Aśoka and Capital Punishment
Notes on a Portion of Aśoka's Fourth Pillar Edict, with an Appendix on the Accusative Absolute Construction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9277966 |
|---|---|
| Authors | K R Norman (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1975 |
| Volume | 107 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 16-24 |
| Publication date | 1975-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0035-869X • E-ISSN: 2051-2066 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0035869x00132319 |
| OpenAlex | W2327202812 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 3 |
It will not have escaped the notice of anyone reading the Aśokan inscriptions that the emperor's attitude towards the killing of animals, including human beings, was not entirely consistent. In RE I(B) we read hiddā no kichi jive ālabhitu pajohitaviye (in the version at K), “Here no living being must be killed and sacrificed.” In RE III(D) we find pānānaṃ anālaṃbhe sādhu , “Abstention from killing animals is meritorious.” In RE IV(C) we read vaḍhite ... anālaṃbhe pānānaṃ avihisā bhūtānaṃ , “There are now promoted ... abstention from killing animals, abstention from hurting living beings.” In RE XI(C) pānānaṃ anālaṃbhe occurs again. PE V contains a long list of animals which Aśoka had made inviolable ( avadhiyāni ) and not to be killed ( no haṃtaviyāni ). In PE VII(NN) we read dhaṃmavaḍhi vaḍhitā avihiṃsāye bhūtānaṃ anālaṃbhāye pānānaṃ , “The progress of morality has been promoted (because it leads) to abstention from hurting living beings (and) to abstention from killing animals.” With specific regard to men, Aśoka expresses his regret about the number of persons killed in, or as a consequence of, the war in Kaliṅga (RE XIII(E)), and states his hope that the forest dwellers will repent so that they may not be killed ( avatrapeyu na ca haṃñeyasu , in the reading of Sh at RE XIII(N)). It appears, however, from PE IV that men could be sentenced to death in Aśoka's empire
Ancient history · Emperor · Humanities · Morality · Notice · Political science · Reading (process) · Theology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.07 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1985 - 2023 (39) |
| Highly cited | No |