Rock Edict XIII

Topic: The Mauryan Empire · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Rock Edict XIII is the Ashokan rock edict in which Ashoka describes his conquest of Kalinga, admits that the war killed and drove away many thousands of people, and says that from now on he prefers "conquest by dhamma" (dhamma-vijaya) to conquest by war. It matters because it is the only source where a king publicly regrets a war he won, and it tells us why Ashoka changed his policy after Kalinga.

Explanation

Background: the Kalinga war

• Kalinga was present-day coastal Odisha.
• Ashoka conquered it in his eighth regnal year (the eighth year of his rule) [2].
• Britannica dates the campaign to 260 BCE [2].
• Ashoka was Chandragupta Maurya's grandson: Chandragupta → Bindusara → Ashoka.
• After the war, the Mauryan Empire covered almost the whole subcontinent except the far south.

What the edict says

• The human cost, in the king's own words:
• "One hundred and fifty thousand men were deported, a hundred thousand were killed, and many more died."

• Deported means forced to leave home and live somewhere else.

• Remorse: he calls this slaughter, death and deportation "very painful and deplorable", meaning deeply wrong and regrettable.

• A new path: after Kalinga he turned to intense study of, love of and instruction in dhamma (Ashoka's moral code for everyone, whatever their religion).
• Dhamma-vijaya: the edict says the best conquest is conquest by dhamma, not by arms.

• Ashoka also says he had it written so that his sons and grandsons would not think of new conquests by war.

• A warning to the forest peoples: he tells the unconquered forest peoples that he is sorry, but that he still has power and will punish wrongdoing if he must.

• Lands "won" by dhamma: the edict lists the places where Ashoka says his dhamma has spread:
• five Greek (Yona) kings: Antiochus (usually identified as Antiochus II of Syria), Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas and Alexander. Historians still disagree about exactly which Alexander is meant.
• southern kingdoms such as the Cholas and Pandyas, and Sri Lanka.

Why Ashoka confessed in public

Class 7 asks a good question: he won the war, so why admit it on stone? There are two answers.

• Remorse is the message.

• The confession shows that the new policy of dhamma is serious.

• Warning plus mercy.

• Regret is announced, but the empire is not weakened.
• The forest peoples are told he is both sorry and still strong.

Results: from war to dhamma

• Ashoka took up the Buddha's path of non-violence.
• Dhamma mahāmattas (special officers for spreading dhamma) were appointed. They worked among all sects: the Buddhist Sangha, brahmans, Ājīvikas, Jains and others.
• Emissaries (messengers) were sent to Sri Lanka, Thailand, Central Asia and beyond.
• Medical care for people and animals was provided even beyond his own borders.
• NCERT's caution: we need not take every one of Ashoka's claims literally. The edicts are the king's own publicity.

Time, place and evidence

• Ruler and dynasty: Ashoka, Mauryan dynasty. He reigned 268–232 BCE (Class 7). Class 12 gives c. 272/268–231 BCE.
• Date of the war: the eighth regnal year, about 260 BCE [2].
• Date of the edicts: Ashoka began issuing edicts twelve years after his coronation (269 BCE) [2][1].
• Titles used: most inscriptions call him Devanampiya ("Beloved of the Gods") and Piyadassi ("pleasant to behold"). The name Asoka appears in only some inscriptions.
• Series: Rock Edict XIII is one of the 14 major rock edicts. There are also 7 pillar edicts [2].
• Language and script: mostly Prakrit in Brahmi. In the north-west some versions are in Kharoshthi (a script based on Aramaic). Greek and Aramaic are found only in Afghanistan and the trans-Indus region [2].
• Sites:
• The Mansehra Rock Edicts (now in Pakistan) carry a north-western version of the major rock edicts. They are on UNESCO's Tentative List [2].
• The trap: in Kalinga itself, at Dhauli and Jaugada (Odisha), Rock Edict XIII is left out. Separate Kalinga Edicts stand in its place.

• Dhauli has a rock-cut fore-part of an elephant, about four feet high [3]. Jaugada stands on the Rushikulya river in Ganjam district [3].

• Decipherment: the Ashokan edicts were first deciphered by James Prinsep in the 1830s [1].

Don't confuse with

• Separate Kalinga Edicts (Dhauli, Jaugada): these are written for Kalinga and tell officials "All men are my children". They do not describe the war's horrors. Rock Edict XIII describes the war but is not found in Kalinga.
• Rock Edict II: this one deals with medical care for people and animals, and names southern peoples (Cholas, Pandyas, Keralaputras, Satiyaputras) who were outside the empire. Rock Edict XIII deals with Kalinga and dhamma-vijaya.
• Pillar edicts (7): these are cut on pillars, as at Sarnath. Rock Edict XIII is one of the 14 major rock edicts, cut on rocks [2].
• Dhamma vs Buddhism: the dhamma praised in Rock Edict XIII is a public moral code for all subjects, not a call to become Buddhist.

Prelims Hooks

• Rock Edict XIII is the source for the Kalinga war: 150,000 deported, 100,000 killed, many more died.
• Kalinga was conquered in Ashoka's eighth regnal year, about 260 BCE [2]. Kalinga = coastal Odisha.
• Rock Edict XIII names five Greek kings, including Antiochus (II) and Ptolemy, as places where dhamma had "won".
• Trap: Rock Edict XIII is not found at Dhauli or Jaugada in Kalinga. The Separate Kalinga Edicts stand there instead.
• Dhamma-vijaya means "conquest by dhamma". It is the key idea of Rock Edict XIII.
• The Ashokan edicts were first deciphered by James Prinsep, 1830s [1].

Mains Points

• A turning point in statecraft: Rock Edict XIII records a shift from conquest by war to dhamma-vijaya. Medical aid and emissaries went to southern kingdoms and to Sri Lanka, Thailand and Central Asia, places the army never entered. For an empire that ran from Afghanistan to Odisha, a shared moral code was cheaper and safer than force.
• Remorse with a warning: the confession makes the new policy believable. But the warning to the forest peoples shows that Ashoka did not give up state power. Dhamma and force existed side by side.
• Value and limits as a source: the edict was written at the time, in the king's own voice, so it is better than later legend. But it is also royal self-promotion, and NCERT warns against reading it literally. Leaving it out at Dhauli and Jaugada suggests that Ashoka chose with care what each audience should read. A good answer checks the edict against the sites themselves [3].

Related concepts

• Bindusara
• Ashoka
• Kalinga war
• Kalinga edicts
• Dhauli
• Ashoka's dhamma
• Dhamma mahamatta
• Pativedaka
• Devanampiya
• Ashoka's religious tolerance

Read more

• Ashoka: Kalinga, dhamma and the edicts