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Ido not hesitate to maintain, though few Christian writers will agree with me, that the world owes to India that higher system of ethics and nobler code of morality which distinguish the modern religion from the religions of the ancient world. In the present volume I have treated of the Buddhist and the Pauranik Age. The edicts of Asoka have thrown a flood of light on his administration and his times ; and numerous other inscriptions which have been read, elucidate many facts relating to the regal dynasties of the different provinces of India. But for an account of the people, their customs, laws and manners, we must turn to the code of Manu and to the account of the Chinese travellers. When we have compared these two records, we know how the Hindus saw themselves, and how they weft seen by others. The Pauranik Age opens with the sixth century A. D., when there was a renaissance in literature, science and religion. This opinion which is now held by most scholars is not however acceded ‘to by all. My kind eritic Dr, Biihler has pointed out that the Kavya litera- ture flourished during the early centuries of the Chris- PREFACE. Vii tian Era ; that Chandragupta II and his father Samudra- gupta of the Gupta dynasty were celebrated patrons of poetry and learning in the sth and ath centuries A. D.; and that it cantiet therefore be asserted that there was a renaissance a Sanscrit literature in the 6th century A. D. . I have in the present vchime admitted all the facts kindly pointed out by my lea’ned critic, but I demur to his conclusion. Ka4vya literature no doubt had its commencement in the 4th ang sth centuries of the Christian Era, just as modern ‘English poetry had its commencement with Chaucer and Gower, But never- theless the 6th century A, D., whicli I take to be the era of Vikramaditya and Kalidasa, marked a real revival and renaissance of Sanscrit literature, as the age of Elizabeth and Shakespeare marked a real revival of English literature. It was the commencement of a new epoch, marked by an upheaval of the national mind, In order properly to comprehend the coast history of the national mind in the Pauranik Age, we must compare the Dharma Sdstras and the Pauranik literature with the account of the Hindus from the discriminating and friendly pen of Alberuni, This I have attempted to do specially in the two closing chapters of the work, and the impression which is left on the mind is one of sadness. An unhealthy supersti- tion and social system warped the national mind and viii PREFACE, paralyzed the national vigour. Worshippers were di- vorced from religious learning, warriors were divided from the people, professions and sects were disunited for ever and enfeebled. Men were subjected to unmean- ing restrictions and hurtful rules, women were encourag- ed to perish on the pyre. .A monopoly of knowledge was established, social and ccligious freedom was extin- guished, and the lamp of national life was quenched with the light of freedom and of knowledge. The Hindu who can deservedly boast of the religion of the Upanishads and the ethics of Gautama Buddha owes “it to Truth and to History to confess to the degencracy of later times. I aave not sought to suppress this sadder portion of our national story; rather have I tried to tell it fully and impressively, so that we may now learn to tura to a brighter page of our national existence. If the present work contributes in any degree towards this result, if it helps us to sink our social disunion, to cast asunder hurtful restrictions, and to turn towards that unpolluted stream of life- . giving religion, morality and knowledge which are our birthright, my labours, humble and unworthy as they are, have not been altogether in vain. . -MYMENSING DisTRICT, BENGAL, R. C. DUTT. 14th March 1890. CHAP. L] , ASOKA AND HIS EDICTS. 3° New the most refined cruelties before his conversion to Buddhism. These stories are absolutely unfounded, and were invented to heighten the merit of the Bud- dhist religion by blackening the character of Asoka before his conversion to that creed, Fortunately for us, the great emperor has left us his edicts,—not in the garbled. stories of later poets and chroniclers —~but in inscriptions cut on ROCKS, CAVES and PILLARS, by his own order, in his own time, and in the language and the alphabet of the time. The historical information conveyed in these inscrip- tions has been recently pieced together with great learn- ing and ingenuity by the iilustrious French scholar Senart, and we will glean some facts from his learned work Les Inscription de Piyadast in two volumes. The 14 Edicts on Rocks appear to have been in- scribed in the 13th and r4th years from Asoka’s corona- tion, while the 8 Edicts on Pillars were inscribed in the| 27th and 28th years. The last of the Pillar Edicts is the last expression of the great emperor's ideas and wishes that is available to us. The Edicts in Caves were intermediate in point of time between those on Rocks and those on Pillars. The Dipavansa and the Mahavansa. maintain thate Asoka was converted to Buddhism in the fourth year after his anointment. But M. Senart proves from the inscriptions themselves that the conversion really took place in the ninth year after the anointmenf, and 4 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BooK Iv. immediately after the emperor had conquered Kalinga. It was the spectacle of the war of Kalinga, and of the cruel and sanguinary acts which accompanied it, that created a lasting impression on the mind of the bene- volent emperor, and made him disposed to embrace the gentle and merciful creed of Gautama. Two years after, zZ¢,in the 11th year after his coronation, Asoka was converted a second time, z. ¢., he was led to spread and proclaim the faith more zealously than he had done before; and from the 13th year he be- gan to cause his Edicts to be inscribed in all parts of his great empire. We will see further on that in his 13th Rock Edict, Asoka names five Greek kings as his contemporaries. All these kings reigned between 268 and 258 B.C. Asoka was already a zealous Buddhist when he made treaties with these kings, and if the date ‘of the treaties. -be supposed to be 258 B. C., Asoka’s coronation, M. Senart argues, must have taken place . about 270 B. C., not about 260 B. C.,, as is generally supposed. The difference of ten years is, however, of little importance in Ancient Indian History. We. learn from the inscriptions that Asoka had brothers and sisters living at the time of the inscrip- tions; and. the story that Asoka killed his brothers in order to ascend the throne must therefore be rejected as false. The emperor had more than one queen, and one inscription describes the liberality of his second queen (Dutiya Devi). Pataliputra was the capi- CHAP. lL] | ASOKA AND HIS EDICTS. 5 tal of the empire, but Ujjayini, Takshasila, Tasali and Samapé are spoken of as subject towns, and the con- quest of Kalinga has already been spoken of before. The whole of Northern India owned the emperor’s sway. Fourteen nations (Aparéntas) living beyond the limits of Northern India also owned his suzerainty. In this category are mentioned the Yavanas (of Bactria), the Kambojas (of Cabul), the GAndharas (of Candahar), thé RAstikds (Saurdshtras and Mahardshtras), the Peteni- kas (probably of ‘the Deccan, Paithana or Pratish- thdna), the Andhras (of the Deccan), the Pulindas (of the Deccan), the Bhojas (of Malwa), and the Nabhakas and Nabhapantis. Thus Southern India as far as the Krishna river, and Cabul, Candahar and Bactria to the west, owned the suzerainty of the great emperor. Other ‘neighbouring nations are also spoken of as Prityantas who were independent. The Cholas, the Pandyas, Satyaputa Keralaputa (all tothe south of the Krishna river), and the five Greek kingdoms _ belong to this class. Of Asoka’s system of administration the inscriptions give us but meagre information. We are told of Purushas or officers of the king, of Mahamtras or functionaries of all orders, of Dharmamah4matras or officers specially employed to propagate religion and foster morality, and of Pradesikas or local hereditary chiefs, the ances- tors of the modern Raos and Raols and Thakurs, of whom India with its Feudal system of administration 6 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [ROOK Iv. has always been rich. Besides these we hear of Anta— Mahamatras or frontier officers, of Prativedakas or spies, and of Rajjukas specially appointed to inculcate religion to the Dharmayuta or the faithful. The Anusamyana was a religious assemblage to which all the faithful were invited, and in which the Rajjukas exercised their special mission of imparting instruction to the people. We know that such Buddhist gatherings were held every five years, but this rule was not universal. A quinquennial Anusamydna was held in ang provinces immediately under the emperor, but in Ujjayint and Takshasila the celebration was held once in every three years. We are told in these inscriptions that offenders who were condemned to death were allowed three days to prepare themselves by alms, fasts and meditations, _ In the inscription of Sahasaraém, we are told that after his conversion Asoka deprived Brahmans of the almost divine honours in which they were held, no doubt by shewing equal honor to Buddhist monks. This salutary measure has been exaggerated into le- ‘gends of sanguinary persecutions of Brahmans of which the pious emperor was entirely innocent. In the same inscription, as well as in that of Rupnath, we are told that Asoka sent his missionaries (Vivuthas) to all parts of the then known world. In the inscriptions of Bhabra, Asoka makes.a profession of faith in the ‘Buddhist Trinity,—Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. CHAP. 1] ASOKA AND HIS EDICTS.