Ashoka: Doc C + D

Ashoka: Ruthless

Conqueror or Enlightened

Leader

DBQ Project: Documents C, D

CREATED BY SLIDESGO

When the war in Kalinga was over... and the people [were] conquered, he [Asoka] felt inside him a great crisis, a stirring for meaning and a remorse. Asoka goes on a pilgrimage seeking a guru, a teacher. And by the riverbank he met a Buddhist monk and the monk told him to sit beneath the Bodhi tree where the Buddha had

found enlightenment. And there the power of ideas and the power of the state came together in a uniquely Indian way. [It was] a rejection of the path of violence [and] of a whole way of understanding history. While he was here, Asoka gave rich gifts to the poor. He consulted with local communities about proper governance, about good conduct... forming in his mind now was a political order the sort of which had never been conceived of before in the history of the world.

Doc: C

CREATED BY SLIDESGO

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Source: Historian Michael Wood, as quoted in the 2009 PBS documentary The Story of India.

Analysis Questions:

1. Who did Asoka seek after conquering Kalinga?

2. In what way did Asoka imitate the Buddha?

 

3. According to the document, how did Asoka's ideas change after finding enlightenment?

 

4.  How did Asoka apparently feel after conquering Kalinga? Why did he feel that way?

Analysis Questions Continued:

5.  What does Michael Wood mean when he says, "[It was] a rejection... of a whole way of under­ standing history"?

6.  How _does this document help you answer the question, "Asoka: ruthless conqueror or enlightened ruler?"

Asoka's 33 edicts are located throughout modern-day India, Nepal and Pakistan. Those engraved on pillars are known as "pillar edicts" and those on walls or boulders are "rock edicts." They were placed so that travelers across the land would see them.

Doc: D

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Source: Excerpts from the edicts of Asoka, circa 250 BCE.

Rock Edict II:

Medicinal herbs whether useful to man or to beast, have been brought and planted wherever they did not grow; similarly, roots and fruit have been brought and planted wherever they did not grow. Along the roads wells have been dug and trees planted for the use of men and beasts.

Doc: D

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Pilllar Edict IV:

I have decreed that prisoners who have been convicted and sentenced to death shall be granted a respite of three days when their relatives may appeal to the officials for the prisoners' lives.

Doc: D

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Rock Edict VI:

... I consider that I must promote the welfare of the whole world, and hard work and the dispatch of business are the means of doing so. Indeed there is no better work than promoting the welfare of the whole world. And whatever may be my great deeds, I have done them in order to discharge my debt to all beings.

Doc: D

CREATED BY SLIDESGO

Rock Edict XII:

The faiths of others all deserve to be honored for one reason or another. By honoring them, one exalts one's own faith and at the same time performs a service to the faith of others.

Doc: D

CREATED BY SLIDESGO

Analysis Questions:

1.  How many major rock edicts did Asoka create?

2.  According to the edicts, what did Asoka do to improve health?

3.  What did Asoka do for convicted murderers?

Analysis Questions Continued:

4.  Explain what Asoka means in Edict XII when he says that by honoring the faiths of others, a person exalts his own faith. Does this support the idea that Asoka was sincere about "pro­ moting the welfare of the whole world"?

 

5.  What does the map tell you about Asoka's level of commitment to his laws?

 

6.  How can you use this document to answer the question, "Asoka: ruthless conqueror or enlightened ruler?"

Thanks!