History Optional (Mauryan Empire) by Shivlal Gupta

Model Answer

Question #1. “Ashoka’s Dhamma was aimed at generation of mutual respect and concord among people belonging to different sects or religious communities”. Comment.

Approach:

• Briefly introduce by explaining Ashoka’s Dhamma.
• Discuss how Ashoka’s Dhamma was aimed at generation of mutual respect & concord among
• people belonging to different sects or religious communities.
• Discuss how Ashoka’s Dhamma had political rationale for the propagation of dhamma.
• Conclusion

Hints: 

Ashoka’s connection with Buddhism is reflected in Buddhist texts and in his inscriptions. Most of Ashoka’s inscriptions are about dhamma (the Prakrit form of dharma). The inscriptions are quite eloquent and precise about what dhamma consisted of, historians have different assessments of its nature, especially its relationship with Ashoka’s personal faith in the Buddha’s teaching.

• One of the important aspects of Ashoka’s dhamma was the generation of mutual respect and concord among people belonging to different sects or religious communities. This clearly indicates that dhamma did not consist in the promotion of a particular sect, Buddhist or otherwise. This aspect of dhamma has often been referred to as ‘religious toleration’, a very poor understanding of Ashoka’s policy. Rock edict 12 makes it clear that the king expected people to exercise restraint in criticizing other sects and in praising their own. But he was also asking for something much more positive. He was urging people to honour and try to understand the dhamma of others. He considered it possible to promote the essentials of the different dhammas of different people through such means.

Moreover, the good conduct and social responsibilities that were part of dhamma were anchored to certain key relationships. The ceremony of dhamma is described as consisting in proper courtesy to slaves and servants, respectful behaviour towards elders, restraint in one’s dealings with all living beings, and liberality to shramanas and Brahmanas. Rock edict 11 refers to the gift of dhamma being the best of all gifts. It is said to comprise the following: proper courtesy to slaves and servants, obedience to mother and father, liberality (i.e., generosity) towards friends, acquaintances, and relatives as well as to Brahmanas and shramanas, and abstaining from killing living beings. Pillar edict 2 describes dhamma as consisting of the least amount of sin, performing many virtuous deeds, compassion, liberality, truthfulness, and purity.

• However, RomilaThaparhas underlined the political rationale behind the propagation of dhamma. She minimizes the Buddhist element in Ashoka’s dhamma and asserts that there need be no connection between the personal beliefs of a statesman and his public proclamations. Dhamma was an ideological tool used by Ashoka to weld and consolidate his far-flung empire. Due to lack of support in the early years of his reign, he sought the support of non-orthodox elements and saw the practical advantages of adopting and propagating dhamma, which was basically an ethical concept that focused on the relationship between the individual and society. However, it failed as as a unifying strategy

Conclusion:

Historians hold different views about the nature of the dhamma of Ashoka’s inscriptions. It has been seen as a sort of ‘universal religion’, containing certain common elements in many religious traditions.

It has been interpreted as a form of raja-dharma (the dharma of a king), consisting of the political and moral principles emphasized in the Brahmanical and Buddhist traditions. It has been understood as a form of the Buddhist upasakadhamma (the Buddha’s teaching for the laity). It has also been seen as all these things rolled into one. 

Question #2. How far do you agree that the Mauryan empire had a new form of government, which was marked by centralized control and planning?

Approach:

• The Maurya period saw the establishment of the first empire in the history of the Indian subcontinent.
• In the beginning of the answer give a brief introduction about the sources giving information related to the Mauryan administration.
• Describe the nature of Mauryan administration and the various levels in it.
• At the end of the answer, show the importance of the Mauryan administrative system in Indian history.

 Hints:

Introduction:

• The Mauryan empire marks a watershed juncture in Indian history. For the first time in the history of India, a large portion of the subcontinent, extending up to the far north-west, was under a single paramount power.

Sources:

• This period has a greater number and more diverse type of primary sources as compared to the earlier periods; more importantly many of these sources are contemporary with the period under review.
• Let us look at a few of them in greater detail.The most important literary source is Megasthenes’ Indica The other equally popular source is Kautilya’s Arthashastra
• The texts like the Divyavadana and the Ashokavadana as well as Sri Lankan Buddhist chronicles such as the Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa and the king-lists in Puranas, again of a later period, refer to Mauryas.

MAURYAN EMPIRE GOVERNMENT

• The foundation of the Mauryan empire was laid by Chandragupta Maurya, who overthrew the

Nanda dynasty in 321/324 BCE.

• The administrative structure involved a division of the empire into provinces, each under the direct governance of a prince (kumara) or a member of the royal family.
• The inscriptions suggest four such provinces – a southern one with its centre at Survarnagiri, a northern province with capital at Taxila, a western one with its capital at Ujjayini, and an eastern one with its capital at Tosali.
• Senior officers called pradeshikas were tasked with touring the empire every five years and performing an audit as well as keeping a check on the provincial administration.
• In addition, there were judicial officers, rajukas, in both urban and rural areas, whose judicial functions often combined with assessment of revenue.
• A well-organized administration was needed for a variety of tasks such as surplus production, extraction of surplus, its distribution or expenditure, strong army to conquer areas, tax collection from traders and agriculturalists etc.
• Traditional viewpoints saw the Mauryan empire as a centralized bureaucratic empire.
• Such empires are characterized by powerful kings who through military exploits bring peace and cohesiveness to the kingdom.
• They are marked by the presence of allies, enemies, matrimonial relations, and diplomatic alliances.
• Centralized bureaucratic empires are exploitative in nature with corresponding elements of inequality among social classes.
• Romila Thapar’s earlier contention that the Mauryan empire was a uniform and centralized administered entity was modified by her in a later study.
• According to her, at the hub was the metropolitan state of Magadha, broadly an area of the distribution of the pillar edicts.
• This was the area of maximum centralized administration. Then there were the core areas, which were of strategic importance and agrarian and commercial potential.
• This second category was less under central control and was under the control of governors and senior officials.
• Gandhara, Raichur Doab, Southern Karnataka,Kalinga and Saurashtra were such core areas.
• The third category was those areas which were located at the peripheries.
• The economy of such regions was not restructured by the Mauryan State. Only the resources were tapped.
• The governance of such a vast realm was aided through multiple foci of administration.
• Thus, regional variations and diversities were accommodated by the Mauryan rulers into their polity.
• While an empire accommodates and integrates these diversities on the one hand, at the same time, it also favours homogeneity as a binding force.
• Thus, imperial systems make attempts to draw together the ends of the empire, to encourage the movement of peoples and goods
• This includes the use of script, punch-marked coins in exchange transactions and the projection of a new ideology that sets new precepts.
• In the case of the Mauryan empire, the State attempted cultural homogeneity through the introduction of the policy of Dhamma.

Conclusion:

• The Mauryan administration was highly central, but despite its central tendency, historians have not considered it autocratic. The planning and coherence of the Mauryan administration is revealed from literary sources, especially the Arthashastra.