'See to my commands; such and such are the instructions of His Sacred Majesty. Fulfilment of these bears great fruit, non-fulfilment brings great calamity. By those who fail neither heaven (svarga) nor the royal favour can be won. Ill performance of this duty can never win my regard, whereas by fulfilling my instructions you will gain heaven and also pay your debt to me.'
The inducements thus held out seem hardly consistent with the Buddhist philosophy of most books, but the reference to heavenly bliss is supported by the words of the Buddha in the Kûṭadanta Sutta:—'Then the Blessed One discoursed to Kûtadanta the Brahman in due order; that is to say, he spake to him of generosity, of right conduct, of heaven, of the danger, the vanity, and the defilement of lusts, of the advantages of renunciation [1].'
While Asoka took infinite pains to issue and enforce 'pious regulations,' he put his trust in the 'superior effect of reflection' as the chief agent in the promotion of 'the growth of piety among men and the more complete abstention from killing animate beings, and from sacrificial slaughter of living creatures [2].' Nor did he rely solely upon the combined effect of reflection and pious regulations for the success of his propaganda. He continually extolled the merit of almsgiving, and attached much importance to practical works of benevolence, in the execution of which he set a good example. Within his own dominions he provided for the comfort of man and
