Marbaniang, Domenic

THE YOUNG WARRIOR stood motionless On the bloodied ground where battle Had raged yesterday with vehemence Of heat and sound; of flashing metal Clashing, slicing, piercing, battering, Flying, falling, striking, slaughtering Men and women in the battle of pride, Filling the air with blood curdling cries As bodies fell one after the other with sighs – All now calmed; the violence, stilled; the battle, won. “But, what did I win here?” the Prince thought, As his eyes gazed around the tormenting scene Of strewn bodies that had once valiantly fought A battle of dignity and the right to be rightly free; “What have I gained now?” the Prince sighed, “An open grave, a banquet to worms and vultures, A treat to hyenas.” “It’s not so,” the devil lied “They deserved this for being against your culture!” A little child came walking with tears in his eyes; “My remorse shall equal all my sin,” the Prince began… “For every act of violence that I have done, Ten thousand acts of non-violence shall I return...

In around 260 BC , King Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire invaded the Republic of Kalinga, now in modern day Orissa, engaging in a bloody battle that within a short period of time caused such massive destruction that it appalled the chronicles of time. It was the first and the only battle that Ashoka is said to have fought, following which he encountered a profound change of heart and gave up violence. The conquest did make Ashoka an absolute monarch over a great part of the Indian sub-continent ; the change of heart, however, stripped him of any desire for further military conquests. The massive loss of life and suffering caused by this war weighed heavily on the mind of the King and plunged him into deep remorse. On the 13th of his 14 Major Rock Edicts , he inscribes: On conquering Kalinga the Beloved of the Gods felt remorse, for, when an independent country is conquered, the slaughter, death and deportation of the people is extremely grievous to the Beloved of the Gods and weighs heav...

From the book  Secularism in India: A Historical Outline (2005) As far as secularism is concerned, Buddhism is best remembered in India for its dearest adherent, the Emperor Ashoka, whose religious policies are some of the closest to the modern principles of humanism. Chandragupta Maurya died in 300 B.C. Bindusara succeeded him and, after his death in between 273-272 B.C, Ashoka ascended the throne in 269-268 B.C.[1] After his painful experience in the Kalinga war, he converted to Buddhism and, having united the whole of the sub-continent under his rule, gave India one of its rarest times of peaceful governance. Ashoka gave great importance to the ideal of tolerance towards different ideologies and religions. According to Romila Thapar, Ashoka’s definition of social ethics is based on a respect for all religious teachers, and on a harmonious relationship between parents and children, teachers and pupils, and employers and employees.[2] The religious policies of Ashoka grew out of h...