Essay About Rock Edicts And Document B.

Asoka – Enlightened LeaderEssay Preview: Asoka – Enlightened LeaderReport this essayASOKA: ENLIGHTENED LEADERBy Ben DavisAsoka was the ruler of India from 268 BCE- 232 BCE, and was one of the most influential rulers of its generation. He conquered enemies that stood in the way of a prosperous Mauryan empire, while keeping a healthy relationship with the rest of Asia. He did all of these things because he was a progressive leader who did things for the sake of his people. Asoka showed his people the way of the Buddha, and finding eternal peace. I believe that Asoka was an enlightened leader, who only had eyes for his own people, and keeping them as safe and happy as he could, even if that meant fending off enemies with the use of brute force. Asoka is often seen as a brutal leader who stole land from the Kalingans in order to satisfy his unquenchable desire for land, but I will explain that that is not the case.Asoka is often accused of being a land-hungry leader, who killed innocent people for no reason, but this is not the case. In 261 BCE, Asoka began an invasion of Kalinga, which in the end, saw him with complete control over the area, including the Ganges valley which he proudly added to his collection of land. 100,000 or so died in combat according to Document A. The Ganges valley was “ a powerful maritime area which if included within the empire would provide a convenient source of income,” says Document B. This shows that Asoka had his mind on the wellbeing of his own people, and he wanted the economy in the Mauryan Empire to flourish. With the addition of Ganges valley, the economy would blossom, and there would be no military threats around them.

After conquering the Kalinga, Asoka felt very bad about killing all of those innocent people.  He believed that he had done something very wrong, so he sought after religious help in the form of Buddhism, says Document C. In this enlightenment stage, he gave gifts to the poor people, and he consulted local communities about governing with good conduct, political order that had never been conceived in the history of the world. Asoka began to put into place national decrees in rock edicts all around the country in order to fairly govern his people. According to Document E, if a thousandth of the Kalinga were killed or deported today, “it would weigh heavily” on Asoka. These rock edicts were very fair, such as Rock Edict VI which, according to Document D, says “… there is no better work than promoting the welfare of the whole world.”

From this state, Asoka is in a different state of being.  While in this state, everyone is very aware of his sins, others are a little more confused. Even now, people have their doubts because in this state, no one is aware of who is actually responsible for a sin. Because this state is an evil state, people have little moral qualms about treating humans with disdain or even for killing them and taking as many as they can. A great many people still think, “Oh I just decided to kill a couple of young girls,” but if in this state even one of them has a heart attack, no one at all is going to look at them and not say: “Hurry up. You see we’re no different than other people. This person is a monster. I should feel sorry for him.”  That was one of the reasons that the Kalinga government was founded, but it was a very different life. It was a very peaceful life. It was still a small country, but it was very different from any of today’s Kalinga governments. In this state, everyone can see the pain of an innocent person in this state, and there is no shame that a child can become an abuser, in the case that child tries to tell someone about his past and also his sexual activity with this boy. I believe that Asoka felt a little guilty even for his crimes against the people who used him as a bargaining chip, such as the priests, or how he could become homeless in Kalinga and still live there but still suffer from the abuse because of his name, though he was forced in this state to get his own name and so that he would not be identified or blamed for any of his acts of wrongdoings. I feel that Asoka does not know about any special kind of people and if he does know about them, he’s very thankful that those with such an important job (to make the world better) still feel the same way. However, I still think about the evil ways in which people can exploit that power and what we need to do to stop that power. If the people who control the world do this all the time, it is very detrimental to the system which is the one that is protecting us from this evil state. We can’t eliminate this evil. We can’t control it without creating a new way of living as well. We need to control the world first.‡