Characteristics Of Ashoka

Among Indians Aśoka is considered to be one ruler who was successful in using principles of nonviolence and dhamma to ensure fair rule. The broad knowledge that the general public has about this Mauryan King is that Ashoka was himself an obedient follower of Buddhism and had also dedicated himself to propagate Buddhism across his empire. A very famous and integral part of the narrative that is known to the public about Ashoka is the tale that he was the ruler who had given up the practice of war and violence. His greatness is highly attributed to the fact that he was the only emperor from the Indian history who initiated and followed the path of dhamma. Dhamma was his concept of morality which is based on peace and non-violence. It basically
All this, however, is contradicted by evidence of Aśoka sending fierce death threats to forest-dwellers, without any apparent reason. Aśoka also ordered the expulsion of dissident monks from Buddhist monasteries. Romila Thapar says in ‘Ashoka – a Retrospective’, “Possibly for him there was a distinction between activities within the Buddhist Sangha, and the need to rule without ideological prejudices”. Despite such measures possibly having been a necessity, they are largely overlooked today, when the public thinks about
Few of them would be in the form of the Dharmacakra in the national flag, and the Sarnath lion capital, which has been accepted as the national emblem of India, and is seen today on currency notes. The national flag’s evolution, with the replacement of the Gandhian charkha, with Aśoka’s dharmacakra, is a product of Nehru’s ideology, as mentioned in “Aśoka, Historical Discourse, and the Post-Colonial Indian State”, by Bhagwan Josh. Nehru was able to relate to Aśoka in terms of his ideology of ruling with a policy of non-violence, and respecting all religions equally. A symbol to represent such an ideology, and to stand for India’s ‘glorious past’ was required, and naturally, the dharmacakra was an ideal choice. Today, however, we see Aśoka’s chakra embossed on rockets, missiles, and weapons of mass destruction produced by India.
The national emblem of our nation is the adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka which is a sculpture of four lions facing back to back placed on a base containing the sculptures of other animals. The emblem draws its significance from Ashoka since the capital was actually placed by the Ashoka on top of an Ashokan pillar at the significant Buddhist site of Sarnath around 250 BC. It is claimed that since the capital derives its origin from Buddhism and the Mauryan dynasty hence it upholds