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Ashoka The Conquest of Himself |
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Nehru hands out sweets to children in Nongpoh.
Opinions by great personalities on Ashoka the Great
- Among the emperor's and historical personalities , Samrath / Emperor Ashoka is the surely only being who had decided not to battle with enemy , when he won the battle._Jawaharlal Nehru in The Discovery of India(page no. 86)
- There is the only one period in Indian history which is a period of freedom, greatness and glory. That is the period of the Mauryan empire (Ashoka's empire)..._B. R. Ambedkar in Annihilation of Caste (page no. 70-71)
- Ashoka is perhaps the only emperor who hated wars because of the blood sheds and cruelty. He wanted to win the souls of people with love not the bodies with sword and terror.. _ V. G. Gokhale
- In some cases Ashoka may be compared with Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghi Khan ,Timur ,Peter I of Russia ,Napoleon I .But Ashoka was not extra ambitious like Alexander the Great. Ashoka was an ideal administrator like Julius Caesar, but unlike Caesar, he didn't want to be known as a dictator. Ashoka was a strong general but unlike Napoleon I Ashoka never was unsatisfied.Ashoka wanted to be loved by his subjects. He never terrorized his subjects like Genghis Khan ,Timur and Peter I of Russia.Nobility of soul , purity of mind, honesty of nature , clarity of dignity and love for all let Ashoka to sit with Gautama Buddha and Jesus Christ. _ Madhav Kondvilkar in Devancha Priya Raja Priyadarshi Samrath Ashok (page no. 19)
- Now a days wars, conflicts and blood sheds have become very familiar ,but about two thousand years ago Ashoka comprehended the evils of war and conflicts.Ashoka turned his all power to establish harmony and peace , in this way he has put a fine example to be followed before all the man-kind.In this way he has shown that in the peace-time man would be a progressed being_Dr. Binda Paranjape in Ashokache Shilalekha (page no.29)
- A hundred years after my death there will be an emperor named Ashoka in Pataliputra. He will rule one of the four continents and adorn Jambudvipa (old name to India) with my relics, building eighty four thousand stupas for the welfare of people. He will have them honored by gods and men. His fame will be widespread. His meritorious gift was just this: Jaya threw a handful of dust into the Tathaagata's bowl._prediction of Buddha for Ashoka according to the Ashokavadana
- "He (Ashoka) insisted on the recognition of the sanctity of all human life". _Dr. Munshi
- Asoka (264 to 227 B.C.), one of the great monarchs of history, whose dominions extended from Afghanistan to Madras... is the only military monarch on record who abandoned warfare after victory. He had invaded Kalinga (255 B.C.), a country along the east coast of Madras, perhaps with some intention of completing the conquest of the tip of the Indian peninsula. The expedition was successful, but he was disgusted by what be saw of the cruelties and horrors of war. He declared, in certain inscriptions that still exist, that he would no longer seek conquest by war, but by religion, and the rest of his life was devoted to the spreading of Buddhism throughout the world.He seems to have ruled his vast empire in peace and with great ability. He was no mere religious fanatic. For eight and twenty years Asoka worked sanely for the real needs of men. Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns of history, their majesties and graciousnesses and serenities and royal highnesses and the like, the name of Asoka shines, and shines, almost alone, a star. From the Volga to Japan his name is still honoured. China, Tibet, and even India, though it has left his doctrine, preserve the tradition of his greatness. More living men cherish his memory to-day than have ever heard the names of Constantine or Charlemagne._H.G. Wells in The Outline of History (Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind) published in (1920) chapter no. 25.4 (Buddhism and Asoka) page no 365-366
- Alarge number of international scholars agree that Emperor Aśoka of India in the third century B.C. was one of the greatest conquerors who later achieved the most difficult conquest of all — the conquest of himself — through self-conviction and his perception of human suffering. After embracing the Dhamma of the Buddha as his guide and refuge,he transformed the goal of his regime from military conquest to conquest by Dhamma. By providing royal patronagefor the propagation of Buddhism both within and outside his vast dominion, he helped promote the metamorphosis of Buddhism from one among many sects of Indian ascetic spirituality into a world religion that was eventually to penetrate almost all of southern and eastern Asia._Anuradha Seneviratna in King Asoka and Buddhism Historical & Literary Studies (editors preface ) (page. no. xi)
- We have no way of knowing how effective Asoka’s reforms were or how long they lasted but we do know that monarchs throughout the ancient Buddhist world were encouraged to look to his style of government as an ideal to be followed. King Asoka has to be credited with first attempt to develop a Buddhist polity. Today, with widespread disillusionment in prevailing ideologies and the search for a political philosophy that goes beyond greed (capitalism) , hatred( communism) and delusion (dictatorships led by infallible leaders), Asoka’s edicts may make a meaningful contribution to development of a more spiritually based political system._Ven.S.Dhammika in The Edicts of Ashoka
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This article was published on Wednesday 04 March, 2009. |
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