ASHOKA... A NEW PERSPECTIVE

INTRODUCTION

“Silenced were the War drums,
And chants grew aloud…
Not Warriors but missionaries were set forth
To conquer not land but hearts…”

Ashoka the Great ruled the Maurya Empire from 273 BC to 232 BC. In his early life Buddhist text describe him as Chandal Ashoka. He is said to have killed his hundred brothers to ascend the Magadha throne. He was an ambitious king who wanted to be a “Chakravarti” or ‘Ruler of the Universe’. He embarked on a course of conquests to extend his empire. One of the most important conquests was of Kalinga. It is said that in the battle, the casualties were very high and were accompanied by extensive destruction. Upon observing the consequences of the war, Ashoka experienced great remorse and vowed to abstain from any further violence.

The aim of this Paper is to give an insight into the global geopolitics of third century BC and how its impact translated in emperor Ashoka using soft power to develop an empire.

The paper is discucced in four parts.

(a) Part one gives a historic brief of the pre Kalinga Life of Ashoka.
(b) In Part two Geopolitical specifics of South Asia during the times of Ashoka are discussed.
(c) In Part three we analyse options available and the course followed.
(d) Part four draws rationales from Ashoka’s period as applicable today.

PART I: HISTORIC BRIEF

Ashoka (or Ashoka) was born as the son of the Mauryan emperor Bindusara by a relatively lower ranked queen named Dharma.

As an impeccable warrior general and a shrewd statesman, he earned respect across the empire. This made his elder brothers wary of his chances of being favoured by Bindusara to become the next emperor. The eldest of them, Prince Susima, persuaded Bindusara to send Ashoka to quell an uprising in the city of Takshashila, of which Prince Susima was the governor. Ashoka was welcomed by the revolting militias and the uprising ended without a fight.

This enraged Susima and he convinced Bindusar that in some manner Ashoka was responsible for engineering the revolt to destabilize him. On his return, Ashoka was exiled from Patliputra.

During his exile there occurred a violent uprising in Ujjain which Susima was unable to subdue. Emperor Bindusara summoned Ashoka back. Ashoka went into Ujjain and quelled the uprising. During the battle he was injured and was treated in hiding by Buddhist monks and nuns. This is where he first learned the teachings of the Buddha, and it is also where he met Devi, who was his personal nurse. After recovering, he married her.

Emperor Bindusara took ill and was on his death-bed. A group of ministers summoned Ashoka to take the crown. As the Buddhist lore goes, Prince Ashoka attacked Patliputra and killed all his brothers, including Susima.

Ascending the throne, Ashoka expanded his empire over the next eight years: it grew to encompass an area extending from the present-day boundaries of Bangladesh and Assam, in the East, to the territory of present-day Iran and Afghanistan, in the West. From the Pamir Knot in the North almost to the peninsular tip of Southern India.


Mauryan Army

The Mauryan army under Ashoka comprised approximately 1 million infantry, 35000 horsemen, 25000 chariots and 10000 elephants and had immense deterrence value. It was raised and trained in Indo-Gangatic plains, thus was not suited for fast moving cavalry maneuver which were essential to achieve victory against mountain kingdoms.

As per historical records Merchant Marine and Coastal Navy existed. There is no record of a blue water navy.


Kalinga War

The pretext for the start of the Kalinga War (265 BC or 263 BC) is uncertain. It is said that one of Ashoka's brothers - and probably a supporter of Susima - fled to Kalinga and found official refuge. Ashoka then asked Kalinga's royalty to extradite him. When they defied this diktat, Ashoka, attacked Kalinga .Kalinga put up a stiff resistance. The whole of Kalinga was plundered and destroyed. Ashoka's later edicts say that about 100,000 people were killed.

As the legend goes, 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. This sight made him sick and he cried, "What have I done?" Upon his return to Patliputra, he could get no sleep and was constantly haunted by his deeds in Kalinga.

Meanwhile Queen Devi, who was a Buddhist, apparently left Ashoka after she saw the horrors of Kalinga. Prince Mahindra and Princess Sanghamitra, the children of Queen Devi, asked Ashoka for permission to join the Buddhist monks, which Ashoka reluctantly granted. The two siblings established Buddhism in Ceylon.

Ashoka was grieved by this, and was counseled by his nephew to embrace dharma and draw away from war. From that point Ashoka, is described as Dharm Ashoka "the pious Ashoka". This is a part of Buddhist legend.


Lessons from Kalinga

The Kalinga campaign was conducted close to logistics basis of the hinterland. Ashoka realized that if a campaign fought under favorable conditions close to the hinterland can be so cost prohibitive, fighting a war away from support base could provide catastrophic. A military failure in mountains in the West or North will denude the deterrence balance leaving his kingdom open to successive invasions and rebellions. These eventually will lead to fragmentation of Mauryan Empire and his dream to become Chakravarty Samrat will rupture.

PART II: REVIEW OF SOUTH ASIAN GEO-POLITICS IN THIRD CENTURY BC

Geography

The Mauryan kingdom during Ashoka’s’ period was bounded by the Great Himalayas in the North, dense jungles of Patkai Mountains in East, Bay of Bengal to East and SE, Indian Ocean to the South, Arabian Sea to SW .It was limited by Pamir mountains towards West. It was a mighty empire confined by great natural barriers, which needed large resources to cross.


Political Situation

In the 3rd century BC the Carthaginian Empire was destroyed by the Romans and Rome became the most important power in the Western Mediterranean. In Middle East the remains of Alexander’s Empire had consolidated as Seleucid, Greco Bactrian and Parthian Empires. The Warring States period in China drew to a close, with Qin -Shi -Huang conquering other nation-states and establishing the short-lived Qin dynasty. In India, Ashoka the Great ruled the Maurya Empire.


Qin Dynasty. The unification of China in 221 BC under the first emperor Qin Shi Huang marked the beginning of Imperial China. A national conscription was devised wherein every male between the ages of seventeen and sixty years was obliged to serve one year in the army. Qin’s commenced frequent military expeditions pushing forward the frontiers in the North and South. To fend off a barbarian intrusion the fortification walls built by the various warring states were connected to make a wall; this is usually recognized as the first Great Wall of China. China under Qin Dynasty was a strong, stable state to contest any expansion to North, if possible beyond the great Himalayas.


The Seleucid Empire. After the death of Alexander, Seleucus Nicator became king of the eastern provinces. Seleucus invaded India in 304 BC, confronting Chandragupta Maurya. The two monarchs ultimately sealed a treaty, by which Seleucus ceded territories from the Indus to present-day Afghanistan. In exchange Chandragupta gave him no less than 500 elephants. The peace was complemented by a "marriage alliance”. The Seleucid kingdom was traditional ally to Mauryans. And considering their military prowess any attempt to expand West would have been disastrous.


Parthian Empire. The Parthian Empire was the third Iranian kingdom to dominate greater Iran in ancient times. The empire was ruled by the Arsacid Dynasty, and at its height they controlled most of Armenia, Mesopotamia, Iran, and Afghanistan. An invasion required crossing the Hindu Kush Mountains and a passage across the Seleucid Empire.


Greco Bactrian. The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was founded by the Seleucid military governor of Bactria Diodotus around 250 BC. The dynasty controlled Bactria and Sogdina comprising today's northern Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia. This kingdom lied across the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains.


Southern Kingdoms. It is unclear that why Ashoka did not annex the South Indian kingdoms of Cheras, Pandyas and Keralputra. It is likely that these kingdoms paid tribute to the Mauryans or were likely allies.

PART III: OPTIONS AND COURSE FOLLOWED

Options

In order to expand his empire Ashoka would have to launch campaigns to seek battles under conditions favoring enemy at the edge of vulnerable lines of communication. This as discussed could have been calamitous.

Second option required utilizing soft power to expand his ideology beyond domains of physical military capabilities. This was an unconventional option in which failure did not affect the status or strength of his kingdom.



Course Followed

Dharmvijay. Ashoka 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 goodness - "the true conquest.”. It is also clear from the edicts that he sent large numbers of missionaries to places as far afield as Greece and China, as well as all the neighboring States and the remainder of India not governed by him.

Missions for Dharmvijay. Ashoka Edict No 13 specifies that most Hellenistic rulers of the period received the teaching of the "Dharma". In the same Edict, Ashoka also adds the Cholas and the Pandyas as recipient of the faith. Several SE Asian countries such as Sri Lanka and Thailand are well attested recipients of Ashoka’s missions lending credence to the historicity and the success of these missions. 2nd century Saint Origen stated that Buddhists co-existed with Druids in pre-Christian Britain.


Ashoka’s Dharma

While Ashoka’s dharma had much in common with the virtuous conduct that the Buddha preached, it was mostly his own invention -- a way of requiring the state to incarnate a higher morality that would appeal equally to, and thus unite, the multi-religious, multicultural subjects of his vast empire.

Ashoka himself was only partly faithful to Buddhist teachings as he ruled an empire. He did not abolish capital punishment, or reduce his army, or grant his subject peoples greater autonomy by federalizing his empire. In fact, he instituted a new centralized bureaucracy, Dharma-Mahamatras ("officers of dharma"), to supervise his religious reforms.

PART IV: RELEVENCE OF ASHOKA TO MODERN WORLD

The Ashoka’s concept of Dharmvijay still holds relevance today. In a world rifted with religion, cast creed colour differences the Dharma offers a panacea. It is aimed at building bridges and bonds between the anarchic mankind so committed to self destruction.

The South Asian power balance once again hangs in between deterrence dissuasion balance between the ancient neighbors India and China. Traditionally India has an advantage when it comes to utilizing soft power. It is time again to regroup the key elements of soft power, culture, religion and philosophic vision to revive the strong bond and mutual respect these Asian giants always enjoyed.

Terrorism the plague of modern times stands so naked in front of Dharma. Can there be a better quote than the Legend of Angulimal wherein the bandit surrendered himself when he failed to terrorise Tathagat Buddha.

CONCLUSION

Ashoka was undoubtedly one of the greatest emperors of the World. His strategic vision is unparalleled in history. His skilled use of soft power established him as the emperor of the world’s greatest ideological empire rivaled only by the Pope.

Science fiction novelist H. G. Wells aptly puts it that, “In the history of the world there have been thousands of kings and emperors who called themselves 'their highnesses,' 'their majesties,' and 'their exalted majesties' and so on. They shone for a brief moment, and as quickly disappeared. But Ashoka shines and shines brightly like a bright star, even unto this day.”