16] swiftly occupying the capital city, and because
he was supported by his father’s ministers,
[06:22] Ashoka reigned victorious over his brother
and was crowned as Emperor in 270 BC - the
[06:28] same year Hannibal Barca was born in Carthage.
After he had ascended to the throne, Ashoka
[06:35] continued a policy of expansion and conquest.
One of the reasons for this persistent policy
[06:40] of warfare was that, in this period, all Indian
rulers wished to be regarded as the chakravartin
[06:47] - the king of kings by their royal rivals.
Practical and economic reasons were also important,
[06:54] as taxes were the Mauryan Empire’s main
source of revenue. The more land a king conquered,
[07:00] the more taxes he gained. However, the more
administrative and military expenses would
[07:05] also pile up, leading to an endless cycle
of violence.
[07:10] So it was that in the year 262 BC, the massive
Mauryan army marched into the Kingdom of Kalinga.
[07:16] Their past successes would likely have made
them confident of an easy victory, but the
[07:22] king and his army faced a tough, grinding
conflict against a doggedly courageous enemy.
[07:28] It is said that Ashoka eventually won the
war not because Kalinga surrendered, but because
[07:33] the carnage was so terrible. After the final
battle, the victorious monarch stood amongst
[07:39] his dead and dying foes on the battlefield.
Most monarchs would have simply rejoiced in
[07:44] the grim victory, but Ashoka, in this moment,
felt horror and remorse; it ended up being
[07:51] the key moment of his life.
Supposedly, ‘One hundred and fifty thousand
[07:56] were there from captured, one hundred thousand
were slain and many times that died’ from
[08:01] famine and disease. More than just being horrified
by the direct results of the devastation he
[08:07] had wrought, Ashoka also was acutely aware
of the tragedy that struck those left behind
[08:13] - the young sons left without a fathers and
poor mothers who had been robbed of their
[08:17] sons, their families and loved ones.
The educated and sensitive Ashoka appears
[08:23] to have been made truly aware of the real
cost of war, even admitting publicly what
[08:29] no victorious ruler ever had before, that
he felt ‘remorse on having conquered Kalinga’,
[08:36] declaring that ‘even one-hundredth or one
thousandth part of those who were slain, died
[08:41] or captured in Kalinga is considered regrettable
by the Beloved of the Gods’. This was clearly
[08:47] not the same man speaking who had annihilated
his brother and had seized the throne by blood.
[08:53] Rather, it was a changed man, finally admitting
to his mistakes and thinking on the futility
[08:59] and tragedy of war. Henceforth, said the king,
he was not going to be provoked into bearing
[09:05] arms again, and also dedicated his life and
huge wealth towards building a society where
[09:11] people lived by the rules of virtue and good
moral behavior.
[09:16] This abrupt change of heart gradually led
Ashoka to the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama
[09:22] - the Buddha - who had preached the same values
of peace, nonviolence and benevolence two
[09:27] centuries earlier. Ashoka had likely known
of Buddhism from an early age, as his wife
[09:33] was an adherent of the Buddha’s teachings
and the faith was popular with certain segments
[09:38] of the population. However, he was the first
king in history to convert to this apparently
[09:45] revolutionary religion.
Contrary to what popular legends depict, Ashoka
[09:50] did not instantly convert to Buddhism after
his change of heart on the field of war, but
[09:56] thoughtfully and practically chose a slow
path which would benefit both him and the
[10:01] welfare of his subjects. Particular care was
taken to remain tolerant of the two other
[10:06] dominant Indian religions - the Hindu Brahmanic
faith and Jainism. In one of his major edicts,
[10:14] carved on a rock, he stated that should one
blame other religions, or over-glorify one’s
[10:20] own religion, they are instead doing harm
to it, an act which should not be done.
[10:25] He began to study under Buddhist monks and,
two years later, was accepted into the Sangha,
[10:31] the Buddhist Order. His tutor was a monk named
Bhikku Upagupta of Mathura, who took the king
[10:38] on a pilgrimage of all the important sites
in their shared faith, such as: Lumbini, where
[10:43] Siddhartha Gautama had been born, Bodh Gaya,
where he had achieved enlightenment, Sarnath,
[10:49] where he had delivered his first lecture,
and Kushinagar, where he had died and gained
[10:55] Nirvana.
At all of these places and more, Ashoka erected
[11:00] pillars and carved rocks with his edicts and
royal orders. These proclamations were routinely
[11:06] read out to the illiterate population by the
empire’s officials, and appeared to be personal
[11:11] messages from Ashoka himself, clearly in his
own words. It is also as though the king’s
[11:17] voice speaks to us 2,500 years later when
we read them today.
[11:22] His change in faith also changed his role
as the king. Rather than desiring material
[11:29] gain which so many kings had in the past,
he now sought that his ‘children obtain
[11:34] every kind of welfare both in this and the
next world’, and dictated that reporters
[11:40] could come to him with the people’s business
wherever he might be, at whatever time.
[11:47] Despite all of this piety and benevolence,
we must always keep in mind that Ashoka was
[11:52] an emperor above all else, not a religious
teacher or a philosopher. He had the duty
[11:57] of running an Empire, and this was not always
a job which led to peaceful outcomes. There
[12:03] was a serious danger that once Ashoka’s
supposed pacifism had been announced, the
[12:09] provinces would rebel and neighboring kings
would invade, sensing weakness in the Mauryan
[12:14] leadership. However, the Emperor, while he
had given up on aggressive conquest, would
[12:20] reluctantly but fiercely defend his empire,
and refused to disband his army. Every rebellion
[12:26] would still be put down brutally, and any
foreign invader would be met with devastating
[12:32] military force, a fact which he made clear.
To his own subjects he also remained an almost
[12:39] stern, father-like figure, benevolent and
caring but willing to inflict severe punishment
[12:44] if necessary - though his engravings almost
appear to plead with his people not to force
[12:50] him to inflict these penalties. For example
the ‘forest people’, or ‘Adivasi’,
[12:56] were told that despite Ashoka’s remorse,
he still had the power and will to punish
[13:01] them for their injustices if necessary. They
should, he said, ‘be ashamed of their wrongs’
[13:07] lest they be killed. Overall, historian A.L.
Basham stated that while Ashoka could seemingly
[13:14] be a bit naive, he was still indefatigable,
strong willed and imperious.
[13:20] Ashoka also worked hard to change the attitude
of his subjects; not to force Buddhism onto
[13:27] them, but to spread his universally ‘right’
values. The Emperor, who had previously enjoyed
[13:33] pleasure trips of hunting and had wielded
a mighty sword, now went on dhammayatras,
[13:39] or pious pilgrimage tours, during which he
visited holy sites and met his subjects. He
[13:45] frequently talked to local people to make
sure they were happy, and would hear their
[13:49] compliments or complaints about local officials.
In this way he was the first Indian king to
[13:56] think of the welfare of the poor, rather than
just using them for tax revenue. As he stated,
[14:02] ‘the finest conquest is the conquest of
Right, and not Might.’
[14:07] The values he sought to spread were known
as Ashoka’s dharma, a complex term which
[14:13] essentially were rules of good behavior in
this particular context. For example, Ashoka
[14:19] wished that people should be obedient to parents
and teachers, should behave properly towards
[14:24] holy men, relatives, servants, friends and
the poor, and should be kind and generous
[14:29] to the old and vulnerable. Nonviolence towards
all living creatures, be they humans, birds
[14:36] or animals was practiced. One edict in particular
goes into detail about how the Imperial kitchens
[14:43] will no longer slaughter vast amounts of animals
for food.
[14:47] In addition to preaching these noble virtues
to his people, Ashoka also sought to try his
[14:52] best to live by the same tenets. This was
exemplified by his thoughtfulness in the construction
[14:58] and renovation of infrastructure. He ordered
that shade trees be planted along roads for
[15:04] shelter from the sun and rains, that mango
groves be planted in order to provide food,
[15:10] and that watering places be dug to quench
a traveler’s thirst.
[15:14] In 253 BC a great gathering of Buddhist monks
was held at Pataliputra, hosted by the king
[15:22] himself. At this, the third Buddhist council,
a momentous decision was taken to send teams
[15:28] of bhikshus, Buddhist monks, to other foreign
kingdoms in order to spread the teachings
[15:33] of the Buddha. These missionaries are said
to have reached as far as Kashmir, Gandhara,
[15:39] the Greek Hellenistic kingdoms, North Africa,
Burma and Sri Lanka. One of the travellers
[15:45] was a man named Dharmarakshita, and is designated
as a ‘Yona’, or ‘Ionian’ in the texts,
[15:51] so it is possible he was a Greek convert.
The most famous missionary of the period however,
[15:57] was Prince Mahendra - Ashoka’s firstborn
son. In 249 BC, Mahendra journeyed to Sri
[16:05] Lanka - then called Tamraparni - at the invitation
of King Devanampiya Tissa, an admirer of Ashoka
[16:12] and a man who wished to learn more of Buddhist
principles. The subsequent mission to this
[16:17] realm was so successful that it gradually
became a Buddhist country and remains so even
[16:23] today. Such was the legacy of Ashoka the Great.
When he died in 232 BC, he was 72 years old,
[16:32] and had reigned for 38 glorious years. Though
his death would instigate the long decay of
[16:39] his earthly Mauryan Empire, which fell after
another half century, Ashoka had ruled over
[16:45] the largest indigenous empire in Indian history
with wisdom, efficiency and most importantly,
[16:52] compassion. Buddhism in the 21st century is
a world religion because the first steps to
[16:58] spread it to the world were made by Ashoka
himself.
[17:02] Gradually, as the centuries progressed after
Ashoka’s death, the faith travelled along
[17:07] the Silk Roads as far as Tibet, China and
even Japan, despite its decline in the predominantly
[17:13] Hindu land of its birth. Writer H.G. Wells
stated that ‘Ashoka shines and shines brightly
[17:20] like a bright star’ among the thousands
of other kings and majesties ‘even unto
[17:26] this day’.
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