66 CHAPTER THREElisten to and learn from one another. To honor other sects, he said, was to
honor one's own. Paradoxically, in spite of his support for tolerance, there is
epigraphical evidence that Asoka became involved in a split that was dividing
the Buddhist community at this time, probably between the Sthaviravadins
and their offshoot, the Sarvastivadins, ordering that the latter group leave the
community or be forcibly disrobed.
Five years after attacking Kalinga, ASoka proclaimed a new foreign policy,
one of peaceful Dharma-conquest rather than military conquest. Dharma of-
ficials were sent to proclaim Asoka's domestic policy of Dharma practice, ad-
ministration, and instruction to the people of kingdoms bordering his
own-especially the Greek kingdoms on his western frontier, and the Colas
and Sinhalese kingdoms to his south. A bilingual Greek-Aramaic Asokan in-
scription at Kandahar in Mghanistan records, for the benefit of the people liv-
ing in his neighboring kingdoms, the measures he had taken to "make people
more pious" and concludes, "Acting in this way, during their present life and
in their future existence they will live better and more happily together in all
things." Asoka's aim in his policy of Dharma-conquest was that other king-
doms would follow his example. This, he said, would be a source of greater
joy than military conquest could ever provide. One of his edicts states that in
256 and 255 B.C.E. he sent Dharma-envoys to the Greek rulers of Syria, Egypt,
Macedonia, Cyrene, and Epyrus, as well as to the Tamils in south India. Bud-
dhist tradition records that he also sent missions to Sri Lanka and Southeast
Asia. His missionaries left no documentable impression on the Mediterranean
world, but they had more impact closer to home. In particular, his mission to
Sri Lanka was an outstanding success. Legend reports that he sent not only
Dharma-officials but also his own son and daughter-Mahinda and Sang-
hamitta-who went as monk and nun, rather than as prince and princess, and
who succeeded in converting the entire island to Buddhism.
Scholars have debated over the possible ulterior motives for Asoka's
Dharma policies. Although his edicts convey sincere concern for the welfare
of his own and his neighbors' subjects more clearly than any other royal pro-
nouncements of the ancient world, it would be a mistake to regard Asoka as a
starry-eyed idealist with his feet planted firmly in the clouds. He had inher-
ited a large, multicultural empire, and thus needed a transcultural policy, in-
culcating moral behavior in his subjects, that would tie it together more firmly
thaq the cynical maxims of amoral statecraft could possibly do. In addition, his
strong bureaucratic state not only regulated commerce, industry, and agricul-
ture, b!ft also acted as an entrepreneur itsel£ Craftsmen and merchants, whose
interests were tied to the Maurya enterprises, especially supported Buddhism.
Thus Asoka, in supporting that religion, was strengthening a bond with an al-
ready loyal class; in pursuing a policy of Dharma-conquest, he ensured the
peace and stability needed for the profitable functioning of the government
enterprises; in formulating and propagating a Dharma policy that transcended
any particular religion, he created an ideological common denominator that
could tie his far-flung empire together.