22, Causes of the Dismemberment of the Maurya Empire. 



By Mahamahopadhyaya Haraprasad Shastri. 



Vincent Smith, in his now classical work on Asoka in the 

 " Rulers of India" Series, regrets that the causes of the fall of 

 the great empire of Asoka are not known. In his c Early History 

 of India' he suggests that Kalinga was the first to declare its in- 

 dependence, and it was followed by Vidarbha and Andhra 

 countries. The Punjab was lost to the empire on account of 

 the invasions of Bactrian Greeks. All this is true. But why 

 is it that the military despotism, so well-established, disap- 

 peared only forty or fifty years after the death of the greatest 

 Indian monarch, whose memory is cherished with affection all 

 over the Buddhist world, and who is regarded as a great and 

 good ruler all over the world ? 



The causes are not far to seek. Asoka was, to all intents 

 and purposes, a Buddhist monarch, and a bigoted one, too. He 

 preaches indeed full toleration to the professors of all reli- 

 gions. He finds fault with " Atma-pasanda-pilja" and "Para- 

 pasanda-garaha, " which he considers to be of no use. And we 

 may conclude that the different religious sects of India enjoyed 

 complete freedom of conscience in his empire. But his other 

 edicts tell a different tale. He put a stop to all animal sacri- 

 fices throughout his vast empire, and not, as Vincent Smith says, 

 at Pataliputra alone, otherwise the promulgation of that edict at 

 Girnar, Khalsi and Saabazgadi would lose all force and be 

 useless. This is an order which was certainly directed against 

 the Brahmanas, a privileged els 5 wherever they settled The 

 Brahmanas of those days were very fond of animal sacrifices. 

 In fact with the diffusion of the Aryan people in different parts 

 of India, the number of sacrifices increased, and with it the 

 number of victims in each sacrifice. That a sudra ruler should, 

 by one single fiat, put a stop to this long-established and 

 cherished religious institution was certainly very offensive to 

 the powerful body of the Brahmanas and their followers all over 

 the empire. This was followed by another edict in which 

 Asoka boasted that those who were regarded as gods on earth 

 have been reduced by him, in a short space of time, into false 

 gods. If it means anything, it means that the Brahmanas, who 

 were regarded as Bhudevas or gods on earth, had been shown 

 up by him. This also was regarded by Brahmanas as casting 

 a Slur on their whole body. They had the privilege from high 

 antiquity as the superintendents of morals of the entire com- 

 munity in India. If anyone offended against the rules of 



