Explain how Ashoka used religion as a tool of political aggrandizement?

Answer:

Ashoka's espousal of dhamma after the Kalinga war is often read as a purely spiritual conversion. A closer reading of his edicts suggests that religion also served concrete political purposes, providing an ideology of unity, a moral basis for imperial authority and a means of extending influence at home and abroad.

Dhamma as an imperial ideology

• Dhamma was framed in broad ethical terms, tolerance, non-violence, obedience and respect, rather than as sectarian Buddhism.
• Such an ethic could bind a vast, diverse empire of many faiths and peoples together.
• It supplied a common moral vocabulary transcending regional and tribal loyalties.
• Ashoka presented himself as a paternal ruler, calling his subjects his children.

Machinery and propaganda

• The dhamma-mahamatras were appointed to propagate dhamma and oversee welfare, extending administrative reach.
• Rock and pillar edicts, placed on routes and at frontiers, carried royal authority into the provinces.
• The edicts were inscribed in local languages and scripts, addressing subjects directly.
• Royal tours (dhamma-yatras) replaced hunting expeditions, displaying the king's moral persona.

Diplomacy and legitimacy

• Missions to Sri Lanka, Suvarnabhumi and the Hellenistic kingdoms extended Mauryan prestige abroad.
• Patronage of the sangha and the Third Buddhist Council enhanced his standing.
• After Kalinga, an ethic of conquest by dhamma justified the cessation of costly warfare.

A balanced view

• Romila Thapar reads dhamma primarily as a political ideology for holding a diverse empire together.
• Others accept the sincerity of his remorse, noting his personal Buddhist devotion.
• The two readings are not exclusive: genuine conviction could serve imperial ends.

The content of dhamma

• It enjoined non-violence (ahimsa), respect for elders, care of servants and generosity.
• It urged tolerance and restraint in praising one's own sect and disparaging others.
• It provided welfare works, wells, rest-houses, medical care for men and animals.
• It was deliberately non-sectarian and could be accepted by subjects of every faith.

Ashoka thus used religion, in the capacious form of dhamma, as an instrument of statecraft as much as of piety. As Thapar argued, it furnished the ideological cement for an empire too large and too plural to be held by force alone, making him a pioneer of moral as well as administrative government.