DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27191#0051
INTRODUCTION.
*9
whom Megasthenes was sent as ambassador by Seleukos, the
successor of Alexander in the western parts of his Asiatic
empire. It is from his narrative—now unfortunately lost—that
the Greeks acquired almost all the knowledge they possessed of
India at that period.1 The country was then divided into 120
smaller principalities, but the Maurya residing in Palibothra
(Pataliputra)—the modern Patna—seems to have exercised a
paramount sway over the whole. It was not, however, this
king, but his grandson, the great Aj-oka (b.c. 262 to 225), who
raised this dynasty to its highest pitch of prosperity and power.
Though utterly unknown to the Greeks, we have from native
sources a more complete picture of the incidents of his reign
than of any ancient sovereign of India. The great event that
made him famous in Buddhist history was his conversion to
that faith, and the zeal he showed in propagating the doctrines
of his new religion. He did, in fact, for Buddhism, what
Constantine did for Christianity, and at about the same distance
of time from the cieath of the founder of the faith. P'rom a
struggling sect he made it the religion of the State, and
established it on the basis on which it lasted supreme for nearly
1000 years. In order to render his subjects familiar with the
doctrines of his new faith, he caused a series of edicts embody-
ing them to be engraved on rocks near Peshawar, in Gujarat, in
the valley of the Dun under the Himalayas, in Hazara, in Katak
and Ganjam, in Mysore, and other places. Ple held a great
convocation or council of the faithful in his capital at Pataliputra,
and, on its dissolution, missionaries were sent to spread the
religion in the Yavana country, whose capital was Alexandria,
near the present city of Kabul. Others were despatched to
Kashmir and Gandhara ; one was sent to the Himawanta—the
valleys of the Himalaya, and possibly part of Tibet; others
were despatched to the Maharatta country, and to Mysore, to
Vanavasi in Kanara, and to Aparantaka or the north Konkan.
Two missionaries were sent to Suvarnabhumi, now known
as Thatun on the Sitang river, in Pegu, and, tradition says, his
own son and daughter were deputed to Ceylon.2 * * All those
countries, in fact, which might be called foreign, were then
sought to be converted to the faith. He also formed alliances
with Antiokhos the Great, Antigonos, and with Ptolemy
Philadelphos, Alexander of Epeiros, and Magas of Cyrene,
1 For this period, see M'Crindle’s j
‘ Ancient India as described by Megas-
thenes and Arrian 5 (1877) ; the ‘ Inva-
sion of India by Alexander the Great ’
(1896) ; and ‘ Ancient India as described
in Classical Literature ’ (1901).
2 All these particulars, it need hardly
be said, are taken from the 12th and
15th chapters of the ‘Mahawansa,’ which
relates the traditions of a time six centuries
and more before its composition.
*9
whom Megasthenes was sent as ambassador by Seleukos, the
successor of Alexander in the western parts of his Asiatic
empire. It is from his narrative—now unfortunately lost—that
the Greeks acquired almost all the knowledge they possessed of
India at that period.1 The country was then divided into 120
smaller principalities, but the Maurya residing in Palibothra
(Pataliputra)—the modern Patna—seems to have exercised a
paramount sway over the whole. It was not, however, this
king, but his grandson, the great Aj-oka (b.c. 262 to 225), who
raised this dynasty to its highest pitch of prosperity and power.
Though utterly unknown to the Greeks, we have from native
sources a more complete picture of the incidents of his reign
than of any ancient sovereign of India. The great event that
made him famous in Buddhist history was his conversion to
that faith, and the zeal he showed in propagating the doctrines
of his new religion. He did, in fact, for Buddhism, what
Constantine did for Christianity, and at about the same distance
of time from the cieath of the founder of the faith. P'rom a
struggling sect he made it the religion of the State, and
established it on the basis on which it lasted supreme for nearly
1000 years. In order to render his subjects familiar with the
doctrines of his new faith, he caused a series of edicts embody-
ing them to be engraved on rocks near Peshawar, in Gujarat, in
the valley of the Dun under the Himalayas, in Hazara, in Katak
and Ganjam, in Mysore, and other places. Ple held a great
convocation or council of the faithful in his capital at Pataliputra,
and, on its dissolution, missionaries were sent to spread the
religion in the Yavana country, whose capital was Alexandria,
near the present city of Kabul. Others were despatched to
Kashmir and Gandhara ; one was sent to the Himawanta—the
valleys of the Himalaya, and possibly part of Tibet; others
were despatched to the Maharatta country, and to Mysore, to
Vanavasi in Kanara, and to Aparantaka or the north Konkan.
Two missionaries were sent to Suvarnabhumi, now known
as Thatun on the Sitang river, in Pegu, and, tradition says, his
own son and daughter were deputed to Ceylon.2 * * All those
countries, in fact, which might be called foreign, were then
sought to be converted to the faith. He also formed alliances
with Antiokhos the Great, Antigonos, and with Ptolemy
Philadelphos, Alexander of Epeiros, and Magas of Cyrene,
1 For this period, see M'Crindle’s j
‘ Ancient India as described by Megas-
thenes and Arrian 5 (1877) ; the ‘ Inva-
sion of India by Alexander the Great ’
(1896) ; and ‘ Ancient India as described
in Classical Literature ’ (1901).
2 All these particulars, it need hardly
be said, are taken from the 12th and
15th chapters of the ‘Mahawansa,’ which
relates the traditions of a time six centuries
and more before its composition.