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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

“The concept of Ashoka’s Dhamma as found through his inscriptions had its roots in Vedic-Upanishadic literature.” Discuss.

  • UPSC 2017
  • Mauryan Empire

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Ashoka's Dhamma, the Prakrit form of Sanskrit dharma, was a broad ethic of social conduct propagated through his rock and pillar edicts after the Kalinga war (c. 261 BCE). Read against the Vedic-Upanishadic corpus, the edicts show real continuity of vocabulary and values. But this inheritance is selective and heavily repurposed for the practical needs…

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What the full answer covers

  • Dharma as Universal Law: The Conceptual Starting Point
  • Tolerance: From the Rigveda to Rock Edict XII
  • Ahimsa: Ritual Restraint Becomes State Policy
  • Karma as Social Duty, Not Ritual Action
  • Devanampiya and the Idiom of Kingship
  • Rock Edict IX and the Upanishadic Turn from Ritual to Ethics
  • …and 1 more sections, with a conclusion
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