Dhamma mahamatta

Also called: Officers of dhamma, Dhamma mahamatra · Topic: The Mauryan Empire · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 5 "The Rise of Empires"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"

Meaning

Dhamma mahamattas (also written dhamma mahāmattas or mahamatras) were a special group of officers appointed by Ashoka. Their whole job was to spread dhamma, his moral code for everyone, among people of all sects. These sects included the Buddhist Sangha, brahmans, Ājīvikas, Jains and others.

They matter because they show Ashoka turning a personal change of heart after Kalinga into a government department. Dhamma became state policy, run by paid officials, not only a private belief.

Explanation

Background: why Ashoka needed them

• Kalinga war. Ashoka conquered Kalinga (present-day coastal Odisha) in his eighth regnal year (the eighth year of his rule). Britannica dates the campaign to 260 BCE [3].
• His own edict says "one hundred and fifty thousand men were deported, a hundred thousand were killed, and many more died."

• He called this "very painful and deplorable" (deeply wrong and regrettable).

• Turn to dhamma. After the war he took up intense study of dhamma, love of dhamma and teaching of dhamma. He also followed the Buddha's path of non-violence.

• A huge, mixed empire. It covered almost the whole subcontinent except the far south, including land in today's Bangladesh, Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan.
• People spoke many languages and followed many faiths.
• A shared, simple moral code could hold them together. Someone had to carry that code to the people. That was the job of the dhamma mahamattas.

What they spread: the content of dhamma

• Dhamma is not the same as Buddhism. It was a public code of conduct for everyone, whatever their religion.
• Class 12 gives four core rules:
• Respect towards elders.
• Generosity towards Brahmanas and renouncers. Renouncers were people who left family life to seek truth.
• Kind treatment of slaves and servants.

• Respect for religions and traditions other than one's own.

• Britannica adds non-violence, tolerance of all sects and opinions, obedience to parents, liberality towards friends and generosity towards all [3].

• Ashoka promised that following dhamma would bring well-being in this world and the next.

How they worked: their place in the dhamma machinery

• Their field was all sects. The edict says they worked among the Sangha (Buddhist Order), brahmans, Ājīvikas, Jains and others.

• So they were state officers, not Buddhist monks or missionaries of one faith.

• They worked alongside other parts of the system:

• Pativedakas, or reporters, brought the people's affairs to the king at any time and anywhere: while he was eating, in the cow pen or in the palanquin (a covered seat carried on poles).
• Officials were told "All men are my children" and were ordered to be impartial (to treat everyone the same).

• Touring inspections every five years checked for wrongful imprisonment and torture.

• The message was written where people could read it. Edicts were cut on rocks and pillars, mostly in Prakrit (the people's spoken language) in the Brahmi script. This gave the officers a written text to teach from.

Results and limits

• Welfare work announced in the edicts:
• medical care for people and animals, even beyond the borders
• a ban on hunting and on cruelty to animals
• rest houses, wells, and fruit and shade trees along main roads

• urging every sect to study the best teachings of the others

• Reach beyond the empire. Medical aid went to the Cholas, Pandyas, Keralaputras and Satiyaputras, who lived outside the empire. Emissaries (messengers) went to Sri Lanka, Thailand, Central Asia and beyond.

• NCERT's caution (Class 7, Ch 5). We need not take every claim literally, because edicts are the king's own publicity. Still, Ashoka clearly worked hard to reach his subjects. This fits the Kautilyan welfare idea from the Arthashastra: the king's happiness lies in his people's happiness.

Time, place and evidence

• Ruler and dynasty: Ashoka, the third Mauryan king (Chandragupta → Bindusara → Ashoka).
• Period: Ashoka's reign was 268–232 BCE (Class 7, Ch 5). Class 12, Ch 2 gives c. 272/268–231 BCE. The officers belong to the years after the Kalinga war. Britannica says Ashoka began issuing edicts twelve years after his coronation (269 BCE) [3][2].
• Region: the whole Mauryan Empire, from Afghanistan to Odisha.
• How we know: almost entirely from Ashoka's own edicts.
• There are 14 major rock edicts and 7 pillar edicts, with many copies across the empire [3].
• Most are in Prakrit in Brahmi. Some in the north-west use Kharoshthi. Greek and Aramaic appear only in Afghanistan and the trans-Indus region [3].
• The edicts were first deciphered by James Prinsep in the 1830s [2].

• Ashoka calls himself Devanampiya ("Beloved of the Gods") and Piyadassi ("pleasant to behold"). The name Asoka appears in only some inscriptions.

• Edict sites named in the note:

• Dhauli (Odisha): rock edicts with a rock-cut fore-part of an elephant about four feet high above them [4].
• Jaugada: a duplicate set of the Dhauli edicts, on the Rushikulya river, Ganjam district, Odisha [4].
• Junagadh (Gujarat): Ashokan Rock Edicts [4].
• Mansehra (Pakistan): on UNESCO's Tentative List. A serial nomination for "Ashokan Edict sites along the Mauryan Routes" is also on the Tentative List [3].
• Sarnath: fragments of an Ashokan pillar about 15.25 m high, with his edict and two later inscriptions [2].

Don't confuse with

• Pativedakas: these were reporters who carried the people's news up to the king. Dhamma mahamattas carried dhamma down to the people, working among all sects.
• Buddhism / the Sangha: the dhamma mahamattas worked among the Sangha but also among brahmans, Ājīvikas and Jains. Dhamma was a common moral code, not the Buddhist religion.
• Dhamma-vijaya: this is Ashoka's policy of "victory through dhamma" in place of victory by arms. Dhamma mahamattas were the officers who helped carry out his dhamma.
• Five-yearly touring inspections: these were checks by officials against wrongful imprisonment and torture. They were a separate measure from the work of the dhamma mahamattas.

Prelims Hooks

• Dhamma mahamattas were appointed by Ashoka (Mauryan dynasty) to spread dhamma among the Sangha, brahmans, Ājīvikas, Jains and others.
• Dhamma mahamattas = spreaders of dhamma; pativedakas = reporters who could inform the king at any time, even while he was eating or in the palanquin.
• Order of events: Kalinga war (eighth regnal year; 260 BCE per Britannica) → turn to dhamma → dhamma officers and edicts [3].
• Trap: dhamma ≠ Buddhism. Its four Class 12 rules are respect for elders, generosity to Brahmanas and renouncers, kindness to slaves and servants, and respect for other religions.
• Our source on these officers is Ashoka's edicts: 14 major rock + 7 pillar edicts, mostly Prakrit in Brahmi, first deciphered by James Prinsep (1830s) [3][2].
• Kingdoms named in the edicts but outside the empire: Cholas, Pandyas, Keralaputras, Satiyaputras.

Mains Points

• Dhamma as statecraft, run through a bureaucracy.
• Appointing paid officers for dhamma turned a moral idea into an arm of government.

• Because they worked among Buddhists, brahmans, Ājīvikas and Jains alike, they helped hold a huge, many-faith empire together. This was cheaper and safer than force.

• Continuity and change after Kalinga.

• Ashoka kept the Mauryan administrative state but gave it a new task: moral teaching and welfare. This fits the Kautilyan idea that the king's happiness lies in his people's happiness.

• Officers, pativedakas and five-yearly inspections show the empire reaching ordinary people more directly.

• How far we can trust the evidence.

• Nearly everything we know about these officers comes from Ashoka's own edicts. These are contemporary and in the king's own voice, but they are also royal publicity.
• NCERT warns against taking every claim literally. A strong answer pairs the edicts with archaeology at Dhauli, Jaugada, Junagadh and Sarnath [2][4].

Related concepts

• Bindusara
• Ashoka
• Kalinga war
• Rock Edict XIII
• Kalinga edicts
• Dhauli
• Ashoka's dhamma
• Pativedaka
• Devanampiya
• Ashoka's religious tolerance

Read more

• Ashoka: Kalinga, dhamma and the edicts