INTERROGATING ASHOKA'S DHAMMA THROUGH THE SANATANA LENS: A CRITICAL STUDY

Abstract

The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (c. 268–232 BCE) stands as a colossus in Indian history, primarily due to his prolific edicts that propagate a moral and ethical code known as his Dhamma. Traditional historiography has often painted Ashoka as a benevolent, pacifist monarch who, remorseful after the Kalinga war, embraced and championed Buddhism. This paper seeks to critically interrogate this monolithic narrative by analyzing Ashoka's Dhamma through the theoretical framework of the Sanatana (Sanskrit: Saptanɡa), or the "Seven Limbs" of the state, as articulated in ancient Indian political treatises like Kautilya's Arthashastra. By examining the Major and Minor Rock Edicts and Pillar Edicts, this study argues that Ashoka's Dhamma was not merely a personal spiritual quest or a purely Buddhist undertaking, but a sophisticated and calculated political ideology designed to consolidate and legitimize imperial power. It functioned as the ideological glue binding the disparate elements of the Sanatana—Swami (the ruler), Amatya (the bureaucracy), Janapada (the territory and populace), Durga (the fort), Kosha (the treasury), Danda (the army/coercion), and Mitra (the ally)—into a cohesive, stable, and centrally controlled empire. This paper will deconstruct the edicts to reveal how the Dhamma was strategically deployed to address the inherent vulnerabilities within each "limb" of the state, ultimately serving as a tool for statecraft, social control, and the creation of a hegemonic political order.