Macedonian conqueror by his insolence and as- CHAPTER V. sumption, who expelled the Greeks from the Punjab during the wars of Alexander's successors, and ultimately married the daughter of Seleukos Nikator. sion to the throne of Magadha. The accession of Asoka to the throne was signal- Asoka's accesized by a terrible tragedy, which is only briefly indicated in Buddhist tradition. The old Raja, his alleged father, was mortally sick in the royal palace at Patali-putra. The dying sovereign sent for his eldest son Susíma, who commanded in the Punjab, to succeed him on the throne. Asoka, however, appeared in the stead of his elder brother; and the Raja was so exasperated that he burst a blood-vessel and perished on the spot. Asoka is said to have had a hundred brothers, and to have slain them all save one. The statement is probably a myth, but it sufficiently indicates the perpetration of one of those wholesale massacres which are of frequent occurrence in dynastic revolutions in Asiatic kingdoms. Susíma was certainly slain, and his death was followed by an incident, which imparts a darker colouring to the tragedy. The lowest class of people in all Hindustan are the Chandálas. Their touch, their breath, their very presence, is pollution. They are scavengers and executioners, and they live like lepers in separate villages. When prince Susíma was murdered, his widow was about to become a mother; but she succeeded in effecting her escape from the palace, and found a refuge in a village of the Chandálas, where she gave birth to a son, and dwelt for seven The princess and her misfortunes have passed into oblivion, but the untold agony of her years. CHAPTER V. residence amongst the Chandálas is a lasting blot upon the character of Asoka. Strangely enough, her son is said to have become a monk, and to have converted Asoka to the Buddhist faith. This startling story is not altogether impossible. The ill-fated prince, the grandson of a Raja, brought up amongst Chandálas, had no other career open to him but that of a religious mendicant; and he was doubtless glad to forget his sorrows in the seclusion of a monastery. That he should have ultimately effected the conversion of his usurping uncle is a pious legend, upon which it is impossible to pronounce an opinion.31 Conversion of An unknown interval of some years elapses between the accession and the conversion of Asoka. During the early portion of this interval, whilst the widowed princess and her infant son were still dwelling amongst the Chandálas, Asoka was pursuing a career of conquest resembling that of Sandrokottos. The extent of his empire is indicated by his edicts. It took in the whole of Hindustan, the Punjab, and Affghanistan, from the Bay of Bengal to the Indian Ocean, and from the river Nerbudda to the mountains of Cashmere. frontier on the north-west was formed by the western Himalayas, known as the Hindú Kúsh, which rendered his empire conterminous with that of the Greek sovereigns of Bactria. Here, in the neighbourhood of the Hindú Kúsh and the Oxus, were doubtless to be found the outer cities and fastnesses of his so-called brother and sister of the dynasty of the Seleukidæ.32 His 32 Appendix I., Edicts of Asoka, Tablet v. ter of Asoka: ery, love of women and the The secular character of Asoka may be inferred CHAPTER V. from that of Sandrokottos; for even if they are to Secular characbe regarded as two distinct individuals, it is certain fear of treach that they are men of the same stamp, the same chase. culture, and the same surroundings. Sandrokottos was in such constant fear of treachery that he never slept in the day time, and frequently changed his bed-chamber at night; and the same may be inferred of Asoka, who had ascended the throne by the murder of all his brethren, and must have been threatened by enemies of every kind. Sandrokottos was devoted to the pleasures of the harem, and the same may be inferred of Asoka; for whilst there is an allusion in the Buddhist chronicle to the sixteen thousand women of his palace, and to his fondness for a hand-maid in his old age,33 there is throughout the edicts a significant absence of all reference to those sensual indulgences which were the characteristics of the age. Sandrokottos went out occasionally to hunt with his women; and Asoka may have done the same, for in his edicts he refers to the pleasures of hunting, travelling, and marriage. Again, both sovereigns resided in the vast city of Patali-putra, with its wooden walls manned with archers, and its open moat which served both as a means of defence and a common sewer, and must have occasioned much pestilence and fever, especially under the alternate conditions of an Indian sun and Indian rains. 34 It is however the religious phase in the character 33 Mahawanso, pages 27, 122. 34 The lax morality of the age is proved by the reference to courtesans in the life of Gótama Buddha and the Sanskrit drama. It is also reflected in the sculptures at Sanchi and Amravati. See the valuable photographs in Mr Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship. CHAPTER V. of Asoka which is invested with the deepest interest. Religious cha- Indeed, the process must always be worthy of study Change of spiritual nature: fice. which could transform a usurper and murderer into It was at this period of his career that the spiritrevolt at sacri- ual nature of Asoka underwent an entire change. The man of violence and slaughter shuddered at the sight of blood and suffering. The usurper and murderer doubted the justice which demanded that innocent animals should be slain for the expiation of his own crimes. Nor was this revulsion of feeling confined to Asoka; it was the growing public opinion of the age. The revolt of humanity against sacrifices found a still more indignant expression in the language of the Hebrew prophets than in the 35 See Appendix II. 36 See Appendix I., Edicts of Asoka, Tablet i. 37 This is especially the case in Bengal, where goats and kids are still sacrificed by thousands to the goddess Kali or Durgá. racter of Asoka. edicts of the Hindú Raja :-" I have desired mercy CHAPTER V. and not sacrifice; the knowledge of God more than Religious chaburnt-offerings." 33 The conversion of Asoka, however, was not effected in a moment. The oscillation of sentiment finds full expression in the confused language of the first edict. But when he had fairly accepted the idea he was agitated by no further hesitation. Henceforth he was bent on expiating his sins by his own merits; by the fulfilment of duty rather than by austerities or sacrifices; by the accumulation of good works rather than by the slaughter of goats and lambs. He set gation of The energy which had enabled Asoka to usurp a Zealous promulthrone and conquer an empire was now expended in Dharma. promulgating the religion of duty. In fact, his zeal seems in some respects to have outrun his discretion. He devoted himself heart and soul to the performance of merits, and to compelling others to perform merits. He not only abolished the slaughter of animals, but he provided for the medical treatment of those which were wounded or diseased. aside the established teachers, who had been tolerant of iniquity, and appointed teachers of his own with magisterial powers to enforce the fulfilment of duty. The great yearly assembly of Sandrokottos finds no direct expression in the edicts, but it is in perfect accordance with all the measures which were established by the edicts. It is not an outgrowth of Brahmanical ritualism, nor of the Buddhist law of the wheel, but of Dharma, and Dharma alone. in Dharma. But the religion of Asoka, with all its practical Absence of deity morality, was wanting in that spiritual life which is 38 Hosea vi. 6. Compare also Micah vi. 6, 7; Isaiah i. 10-14. |
