3rd Year Aamir Rahim

Dhamma Policy:

Dhamma Policy was introduced by Ahsoka during his reign. It was actually the code of conduct he
introduced for his subjects, Ashoka wanted his subjects to follow this code of conducts accordingly
which ultimately made them live a smooth and peaceful life while the Dhamma policy decreases the
chances of revolt within Empire.

Etymology:

The word Dhamma derived from the word Dharm which means the responsibility and work of any
individual but not the religion, which is mostly mistaken the dhamma policy of Ashoka as a new
religion.

Emergence of Dhamma Policy

The Dhamma policy of Ashoka emerged in influence of Buddhist literature which are as follows:

 Rahulovada Suta
 Singhalovada Suta.

Principles of Dhamma Policy:

There are various basic principles in Dhamma policy of Ashoka. However, the core principle are as
follows:

 Tolerance: here Ashoka means the religious toleration between people of his empire as it is
certain that India was multi-Religio region.
 Non-Violence: After the destruction of Kalinga war, Ashoka adopted the Dhamma-Gosha
means no to violence against anyone.
 Moral Behavior of people: Ashoka established an Ministry of Ethics whose responsibility
was to teach the ethics and the morals to his subjects within all empire. the aim was to
moral generate his subjects to behave in good way so that crimes come down.
 Five Great Sins to Avoid:
o Jealousy
o Greed
o Anger
o Ego
o Hatred
 The upper mentioned five great sins which influenced by Buddhism. However, Buddhist to
emphasized to avoid from these five great sins.
 Purity of Thought: one of the aspects which was emphasized to propagate by this minister
to his subjects. Purity of thought was based on “not to collect more than your need and not
to spend more than what you required”.

Consequences of Dhamma Policy:

The Dhamma Policy of Ashoka has both merits and demerits for Mauryan empire.

arbalush@gmial.com University Of Karachi

3rd Year Aamir Rahim

Merits:

 It created Welfare State.

 The Moral Code of Conducted.
 Popularized the King Ashoka.
 Strengthen the power of Monarchy.
 It Created a Tolerant Society.
 Cultural and Religious Harmony.
 Minimized the Rebellion.
 Created a peaceful and stable state.

Demerits:

 Financial Expenditure has increased

 Policy of Non-expansion rendered Army in-effective.
 Reaction of Bahamans after the influence of Buddhism in Dhamma policy of Ashoka.
 Dhamma Policy could only be implemented by absolute king but not by a weak king.

arbalush@gmial.com University Of Karachi