Principles Of Ashoka's Dhamma

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Abstract: This review is to understand the principles of Ashoka’s Dhamma. Why dhamma was so important and a need in that time and what led to the reasons to the start of such an ethical approach of Dhamma which did not focus on any particular religion or class of society but to all the people as a whole leading the people of Emperor Ashoka’s to peace and harmony .but the importance of Ashoka’s Dhamma is questionable and how much is it or can it be followed in today’s world is a big question mark
What is dhamma?
Dhamma is a set of edicts which laid down the foundation of a policy of the Mauryan emperor which was being ruled by king ashoka , during 269 B.C.The word Dhamma is taken from the Sanskrit word Dharma which means one’s duty . The …show more content…

The immediate social environment in which Ashoka grew up influenced him in later years.[11][12][13] The Mauryan kings adopted a different viewpoint towards life and religion . Chandragupta Maurya adopted and started following Jainism as his religion in his later years .Bindusara favoured the Ājīvika where as Ashoka adopted Buddhism in his personal life, but he never imposed Buddhism as the strict religion to be followed by his …show more content…

Ashoka had only a few options to maintain the structure of his empire that was either by force—which meant to incur huge expenses—or to define a set of social norms which would be acceptable to all social practices and religious beliefs.[15][16] Ashoka was well aware of the tensions which the heterodox sects—Buddhism, Jainism and Ajiviksim—had generated in society. They were all opposed to the domination of the Brahmans and had a growing number of supporters. But Brahmans continued to control society and hostility was inevitable. Thus it became necessary to find out a way to maintain peace and mutual trust among the people of various backgrounds in the empire was .[15][16] There were many areas within the empire where neither the Brahmanical system or the heterodox sects prevailed. Ashoka referred to the country of Yavanas, where neither Brahmanical nor Sramanical culture were in vogue. In many tribal areas, people were unfamiliar with Brahmanical or heterodox ideas. To make the empire survive and to bring some cohesion within the empire in the midst of this diversity, some common patterns of behaviour and common approaches to the society 's problems were needed.[15][16]
The complex situation of the state system required such an an imaginative and unique policy from the emperor that would have required minimal use

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