THE.DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY INDIAN BUDDHISM 63him the name of the "Machiavelli of India." Kautalya's advice was apparently
very astute, for by 303 Candragupta had gained control of territory from Ben-
gal to eastern Afghanistan and as far south as the Narmada River. His son,
Bindusara, acceded to the throne in 297 B.C.E. and conquered the Deccan and
Mysore in central India, and the Tamil country in the far south. Bindusara
died in 272 B.C.E., succeeded by his son Asoka, who was crowned four years
later after eliminating other claimants to the throne.
Although Bindusara was a supporter of the Ajivika sect, whose denial of
morality fit well with his approach to power, Asoka converted to Buddhism-
perhaps for political reasons, perhaps at the behest of his first wife-nine years
into his reign. By his own admission, the religion did not mean much to him
personally until two and a half years later, after his conquest of Kalinga in
northeast India, the only major area of the subcontinent still refusing to sub-
mit to his rule. The extensive bloodshed and destruction caused by the con-
quest filled him with remorse. He began to study the teachings of various
sects, visited monks frequently, learned from them, and formally dedicated
himself as an adherent to the Sangha. As a result, he began making drastic
changes both in his personal life and in his administrative policies, abandoning
the amoral maxims taught by Kautalya and undertaking a great experiment in
bringing the Dharma to bear on the running of his empire, thus earning for
himself a lasting reputation in world, as well as Indian, history.
For centuries the only records of Asoka's reign were the Buddhist chroni-
cles, which claimed him as an exemplary supporter of the Sangha. Then in
the nineteenth century, Asokan edicts were discovered and deciphered, pro-
viding in his own words a history of his reign. In these edicts, Asoka expresses
his support for all the major religions of his time: Buddhism, Brahmanism,
Jainism, and the Ajivika sect. On the basis of this fact-together with the fact
that Asoka's expressed conception ofDharma makes no mention of particu-
larly Buddhist doctrines such as the Four Noble Truths-some scholars have
questioned whether Asoka was in fact a Buddhist. The case for regarding him
as a Buddhist, however, rests on much stronger evidence in the edicts. To
begin with, there are the many edicts addressed intramurally to Buddhists; in
one, Asoka shows a close familiarity with Buddhist texts. No edicts addressed
intramurally to members of other religions have been found. Second, there
are the Asokan rock pillars erected at Buddhist holy sites, an honor he did not
extend to the holy sites of other religions. Although caves donated by Asoka
to the Ajivikas have been discovered, his continued support of the Ajivikas fits
into the Buddha's instructions to major lay converts from other sects that they
continue giving alms to their previous sect as before.
As for the edicts addressed to the populace at large, they are aimed at lay
people, and it should be remembered that the Buddha himself often did not
propound abstract doctrine to the laity. Asoka's purpose was to give expres-
sion to an ideology that would bring his empire together. If he had tried to
force his beliefs on members of other religions, it would have proven politi-
cally divisive. Thus, in these edicts he generally focuses on themes that mem-
bers of all religions would accept, such as truthfulness, nonviolence, and