Should We Celebrate Ram Rajya or Ashoka Dharma?

Moolnivasi
4 min readFeb 21, 2024

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As the Ram temple construction at Ayodhya gathers pace, an important question to ask is whether we should be celebrating Ram Rajya or Ashoka Dharma? At first, this seems like comparing apples and oranges. Ram is considered a mythical god and Ashoka a historical king.

But we should remember that Ram was also a king who ruled for 11,000 years and his rule is described as Ram Rajya or the golden phase of Indian society.

On the other hand, under Ashoka, almost the entire Indian sub-continent was unified under a single ruler, a feat not repeated since. He evolved a unique code of governing his kingdom unheard of in the ancient period.

For this and other reasons, we should compare and contrast these two personalities, one mythical and the other, real.

The ideal of Ram Rajya

We are told that Ram Rajya was an ideal society in which there was no cruelty towards humans or animals. Everyone lived in peace and worshipped Ram. Honesty and sincerity were the hallmarks of the citizenry and everyone performed their assigned duties to the fullest. This state of society continued for 11,000 years. The RSS calls for re-establishment of this ideal state of Ram Rajya in the country.

Solely on the basis of principles, Ram Rajya indeed appears a flawless society to live in. Except for the fact that such a society only existed in the imagination of Valmiki, the author of Ramayana.

The personality of Rama

The discussion on Ram Rajya cannot conclude without discussing its central character, Rama. It is said that Ram was an ideal ruler who ruled without fear or favour for the welfare of all subjects. He is often called maryada purushottam or the ideal king, husband, and son.

But really, was Ram the ideal king and husband? Dr Ambedkar does not think so. In his seminal book, Riddles in Hinduism, he rejects the notion that Rama was monogamous married only to Sita. Rather, Valmiki mentions that Rama had many wives in addition to many concubines. So how come the lie of Rama’s monogamous marriage is peddled today?

Dr Ambedkar writes that Rama killed Vali, the brother of Sugriva, by deceit when a duel was going on between the two brothers so that Sugriva would become the king of Kishkindha.

As far as Rama the husband is concerned, Dr Ambedkar points out that Rama was far from an ideal husband. When Sita, held captive by Ravana, was rescued by Rama, he tells Sita that he did not take this trouble of killing Ravana for her rather it was done to wash off the dishonour that Ravana had heaped upon him by capturing his wife.

Worse, he is not willing to accept Sita back as his wife, suspecting that she must have been spoiled by Ravana. So Sita has to undergo agni pariksha to prove her chastity.

But even this was not enough for Rama. Stung by the rumours floating around in his kingdom that Sita was carrying the child of Ravana in her womb and not Rama’s, he makes an elaborate plan to dump her in the forest along with his unborn child. Such cruelty and distrust towards his wife takes Rama far from being the ideal husband.

The personality of Ashoka

Like Rama, Ashoka was far from being an ideal ruler in his early years of reign. He grabbed the throne by disposing off his eldest brother and the chosen heir to sit on the Mauryan throne.

Ashoka was also known for his cruelty and his name literally translates into “one without sorrow”. His expansion in the east to subdue the kingdom of Kalinga resulted in one hundred thousand deaths. However, this event was also a turning point in Ashoka’s life.

He embraced Buddhism, impressed by the teachings of the dharma, by a Buddhist monk named Nigrodha. Ashoka’s reign can be divided into two phases, the first before embracing Buddhism and the second phase after he embraced Buddhism.

In the second phase, the one for which Ashoka is most well known, he was a benevolent king deeply concerned with the welfare of his subjects. He built rest houses and hospitals for the people and even treated animals with kindness vowing to give up eating meat and also banning animal sacrifices in his vast kingdom.

He was non-sectarian in his approach towards the administration of his kingdom. Although he was a devout Buddhist, he respected all religions, and dispensed justice without regard to the caste or class of the person. This was in stark contrast to the Brahmanic principles of justice based on graded social hierarchy.

Rama ensured that justice was based on the varnashrama and he killed Shambuka, a shudra, for having the audacity to perform tapasya which was the sole preserve of the Brahmans.

Ashoka is unparalleled in history as the first proponent of conquest by moral force alone who went to great lengths to ensure the welfare of his subjects.

The world heritage site of Sanchi was built by Ashoka and so were the many rock and pillar inscriptions that are part of the rich cultural heritage of India.

It is largely owing to the efforts of Ashoka that a small sect turned into a world religion travelling to every nook and corner of Asia.

Ram Rajya or Ashoka Dharma?

This way we return to the moot question, whether we should follow Ram Rajya which is not based on the principles of equality and justice and celebrates the rule of a mythical king or should we celebrate Ashoka dharma which is non-sectarian, welfare-oriented, and treats everyone with respect and justice?

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Moolnivasi
Moolnivasi

Written by Moolnivasi

I write about issues that affect the downtrodden, marginalized and common citizens of the Indian society.

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