The Great Indian Political Debate - 2

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SRKrishnan post on IC.. Link is worth reading.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianCivili...n/message/75282

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Dr. Elst has indicated that the hero of secularists, Ashoka the
Buddhist, was a king who was intolerant of other beliefs.
http://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.com/arti...ushyamitra.html
First of all, a look at the critical edition of the Ashokavadana
("Illustrious Acts of Ashoka") tells a story of its own concerning
the idealization of Buddhism in modern India. This is how Sujitkumar
Mukhopadhyaya, the editor of the Ashokavadana, relates this work's
testimony about Ashoka doing with a rival sect that very thing of
which Pushyamitra is accused later on:

"At that time, an incident occurred which greatly enraged the king.
A follower of the Nirgrantha (Mahavira) painted a picture, showing
Buddha prostrating himself at the feet of the Nirgrantha. Ashoka
ordered all the Ajivikas of Pundravardhana (North Bengal) to be
killed. In one day, eighteen thousand Ajivikas lost their lives. A
similar kind of incident took place in the town of Pataliputra. A
man who painted such a picture was burnt alive with his family. It
was announced that whoever would bring the king the head of a
Nirgrantha would be rewarded with a dinara (a gold coin). As a
result of this, thousands of Nirgranthas lost their lives." (S.
Mukhopadhyaya: The Ashokavadana, Sahitya Akademi, Delhi 1963,
p.xxxvii; in footnote, Mukhopadhyaya correctly notes that the
author "seems to have confused the Nirgranthas with the Ajivikas", a
similar ascetic sect; Nirgrantha, "freed from fetters", meaning
Jain) Only when Vitashoka, Ashoka's favourite Arhat (an enlightened
monk, a Theravada-Buddhist saint), was mistaken for a Nirgrantha and
killed by a man desirous of the reward, did Ashoka revoke the order.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->