There is nationwide unrest everywhere. Why? A violent ambience is rampant and wildly spreading. To dispel the darkness of untruth and violence, there is an upsurge of Ashoka’s doctrine. Ashoka is the pioneer of nonviolence and solidarity. He has glorified our country by the ideology of secularism with a spirit of solidarity. The golden credit for such idealism belongs to only a few who, by virtue of their glorious achievements, influenced our history so powerfully and enormously.
Ashoka, as the mightiest king of ancient India, still stands as a great pillar of integrity and unity. Ashoka as an immortal emperor is still ruling in our hearts for his brilliant, unparalleled nationalism. Ashoka as a great monarch determined to unify India became a Rajchakravartin. The ideal of “Digvijay ” pursued him to conquer Kalinga. The Kalinga war was, however, a turning point in his life. The atrocities that he had witnessed changed him to a different persona. The bloody river of Daya was sufficiently powerful to convince him of the futility of conquest by physical force. The irreparable and irreplaceable loss of families in that Great War brought an unfulfilled void in his mind. The usefulness of violence and devastation created anarchy everywhere. Therefore, he sought to bring peace to his country by the nonviolence policy. And Ashoka waged no further war during his reign. The famous Kalinga war was indeed the first and last war during his monarchy. After the devastation and mass destruction of more than one lakh men, a profound sorrow crushed his heart of course with regret and guilt.
The massacres, slaughter and violent deaths of people forced him to change his looks towards a peaceful dynasty. His various missions towards speculations of Ahimsa showed his keen interest in international statesmanship. He sent messengers to foreign countries to preach the doctrine of Ahimsa. He dissolved all his sins by seeking the blessings of Buddha. History stands a silent speaker to Ashoka’s grand conception of nonviolence and brotherhood.
Why can’t we practice the doctrine of peace and secularism currently in our life? Why there is a loss of faith and degeneration everywhere? Religious crises and spiritual loss are prevailing everywhere. Crises of hope and mistrust are clouding our aspirations. Religious discrimination is the root cause of such negative behaviour. Why can’t we attain the principles of Ashoka? He spread the message of love and compassion. He even tried to unite the Hindus and Muslims to attain the spirit of integration. He converted to Buddhism. He devoted his entire life to practice and propagate Dharma, which shaped his personality to a unique emperor of India.
Not only has he practised this ideology in his life, but also has constructed 84,000 stupas and viharas. Sanchi at MP, Dhamak at Sarnath (UP ), Bodhi temple at Bihar, Taxila at Pakistan are some of his golden creations.
Even he has sent numerous missionaries across the world to spread the pious doctrine of nonviolence. His son Mahinda, daughter Sangamitra, went to Sri Lanka to spread the pristine spirit of Buddhism. The 13/14 rock state that Ashoka won a victory (Dhamma) by sending peace messengers to several kingdoms. The inscription and sculptures are the forebears of his devotion to Dharma, religious tolerance, renunciation of war.
We should follow his ideologies of transformation and unification of cultural interests. He was indeed a unifier of cultural and religious relics. Political leaders should imbibe his philosophy of cross border integration in order to revive our immortal ideas of secularism and brotherhood. It is righteous to attribute him as a victorious ambassador and a great patron of Indian culture and ethics.