Historians from Nehruvian-Marxist dispensation or bent of mind have always tried to misrepresent Ashoka as the epitome of Buddhist peace & tolerance & try to portray his violence as a part of his Hindu past. That’s grossly insidious & blatant falsification. Ashoka’s transformation into a non-violent, peace loving, Buddhist after Kalinga War is one of the biggest myths of Indian history. His violent massacre of 100,000 + victims in Kalinga happened 4 years after he had already converted & served as a Buddhist monk for over a year.Minor Rock edicts say that Ashoka became a lay Buddhist in or around 265 BCE. Just 1.5 yrs later he was initiated as a Buddhist monk & lived in a monastery. It was 4 years after his formal conversion in 261 BCE that he attacked Kalinga, killing thousands mercilessly. After initiation as a Buddhist monk, not only did Ashoka massacre 100s of 1000s in Kalinga, he also persecuted Jains, declaring a pogrom on them. He had 18,000 Ajivikas of Bengal killed, when an Ajivika monk drew a picture of Buddha bowing to his master, Nirgrantha Jnatiputra.

Ashoka’s religious zealotry as a Buddhist increased after he stayed in a monastery as part of the Sangha. He banned Yajnas, ceremonies & several Hindu festivals & allowed only a few festivals approved by the Buddhist canon. Historical facts reveal that the myth of Ashoka’s conversion to “non-violent” Buddhism after killing thousands at Kalinga, is a big fat lie. The British created this myth to defame Hinduism. Nehru & Leftist scholars institutionalized it deliberately to demonize Hinduism. To Nehru, “The real voice of India is the voice of Buddha, Ashoka & Gandhi” not of Hindus. He idealized Buddhist Ashoka as his myth showed Hinduism in a bad light. This is why Nehru adopted Buddhist symbols as emblems central to the iconography of Independent India. Today “secular liberals” gush while tracing a diverse & pluralist lineage from Ashoka to Akbar, to Nehru. Amartya Sen credits him with “toleration & emergence of secularism”. In reality, Ashoka was an intolerant Buddhist zealot who persecuted Hindus, Jains & Ajivikas.This is why the Opposition is outraging that the lions in the emblem now appear menacing with fangs bared, unlike the tame, peace loving ones to represent the “secular”, plural myth of Buddhist Ashoka. The real Ashoka’s attitude was far more violent. The insidious Ashoka myth has been institutionalized in our national consciousness to distort our true history & portray Hinduism as inferior to Buddhism, when it is Sanatana Dharma which enshrined the inclusive ideals of tolerance & harmony to build a powerful, united Bharat.

Credit – Savitri Mumukshu (username- @MumukshuSavitri)

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