Governing the State and the Self: Political Philosophy and Practice in the Edicts of Aśoka

Abstract

The edicts of the Maurya Emperor Aśoka (c. 268–232 BCE) constitute the first self-representations of imperial power in ancient South Asia. Questioning the usual presuppositions and methodology of historical interpretations of Aśoka's inscriptions, this essay attempts a fresh, detailed analysis of the political philosophy expressed in the edicts, with a special focus on their ideas and arguments regarding the relationship between political power, violence, happiness, and the good. The ideas of a political and moral empire, the inclusion of humans and animals in the king's constituency, the political importance attached to emotions, the connection between the governance of the state and the self, the rationale for the mitigation of conflict and violence in the social and political spheres – all have to be understood as interconnected parts of a larger whole, firmly anchored in culturally rooted ideas of karma, merit, and the attainment of heaven. While constituting an exceptionally rich epigraphic source for political ideas, the edicts also vividly reveal how these ideas intersected with the problems and practice of governing a vast, very variegated empire. The methodological emphasis of the paper is that inscriptions have to be treated as inscribed texts and that excavating the world of ideas embodied in them is an important part of the analysis of these material remains of the past.