By Dr. Devaraju Maharaju,
Prominent Telugu poet, short story writer, and retired Biology professor from Osmania University. Renowned for his humanist, rationalist, and scientific writings, he has authored over 50 books in contemporary Telugu literature.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar writes somewhere that the entire history of India is nothing but the conflict between Brahminism and Buddhism — and that seems to be true. We keep talking about how many injustices, frauds, and conspiracies the Vedic religionists committed in destroying Buddhism.
Going further into detail: the last Mauryan king, Brihadratha, was treacherously murdered by his own commander-in-chief, Pushyamitra Shunga, who then declared himself king. He renamed the city they were in — Saket — calling it "Ayodhya." Some say "Ayodhya" means he wiped out the Mauryan warriors so none remained; others say it means he conquered the Mauryan empire without even having to fight a war. He also declared himself the slayer of the ten Mauryan kings (who had ruled for about 142 years starting from Chandragupta) by calling himself "Dashahara" — and that "Dashahara" is what the Vedic religionists turned into "Dussehra," for which they invented all the accompanying mythological stories that we now celebrate as a festival.
Similarly, the Vedic religionists never recorded the true history, personality, and teachings of the Buddha as they actually were. Nor did they record Ashoka's efforts in propagating Buddhist dharma, his personality, or how he delivered a people-friendly administration. If you look at Ashoka in our textbooks or elsewhere, what do you find? Just that he was a Mauryan king, that he planted trees, built roads, and built rest houses along those roads — nothing about the revolutionary decisions he actually took. No one wrote a single word about that anywhere.
But ultimately no real damage was done, because all of this was already recorded in Buddhist texts in the Pali language. Rahul Sankrityayan traveled there and brought back thousands of books to India from those sources, which then spread into circulation — translated not just into Indian languages but into languages across the world. That is how Ashoka's greatness, his empire, his personality, and the people-friendly, moral, character-based governance he provided using Buddhist Dhamma as its foundation all came to be documented.
I'm not saying this without basis — let me give you a couple of examples. A British poet, Arnold, wrote an English poem called "The Light of Asia." It means the Buddha was the light who illuminated the whole of Asia. He wrote this poetic work in English, and it spread across European countries, making the Buddha's greatness known to the whole world. But here in India, these "Manuvadi" translators — instead of translating "The Light of Asia" as "The Light of the Asian Continent" — simply rendered it plainly as "The History/Biography of Buddha." This means they deliberately refused to give Buddha that exalted status, that "light." The same injustice happened with Ashoka.
Why did this happen? Because Ashoka was not an Aryan who came from outside — he was a native of this land. "Maurya" is a tribe/community that still exists in India today. People belonging to that community are the original inhabitants of this land. And yet, when Ashoka ruled an empire of unprecedented scale anywhere in the world — stretching from Afghanistan through Pakistan, all of India, to Myanmar/Burma — bringing in new reforms everywhere, these Manuvadi historians never wrote a single good word about him.
As I said earlier, since the information survived in Pali texts, it spread worldwide. Now, you cannot block out sunlight with your palm — if someone hides or distorts the truth in writing, that doesn't mean it stays hidden forever.
Notice another thing: after independence, our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, being visionary, adopted official national symbols from Buddhism. Look at our flag — it has the Dhamma Chakra (wheel). Similarly, the four-faced lion symbol that Ashoka had carved on a pillar at Sarnath was brought and made India's official emblem. Though some artists worked on that design, it was Nehru as Prime Minister who accepted and implemented it. Beyond that, in Delhi's Rashtrapati Bhavan, there's the Durbar Hall where the President, Prime Minister, and Chief Justices take their oaths — and behind that Durbar Hall stands a tall Buddhist statue.
So why are we adopting so many things from Buddhism? If this were truly "the land of Rama" or "the land of Krishna," shouldn't we have adopted symbols related to them instead? Why didn't we? Because Rama, Krishna, or any other avatar you name — these are all fictional stories, invented characters, not historical figures. The Buddha is a historical figure, not a mythological avatar. Ashoka is a historical figure. That is why we officially adopted their symbols — we should remember this. When traveling abroad, it's not enough to give speeches about being "Buddha's country" — we must ask ourselves whether we are actually living morally and with good character or not.
During Ashoka's reign, crime had nearly disappeared — because he propagated Buddhism, and criminals transformed and walked the righteous path, leaving prisons empty. At one point Ashoka even ordered the empty prisons to be demolished since they were no longer needed — and they were demolished. Can we imagine such a situation again today? Ashoka's era was truly a Golden Age. But these Vedic writers instead loudly proclaimed the later Gupta era as the "Golden Age."
Another important point everyone should remember: the Ramayana was written with Pushyamitra Shunga — founder of the Shunga dynasty — in mind, and the character of Rama was modeled on him. I'm not the one saying Rama was actually Pushyamitra Shunga — Rahul Sankrityayan certified this in his work "Volga se Ganga." Go check that book and you'll see this clearly stated. Many such scholars have written about many such matters. We should read a little, gain that knowledge, and sharpen our own intellect.
Should we remain in superstition forever, keep going backward, rushing back into primitive society? What can we even say to people who think that way? We have already moved forward into the 21st century, and we must keep moving forward. How? We keep advancing scientifically, but we are not advancing morally or in character. Look at the newspapers or television every day — how many immoral incidents, how many murders do we see? All because of lack of character, lack of tolerance, lack of the awareness that "just as I am human, the other person is human too." To achieve this, our coming generations need to take it up — we need to bring back a golden age like Ashoka's era once again.
One more thing to remember: they make us celebrate "Sri Rama Navami" with false stories. The truth is, before Navami comes Ashtami — Chaitra Shukla Ashtami is actually Ashoka's birthday. To prevent the native/original inhabitants from celebrating that day grandly as a festival, they pushed Navami forward instead and made it "Rama's birthday" festival. Who is Rama? Just a fictional character in a poetic work called the Ramayana — not a social reformer, not a philosopher, not a scientist. Should we keep celebrating festivals for a fictional character for ages, for centuries? Just think about it once.
I've shared some thoughts that occurred to me — you think about them too. If they seem reasonable, accept them, and keep discussing them with your friends and relatives.
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