Ram Puniyani
Past
is used by communal politics for their present political agenda. In India on
one hand we have the use of medieval history where the Muslim Kings are
presented as ‘aggressors due to whom Hindu society had to suffer’, on the other
now we are witnessing the distortion of ancient history being marshaled to
undermine Buddhism vis a vis Brahmanism.
The
figure chosen to make this point by communal forces is that of Emperor Ashoka.
Incidentally Noble Laureate Amrtya Sen regards Ashoka and Akbar as the two greatest
Emperors to have ruled India. A publication from RSS progeny, Rajasthan Vanvasi
Kalyan Parishad claims that it was due to Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism and
his promotion of ahimsa that
India’s borders opened up to foreign invaders. It also goes on to say those
followers of Buddhism under Ashoka played a seditious role, they assisted Greek
invaders with the goal that they would destroy “Vedic religion” and restore
Buddhism. Here, what is being referred to as Vedic religion is Brahmanism as
such.
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| A c. 1st century BCE/CE relief from Amaravati,Andhra Pradesh (India). The figure in the centre may represent Ashoka. (Courtesy: Wikipedia) |
Interestingly
the article regards Ashoka to be a great ruler till he embraced Buddhism, while
most of the thinkers show that his humane policies, making him a great emperor,
were brought in after he embraced Buddhism. There are many components of this
formulation which are concocted as per the political requirement of Brahmanical
Hinduism. One of these concoctions is the very notion of India being the state
from times immemorial. One understands that India as a nation state emerged during freedom struggle. The
earlier formations were kingdoms, Empires. The boundaries of these kingdoms
were not fixed and depending on the bravery and other associated factors kings
were expanding their area of rule or had to retreat into smaller areas or even
getting decimated at times. Even before Ashoka came to power Alexander had attacked India.
Such forays of kings into other territories are not unknown. Mauryan Empire was
a major Empire the sub continent has seen.
So
many dynasties have ruled large parts of the subcontinent, no single ruler has
ruled whole of what is India today. So why is Ashoka being targeted today?
Ashoka was successor to Bindusar, from Maurya lineage. Chandragupta Maurya had
built the Empire and Ashok’s annexed Kalinga (modern Orissa) into his kingdom.
This battle was very bloody and as is famously known the bloodshed shook Ashoka
and he decided to embrace Buddhism. From this point on the transformation of an
aggressive insensitive king to a very humane person began with the embracing of Buddhism. He
undertook the measures for welfare of the people, opposed the Brahmanical
rituals and opened the gates of his palace for listening to woes the people of
his empire. Inspired by the teachings of Buddhism he took steps towards
building a compassionate state, the guardian state.
His
ideas and polices are deciphered from the number of edicts carved on pillars
and stones which are vast in number. What emerge from these edicts are very
compassionate and impressive norms being propagated as back as in the period of
third Century BC. What is remarkable is that though he embraced Buddhism he
accepted the diversity as the norm of society. One of his edicts says that a
ruler must accept the diversity of his subjects’ belief. He did transform
Buddhism in to a World religion. The spread of his ideas was not through force
but through moral appeal and persuasion. His message was to reduce suffering
and to pursue peace, openness and tolerance. This is why he is regarded as
Great contrary to the said articles’ claim that he was great till he embraced
Buddhism.
Ashoka’s
was the largest Empire in the history of the sub continent. His Dhamma was a
moral code for the ruler as well as for the subjects who were exhorted to
follow the moral path. His Rock Edict XII is something which we need to
remember in current times as well as it has great relevance even today. It is a
call for religious tolerance and civility in public life or as he puts it,
‘restraint in speech’, “not praising one’s own religion or condemning the
religion of the others without good cause…Contact between religions is good.”
(Sunil Khilanani, Incarnations, ‘India in 50 Lives’ page 52). ‘He did not foist
his faith, Buddhism on his subjects…He is important in history for his policy
of peace, non aggression and cultural conquest’. (R.S. Sharma, Ancient India,
NCERT, 1995, 104) Ashoka inspired the leaders of freedom movement for his
principles of justice and non-violence. He did represent the agenda which
symbolized cultural and religious pluralism which were central to the ideology
of Gandhi and Nehru in particular. His symbols of four lions adorn Indian
currency and the wheel has become part of Indian flag.
The
problem with Ashoka’s rule was not the military one. His Empire continued till
50 more years. In 205 BC Greek Emperor Antiocus attacked from North West and
established his rule in some part (North-West: Punjab, Afghanistan). The bigger
problem was from within the empire. This is related to Brahminical counter
reaction to the spread of Buddhism. Ashoka had put a ban on the slaughter for
rituals. This led to reduction in the income of Brahmans. The spread of
Buddhism led to the erosion of Varna-caste system. What the communal forces are
calling as Vedic religion is as such the dominant stream which was prevalent
then, Brahmanism.
These
factors led to the counter revolution. Pushyamitra Shung, a Brahman, the Chief
Commander of Brihadrath, who was Ashok’s grandson, led the counter revolution.
He killed the Emperor and founded the Shunga dynasty in Sindh part of Ashoka’s
empire. The counter revolution launched in the society led to the disappearance
of Buddhism from this land. Ambedkar writes, “Emperor Ashoka proclaimed
complete ban on killing animals. So nobody engaged Brahmans to perform rites
and rituals. The Brahman priests were rendered jobless. They also lost their
former importance and glory. So the Brahmans revolted against the Maurayan
Emperor Brihadrath under the leadership of Pushyamitra Shung, a samvedi Brahmin
and the army Chief of Brihadrath.” (Writings and Speeches, Vol 3 P 167)
Eighth Century onwards Shankara led the ideological battle against the
philosophy of Buddhism. Buddhism urged the people to focus on the life in this
World. The Shankara’s philosophy called this World as illusion and restored
Brahmanism here in full glory. Due to ideological and social counter revolution
Buddhism disappeared from this land around 1200 AD.
So
why is Ashoka’s reign coming under criticism now? Ashoka embraced Buddhism and
this was a setback to the Brahmanical system. Brahmanism is the dominant part
of Hindu religion as understood today. Ashoka talked of non-violence and
promoted pluralism. All these stand totally against the Hindu nationalist
agenda of sectarian nationalism where
violence is part of the politics. This wants to promote neo Brahmanical values.
So on one hand there is the attempt to co-opt Dalits and other hand the aim is
to keep the ideological message of social hierarchy loud and clear and so
Buddhism is attacked. The symbols of casteless ideology of Buddhism and
accompanying respect for pluralism and peace are being attacked as a part of
Hindu nationalist agenda, the garb in which it is presented is ‘weakening of
India’ due to non-violence. As such Maurayan was an Empire, not a nation state,
empires rise and fall due to social political factors of the time. Despite
adopting non-violence the Empire continued well till 50 more years. The
weakness starts coming in due to Brahmanical counter-revolution. The forays of
communalists in the ancient Indian history are an attempt more to denigrate the
Buddhist values under the garb of attacking Ashoka.
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