Introduction To The Asokan Paradigm

Throughout history religions have always governed how one becomes a ruler or given the power to rule, what structures are important to the governments and how rulers should rule their respective states. The Christians had the “Divine Right”, Egyptians had their pharaohs being the human forms of good and some religions never had an exact ideal ruler or way to legitimize their ruler. However, when you examine the nature that existed between Buddhism and the state there are strong ties between the two. Buddhism, when it came to managing states, believed the Asokan Paradigm to be the perfect model of what their ruler should be; the rulers used stupas to explain how the state fits into the cosmography; lastly they used relics to justify their right

Asoka is considered to be the paradigm of kingship in Buddhism. The reasons are numerous for why the Asokan paradigm of kingship is the most popular for Buddhist rulers, but we will take a look at three of the main reason: his relationship to Buddha, his lifestyle and his policies. To start with the stories of both King Asoka and Buddha share much of the same qualities. “If we compare the Buddha and Asoka legends, even the story of Asoka’s so-called conversion to Buddhism the pattern of the Buddha’s life story” (Swearer, 75). This is a very important point in why the Asokan Paradigm is the most popular model, this creates a direct connection between the Buddha and King Asoka, which creates a legitimization to his rule, policies and methods. Another reason that Asokan model, was that the policies and edicts that, were based on Buddhist principles, became extremely popular and supported the religion which helped to reinforce his rule. Along with this he was also a strong supporter of the monastic order, which made him and his policies even more popular since the monks supported his systems. An example of the one of the edicts was, rock edict number 7, where “he urges self-mastery, purity of heart, gratitude, and

Stupas were seen as axial centers of both cosmos and kingdoms. They were esstantially a line directly from the cosmos or heavens to the physical lay world that is where we exist. This was a very important thing and made these structures important to people and especially Buddhist’s. Since these are so important, they were often built to “become emblems of a ritually based galactic polity linking subordinate states to dominant ones” (Swear, 77). It was this use of stupa’s that really made them popular and is why they became a major of state sponsored construction. An example of one a stupa and the cosmographic symbolism of it, is Sañci. First some background of the stupa is, it is located in the modern state of Maharashtra and is believed to be associated with Asoka; during 3rd century BCE to 10th century CE this stupa was a center of Buddhist learning and pilgrimage, along with being an edifice. The Sañci was constructed using very prototypical methods consisting “of three major parts: a mound or dome; a raised platform above the base of the dome used for circumambulation; and a stone balustrade encircling the mound at ground level. Gateways are located in the balustrade at the four cardinal directions” (Swearer, 80) One important thing to note here, and what it meant, is the gateways at the four cardinal directions. These were used for the cosmic symbolism of