Pujit Aggarwal Redivivus - Ashoka

 


   ‘No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.’  (Thomas Carlyle)
 
   Carlyle was an eminent Victorian philosopher whose influence on history, art, culture, and literature has been remarkably pervasive. Every great man exerts a centrifugal force that affects the meteorology of his immediate and outermost environment. Sometimes the impact is so deep on the political and cultural climate that it gradually turns into a permanent one. Till another great man emerges from the ever-spinning whirligig of time to introduce a new order or reverse the entrenched, otiose order to vacate the space for a better alternative,
 
   Ashoka has been memorialised in TV serials, Hindi films, and regional films. Strangely enough, there is hardly any documentary evidence, reliable vestiges, or relics to substantiate whatever we know about this mighty king. Only some stupas with inscriptions and sculptural motifs give us some hints about his profile and contributions. When he was at the peak of his glory, his influence is said to have extended as far as Sri Lanka, Thailand, North Africa, and West Asia. Some of his rock edicts were engraved in Greek and Aramaic.
 
   Ashoka was the black sheep of his family, ugly and afflicted with skin eruptions. When some of his concubines privately whined about his raw skin, he burned them alive. He squandered most of his youth on pleasure trips and escapades. Ruthless as he was, he tricked his father and seized power through sheer skullduggery. The old and jaded king had maintained a large assemblage of wives and concubines and procreated copiously. Some say Ashoka killed 99 brothers to quell the competition for the booty of a vast empire. It comprised the entire subcontinent.
 
   Ashoka became king at 34 and reigned for 37 years. He initiated numerous campaigns to rout rebellions and insurgencies. His crowning glory was the battle of Kalinga, which led to the massacre of tens of thousands of people, their corpses strewn across the bloody battlefield. He had never been more violent.
 
   He deplored the massacre with such anguish that his contrition induced an enduring change of heart. He became a Buddhist. He renounced violence and actively espoused the virtues of non-violence, charity, and self-abnegation. He devised and preached the gospel of Dhamma, a Prakrit word adapted from the Sanskrit Dharma. He dug wells, set up caravanserais, planted groves of mango and banyan, and cultivated medicinal herbs to ensure health and hygiene among his underprivileged subjects.
 
   Ashoka’s 33 inscriptions on stupas and rock edicts preach the gospel of peace, charity, and harmony. He disapproves of animal sacrifice, the caste system, elaborate rituals, and discrimination. ‘All men are my children, regardless of their colour, caste, or creed, reads one of the inscriptions.
 
   Our first PM, romantic and idealistic as he was, made Ashoka the patron saint of the New State. The Ashoka Pillar, erected by the emperor more than two millennia ago, has four lions back-to-back. They symbolise power, courage, confidence, and pride.
 
   Our revenue stamps and currency notes also carry this symbol of affirmation.

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