Ashoka's Inscriptions

The epoch-making discovery by B. L. Rice in 1892 of three of Ashoka's inscriptions18 in the Molakahnuru taluk of the Chitradurga district has put it beyond doubt that a major portion of the present Mysore State , including the Chitradurga district, was included in his dominions. All that was known, previous to this discovery, of Ashoka's connection with the Mysore region was the information contained in the Ceylonese chronicle, Mahavamsha, that after the third Buddhist convocation (in about 244 B.C.) missionaries were dispatched to foreign parts to estab­lish the religion of the Buddha and amongst them were Mahadeva and Rakkhita sent to Mahishamandala (the region round about Mysore) and Vanavasi (or Banavasi) respectively. These places would therefore seem to have been just beyond the limits of his territories.

These inscriptions of Ashoka18, which are all copies of his Minor Rock Edict No. 1, were found on rocks on the hills on both the banks of the Janagahalla or Sanna Hagari River , in the neighbourhood of Siddapura in the Molakalmuru taluk20. The message, issued in the name of Dcvanam Piya (the beloved of the gods) and containing the greetings of the Prince (Ayaputa or Aryaputra) and the officers (Mahamatas or Mahamatras) of Suvarnagiri (which was the seat of a viceroy and which has been identified with Maski in the Raichur district21), is addressed to the local officers of Ishila, which was the regional headquarters and the remains of which have been excavated at Brahmagiri near Siddapur22.

What happened after Ashoka in the North need not be dealt with here. For, so far as the Deccan is concerned, the Mauryan rule came to an end almost immediately after Ashoka's death. Even in the North, not long after his death his empire appears to have fallen to pieces. The main reason for this is supposed to be the Brahminical reaction to Buddhism. 'The fall of the Mauryan authority ' says Vincent Smith, ' was due in large measure to a reaction promoted by the Brahmins, whose privileged position must have been seriously affected by the extreme favour which Ashoka showed to the Buddhist monks23. But this view has not found acceptance from all scholars. Some scholars trace the root-cause of the down-fall of the Mauryan empire to the doctrine of ahimsa adopted by Ashoka as a State policy. It is also pointed out that the internal dissensions in the Mauryan court were also responsible for this state of affairs24.

Courtesy : Gazetteer of India, Chitradurga District, 1967.