CHAPTER IX. REIGN OF ASOKA. 1. IMMEDIATELY on his father's death Asoka seized the government, and gave orders for the slaughter of all his brothers, save Tishya, who was born of the same mother. His eldest brother, Prince Susima, who had marched against him from Taxila, was cut off by an artifice; and the Mauryan dynasty was thus reduced to the single family of Asoka ; who, finding himself safe from the usual jealousies and intrigues of relatives, gave up his whole energies to the achievement of military glory. In the short space of four years he succeeded in reducing the whole of Northern India, from the mountains of Kashmir to the banks of the Narbadda, and from the mouth of the Indus to the Bay of Bengal ;* and * Nepál was probably included in the conquests of Asoka; for the kings of Tibet trace their origin to the Lichhavis of Vaisáli; and Khri-tsanpo, the first king, is said to have taken refuge in Tibet about 250 B. C.-that is, in the reign of Asoka. See Csoma's List of Tibetan Kings in Prinsep's Useful Tables, p. 131; and also Fo-kwe-ki, c. xxiii. n. 6. H India, perhaps for the first time, was brought under the control of one vigorous and consolidated go vernment. 2. During the first three years of his reign, the mind of Asoka was fully occupied with views of worldly ambition and personal aggrandizement; but in the fourth year, when all India was at peace, his restless activity found a more pleasing occupation, and a more lasting employment, in the acquisition of the Buddhist faith. Like his father Bindusára, he had been brought up as a worshipper of Agni and Surya, of Indra and Váyu; and, like him, he showed his respect for the Brahmans by feeding sixty thousand of them daily. But Asoka was of a passionate and impulsive temperament; and when he became a convert to the Buddhist faith, he embraced it with all the fervid zeal of his ardent nature; and though, like Alexander, he may once have wept that no more worlds were left for him to conquer, he now found that he had still himself to subdue. The task, though difficult, seemed not impossible; and the royal convert, who had before been called Chand-Asoka, or "Asoka the Furious," now submitted himself to the outward discipline of the Buddhist faith, and at last became so distinguished a follower of Dharma, that he acquired the more honourable title of DharmAsoka, or "Asoka the Virtuous." • Mahawanso, c. 23; but Buddhaghoso has the more moderate number of eight thousand.-See Turnour's Páli Annals in Prinsep's Journal, vi. 731. 3. The first proof which Asoka gave of his conversion to Buddhism was the dismissal of the sixty thousand Brahmans, in whose stead an equal number of Srámanas, or Buddhist ascetics, were daily fed. His next act was the distribution of the relics of Sakya to all the chief cities of India. These relics had been collected by Ajátasatra, at the instance of Kasyapa, and were deposited together in one large Stupa at Rájagriha. But the king had now determined to manifest his zeal for the faith of Buddha, by the erection of eighty-four thousand Vihárs, or monasteries, in honour of the eighty-four thousand discourses of Buddha.* As this precise number has always been deemed a fortunate one both by Brahmans and Buddhists, it may be looked upon as the common expression for any very large number.† These Vihárs are said to have been erected in eightyfour thousand different cities. I would reject the thousands, and read simply eighty-four cities and eighty-four Vihárs. The building zeal of Asoka is fully confirmed by the Chinese pilgrim Hwan-Thsang, who travelled through India in the middle of the 7th century of our era. At different places on his route, from Anderáb, beyond the sources of the Kabul River, to Conjeveram, in the south of India, and from Pitoshilo, in the delta of the Indus, to Tamluk, at the mouth of the Ganges, this pilgrim saw upwards of • Mahawanso, p. 26. + See Sir H. M. Elliott's Supplementary Glossary of Indian Terms for a number of proofs. |