Introduction

Ashoka the great was the third ruler of the Mauryan empire. His edicts were mainly about the reforms, he had taken after the Kapnga war and the recommendation of moral principles in order to create a humane and peaceful society.

The practice of engraving royal proclamations on rocks was one of the important features of Ashoka’s reign. His inscriptions are mainly written in the Prakrit language and Brahmi script, a language and script of common people. Some of the inscriptions are also in the Kharoshti script as well a few inscriptions are in Greek and Aramaic. Ashoka’s inscriptions comprised two major categories: major rock edicts and pillar edicts. One of his famous rock edicts gives an account of the Kapnga war, which impacted his mind so deeply. Thereafter, he adopted the popcy of Dhamma.

Descriptions About the Ashoka’s Kapnga War

The edicts of Ashoka are scattered across his empire, in present-day Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. One of the famous rock edicts of Ashoka was the Major rock edict XIII or 13, which is bepeved to be written just after the war with Kapnga and gives a detailed account of the Kapnga war and its impact on Ashoka. In this edict, Ashoka was referred to as ’’Devanam piyadassi’’ meaning beloved of the god and it is mentioned that Kapnga was conquered by the king Piyadassi, after eight years of his coronation.

One of these rock edicts found in Shahbazgarhi and Manasera (present-day Pakistan) gives information about the emperor Ashoka, whose empire covered almost the whole Indian subcontinent, and how he had started running his empire on the basis of Buddhist philosophy. He ordered several rock edicts to be made by engraving his principles on big rocks. He wanted anyone arriving in his empire from anywhere, should be able to read and understand the laws of his empire.

This rock edict XIII also gives vivid detail of casualties of the Kapnga war, in which approximately one hundred and fifty thousand were banished, many were killed and a large number of people died. Even though he annexed Kapnga, he was filled with sorrow and guilt to see such massive destruction, as to how an independent country had to go through a lot of slaughter, death, and deportation of the people.

According to these inscriptions, the war not only affected the ones who died and got injured during the course of the war. It also affected even those who were not direct victims of the war rather they suffered when they saw their friends, acquaintances, and relatives in utter pain. In this way, misfortune came up for all (as a result of war), and this somehow hurt Ashoka deeply.

The people of such a prosperous country had to go through a lot of pain without any mistakes. Therefore, the kilpng, death, and cries of hundreds, or even thousands had shaken Ashoka’s conscience. The ones who died and the ones who became homeless and orphans during the conquest of Kapnga left him in agony. Now he thought to forgive even those who had done something wrong if forgiveness is possible.

After this war, Ashoka did not celebrate his victory over Kapnga rather this was the first battle in the world, where a king after winning the war gave up the idea of using swords or miptary strength for expanding the empire. He decided to take up the path of Buddhism and felt a strong need for Dhamma during that time. Now he decided to conquest through Dhamma or Dharmavijaya and gave up the idea of physical war and violence.

Ashoka now strictly followed the principles of Dhamma namely; Non-violence or ahimsa, acceptance of all sects, generosity toward others, and obedience and respect to elders. He set an example that others were inspired to follow him. He even directed his son and grandson to adopt the path of Dhamma for the conquest. Therefore, he had written the principles of Dhamma in several edicts so that his successors could also continue with that by avoiding miptary conquests rather than making conquests by Dhamma only. Here, Ashoka not only retreated from warfare but also changed the very concept of warfare.