NDA (II) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 135 of 150

Correct — C, Minor Rock Edict 1. This is the one inscription in which Ashoka states his own religious position in the first person. Its text runs, in the standard translation, that he has been a lay follower — an upasaka — for more than two and a half years, that for a year he did not make much progress, and that for more than a year now he has drawn closer to the Order, the Sangha, and become more ardent. A declaration of being an upasaka and of approaching the Sangha is a declaration of Buddhist adherence, and no other edict makes it. The Minor Rock Edicts survive at several places, including Maski, Sahasram, Rupnath, Bairat, Brahmagiri and Gujarra, and it is the Maski version that also gives the emperor's personal name, Ashoka, rather than only his title Devanampiya Piyadasi.

• (a)Major Rock Edict 13 — The most famous of all the edicts, but not this one's answer. It records the Kalinga war, the scale of the killing and deportation, Ashoka's remorse, and his turn from conquest by arms to conquest by Dhamma, naming the Hellenistic kings to whom that message was sent. It is about a change of policy and about Dhamma, which Ashoka deliberately kept non-sectarian; it does not state that he is a Buddhist.
• (b)Rock Edict 6 — An administrative edict. In it Ashoka insists that reporters bring him the affairs of the people at all times and in all places, and declares that he is never content in exerting himself because he considers the welfare of all men his duty. There is no religious affiliation in it at all.
• (d)Pillar Edict 4 — This deals with judicial administration — the powers of the Rajukas, the wish for uniformity in judicial procedure and punishment, and the three days of respite granted to condemned prisoners so that relatives could appeal or make donations. Again, governance rather than personal faith.

Ashoka's inscriptions fall into groups: fourteen Major Rock Edicts, the Minor Rock Edicts, the Major and Minor Pillar Edicts, and separate cave and commemorative inscriptions. They are written mostly in Prakrit in the Brahmi script, with Kharoshthi in the north-west and Greek and Aramaic on the Afghan frontier. Their subject is Dhamma — a public ethic of non-injury, truthfulness, respect for elders and tolerance between sects — which Ashoka preached to everyone, whatever their religion. His personal Buddhism appears only in a handful of inscriptions, of which Minor Rock Edict 1 is the clearest.

The examiner is testing a real distinction that students often miss: Ashoka's Dhamma is not the same thing as Buddhism. The Major Rock Edicts promote a civic morality that a Jaina, an Ajivika or a Brahmana could accept, and Major Rock Edict 12 explicitly asks all sects to respect one another. Only in the Minor Rock Edicts, the Bhabru or Calcutta-Bairat inscription that commends seven Buddhist texts, and the Rummindei pillar marking the Buddha's birthplace does he speak as a Buddhist. So when a question asks specifically for evidence of his connection with Buddhism, look past Edict 13 to those personal statements.

• In Minor Rock Edict 1 Ashoka calls himself an upasaka, a Buddhist lay follower, and says he has drawn closer to the Sangha.
• The Maski version of the Minor Rock Edict carries his personal name, Ashoka; elsewhere he is Devanampiya Piyadasi.
• Major Rock Edict 13 is the Kalinga edict — remorse, and conquest by Dhamma instead of by war.
• Rock Edict 6 concerns constant reporting of public affairs to the king and his duty to the welfare of all.
• Pillar Edict 4 deals with the Rajukas, uniformity in judicial procedure and a three-day respite for the condemned.
• The edicts were first deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837.

• Reaching automatically for Major Rock Edict 13 because it is the best-known edict.
• Equating Ashoka's Dhamma with Buddhist doctrine; the edicts address all sects.
• Confusing the Minor Rock Edicts with the Minor Pillar Edicts, which include the Schism edict.

Ashokan inscriptions are asked as which-edict-says-what, as the site that names him personally, or as the language and script of a particular version.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The personal name of the emperor Ashoka, rather than only his title, appears in the edict found at

  • (a)Girnar
  • (b)Maski
  • (c)Dhauli
  • (d)Rummindei

  Answer(b) Maski — elsewhere he is styled Devanampiya Piyadasi.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Ashokan edict that records the Kalinga war and the king's remorse is

  • (a)Major Rock Edict 12
  • (b)Major Rock Edict 13
  • (c)Minor Rock Edict 1
  • (d)Pillar Edict 7

  Answer(b) Major Rock Edict 13 — it also names the Hellenistic kings to whom Dhamma was carried.