Was Ashoka motivated more by economics rather than religion in giving up war?
Upvote:4
No.
Ashoka went to great lengths to make sure that his new found ideals were spread to other countries/empires and preserved for posterity. It actually cost him(and his successors) a lot more to embrace peace than to continue warring. Though the debas*m*nt of silver coins is true, Ahoka had nothing to gain by giving up his military campaign. Besides, war was profitable for his kingdom even considering the economic factors.
In fact Ashoka gets blamed for spending on charity/proselytism and ignoring the military strength of his kingdom which may have contributed to later demise of the dynasty.
To elaborate more on this topic realted to economic considerations:
Quoting from Romilla Thapar's India-Early History:
However, the chronology of the coins remains uncertain and debased coins alone are not conclusive proof of a fiscal crisis.
The economics debate related to the Mauryan empire is related to the decline of the dynasty over a long period of time and the timeline is not clear enough to indicate that the debas*m*nt contributed to Ashoka's decision to discontinue the war efforts, if at all. To quote another part from the book:
The need for vast revenues to maintain the army, and to finance the salaries of the upper levels of the bureaucracy, not to mention the cost of establishing settlements on newly cleared land, could have strained the treasury.
The statement is a sweeping generalization and not entirely applicable when you consider that a convincing argument can be made that the cost of maintaining an army and implementing Ashoka's edicts were fungible.
If the economy was strained, it would have made sense to stop the war effort and concentrate on consolidating existing territories. This was not the case either - the core regions became independent states after Ashoka's demise.
Considering all the known evidence, it makes sense to conclude that the economic strain contributed more to the decline of the Mauryan empire after Ahoka became pro-buddhist, not the decision of Ahoka to stop expanding the empire using war itself.
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