Which of the following Rock Edict of Ashoka speaks of religious synthesis ?

Question

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Correct — A, Rock Edict – XII. Major Rock Edict XII is Ashoka's single most explicit statement on concord between religious sects, and it is the only one of the four options that is about sects at all. In it the emperor says he wishes that all sects may dwell in all places, because all of them seek self-control and purity of mind; that a man who praises his own sect and disparages other sects out of devotion to his own in fact damages his own sect very severely; and that concord is meritorious, so that the followers of different sects should both hear and obey each other's morals. That combination — official respect for every sect, restraint in speech about others, and a positive duty to listen to another sect's teaching — is exactly what an examiner means by 'religious synthesis'. Note that the edict is about harmony between sects (pasanda), not the merging of doctrines: Ashoka is asking for mutual restraint and 'growth in essentials', not for a single blended faith.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Rock Edict II is Ashoka's welfare edict, not a religious one. It records arrangements for medical treatment of humans and of animals both within his realm and in the neighbouring territories, the planting of medicinal herbs, roots and fruit trees where they did not exist, and the digging of wells and planting of trees along the roads for travellers and cattle. It has nothing to say about sects.  (c) Rock Edict XI is about the gift of Dhamma itself — Ashoka argues that no gift is equal to the gift of Dhamma and its distribution, and lists the conduct it involves (proper treatment of servants, obedience to parents, generosity to friends and ascetics, abstention from killing). It is moral instruction addressed to individuals, not a rule for how sects should treat one another. It sits immediately before XII, which is why it is the most tempting wrong answer here.  (d) Rock Edict XIII is the famous Kalinga edict — the war, the deportations and deaths, Ashoka's remorse, and his turn from conquest by arms to Dhammavijaya (conquest by Dhamma), naming the Hellenistic kings Antiochus, Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas and Alexander among those to whom Dhamma was sent. Most candidates reach for XIII because it is the edict they know best, but its subject is war and remorse, not concord among sects.

Concept: Ashoka's inscriptions fall into groups — 14 Major Rock Edicts, the Minor Rock Edicts, the Separate (Kalinga) Edicts, the Pillar Edicts and the cave inscriptions — and prelims questions almost always turn on matching one numbered edict to its single distinctive theme. The 14 Major Rock Edicts were engraved in Brahmi (and, on the north-west frontier, in Kharoshthi, Greek and Aramaic) on rock faces near the borders of the empire, at sites such as Girnar in Gujarat, Dhauli and Jaugada in Odisha, Kalsi in Uttarakhand, Erragudi in Andhra Pradesh, Sopara in Maharashtra and Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra in the north-west. Within that set, Rock Edict XII is the edict on relations between religious sects, and it is the standard citation for Ashoka's policy of tolerance.

State PCS 2022 Q1 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2022 Q1 — History PYQ with Answer