Overview
Previous Year UPSC-CSE Questions By the end you will be able to draft model answers for the following UPSC questions. Each question carries a collapsible framework showing how to approach it in the exam.
- UPSC Prelims 2020 GS-IWhich one of the following rulers advised his subjects through an inscription thus: "Whosoever praises his religious sect or blames other sects out of excessive devotion to his own sect, he rather injures his own sect very severely."
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Recognise the message of religious tolerance as Ashoka's Dhamma.
Trap to watch: The plea for tolerance between sects, cut in an inscription, is the signature of Ashoka's Dhamma; the Gupta and later rulers left no such edicts of moral policy.
Key facts to recall:
- Ashoka's Dhamma preached tolerance of all sects.
- He warned against praising one's own faith by blaming others.
Answer signal: Ashoka.
- UPSC Prelims 2000 GS-IRead the following Assertion (A) and Reason (R) and select the correct option.
- Assertion (A): Ashoka annexed Kalinga to the Mauryan Empire.
- Reason (R): Kalinga controlled the land and sea routes to South India.
Select the correct relationship between A and R using the codes given below.
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Verify each statement, then judge whether the reason explains the assertion.
Trap to watch: Both A and R are factually true; the key judgement is that Kalinga's control of the southern routes is a genuine reason for its annexation, so R explains A.
Key facts to recall:
- Ashoka annexed Kalinga about 261 BCE.
- Kalinga commanded the land and sea routes to the south, a real strategic motive.
Answer signal: Both A and R true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
- UPSC Prelims 1998 GS-IRead the following Assertion (A) and Reason (R) and select the correct option.
- Assertion (A): According to Ashoka's edicts, social harmony among the people was more important than religious devotion.
- Reason (R): He spread ideas of equity instead of the promotion of religion.
Select the correct relationship between A and R using the codes given below.
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Confirm that Dhamma stressed social harmony/ethics over sectarian religion, then link R to A.
Trap to watch: Dhamma was a moral, equity-based code, not the promotion of a single religion; so R (spreading equity, not religion) does explain A (harmony over devotion).
Key facts to recall:
- Ashoka's Dhamma stressed social harmony and ethics.
- It spread a civic morality, not a single religion.
Answer signal: Both A and R true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
Ashoka's Dhamma and the war that gave rise to it are the moral heart of the Mauryan story. In about 261 BCE the emperor Ashoka conquered Kalinga on the east coast in a war so bloody, with about a hundred thousand killed, that it filled him with remorse and turned him from conquest by the sword to conquest by moral right. He then set before all his subjects a code of conduct he called Dhamma, an ethical teaching of non-violence and tolerance, and not, as is often thought, Buddhism made the state religion. This part covers the Kalinga War, Ashoka's turn to Dhamma, the meaning of that policy, and the missions that carried Buddhism to Sri Lanka and beyond.
Ashoka's Imperial Policy before the Kalinga War
The Empire at Ashoka's Accession and His Early Kingship
What is the significance of the early reign: to grasp the change that Kalinga worked, one must first see Ashoka as he began, a conqueror in the mould of his fathers.
When Ashoka came to the throne about 268 BCE he inherited the vast empire built by Chandragupta and held by Bindusara, reaching from the Hindu Kush to the Deccan. In his early years he ruled as a conventional king, and the one great region still outside the empire was Kalinga, the rich country on the east coast, in present-day Odisha. It was the conquest of Kalinga that would change everything.
The Kalinga War (c. 261 BCE) and Its Aftermath
The Causes and Course of the Kalinga War
What is the significance of the Kalinga War: it is the single most important event of Ashoka's reign, the hinge on which his whole career turns, and a favourite of the examiner.
In about 261 BCE, in the eighth year of his reign, Ashoka invaded and conquered Kalinga. The country was wealthy and proud, and it commanded the land and sea routes to the south, which made it a prize worth taking. The war was savage and the resistance fierce, and the conquest, though complete, was bought at a terrible cost in human life.
The Casualties of Major Rock Edict XIII and Ashoka's Remorse
Distinguishing the aftermath: what makes Kalinga unique is that Ashoka recorded his own remorse in stone, in the most famous of all his inscriptions.
Major Rock Edict XIII records that about a hundred thousand people were killed in the war and about a hundred and fifty thousand were carried away as captives, while many more died of its hardships. Ashoka writes that the suffering filled him with deep sorrow and regret, and that he renounced war as an instrument of policy.
Remarkably, this edict of remorse, Rock Edict XIII, was not inscribed at Dhauli and Jaugada in Kalinga itself, the conquered land, where two separate edicts of administrative instruction were cut instead. From this turning point Ashoka gave up conquest by the sword and embraced what he called conquest by Dhamma, Dhamma-vijaya.
Ashoka's Conversion and the Meaning of Dhamma
Ashoka and Buddhism: The Question of His Conversion
What is the significance of the conversion: Ashoka's personal turn to Buddhism and his public policy of Dhamma are two different things, and a careful student keeps them apart.
Ashoka became a lay follower of Buddhism, and his own faith deepened in the years after Kalinga; he went on pilgrimage to the holy places of the Buddha and supported the order of monks. But the policy he proclaimed to all his subjects in the edicts was not Buddhism itself. It was the broader code of Dhamma, addressed to the followers of every faith in his empire.
The Meaning of Dhamma: An Ethical Code, Not a State Religion
What is the significance of Dhamma: the exact nature of Dhamma is the most heavily tested point of the whole Mauryan syllabus, and the commonest error is to equate it with Buddhism.
Dhamma was an ethical and moral code of conduct, not a religion. It taught non-violence towards all living beings, tolerance and respect for every religious sect, obedience to elders, kindness to servants and the poor, truthfulness and welfare. Ashoka set it before the followers of all faiths alike, and he expressly warned that one should not praise one's own sect by blaming another.
Historians debate whether Dhamma was a sincere moral vision, a practical glue to bind a vast and varied empire, or both; this is sometimes called the political-ideology question. What is certain is that Dhamma was a civic ethic for all subjects, not the Buddhist faith made compulsory.
The Dhamma Mahamatras and the Welfare Measures
Distinguishing the machinery of Dhamma: Ashoka did not leave Dhamma to chance; he created a special class of officers and a programme of public welfare to carry it out.
The Dhamma Mahamatras were officers appointed to spread the policy of Dhamma, to look after the welfare of the people and to see that the king's moral instructions were followed. Ashoka also ordered welfare works across the empire: the planting of trees and groves, the digging of wells, the building of roads and rest-houses, and the provision of medical care for people and animals alike.
The Spread of Buddhism: The Third Council and the Missions
The Third Buddhist Council and the Sending of Missions
What is the significance of the Third Council: under Ashoka's patronage Buddhism was organised and then carried far beyond India, an event that shaped the religion's whole later history.
The Third Buddhist Council was held at Pataliputra about 250 BCE under the monk Moggaliputta Tissa, with Ashoka's support; it settled disputes in the order and is associated with the compiling of the Kathavatthu. From the council, missions of monks were sent out to carry the Dhamma to many lands, near and far.
| Mission | Sent to | Region (modern) |
|---|---|---|
| Mahinda and Sanghamitra | Sri Lanka (Tamraparni) | Sri Lanka |
| Majjhantika | Kashmir and Gandhara | Kashmir / north-west |
| Maharakkhita | The Yona country | The Greek (Hellenistic) west |
| Dharmaraksita | Aparantaka | The western coast (Konkan) |
| Mahadeva | Mahishamandala | Mysore (Karnataka) |
| Sona and Uttara | Suvarnabhumi | South-East Asia |
Tracing the Routes of the Missions
Distinguishing the reach of the missions: the best known of these missions, and the most important for history, was the one that carried Buddhism to Sri Lanka.
Ashoka sent his own son Mahinda and his daughter Sanghamitra to Sri Lanka, where they converted the king and planted Buddhism so firmly that the island became its great southern home; tradition says Sanghamitra carried a branch of the Bodhi tree. Other missions went to Kashmir and Gandhara, to the western coast, to the Himalayan country, to the Greek lands of the north-west and to Suvarnabhumi in South-East Asia, the beginning of Buddhism's spread across Asia.
UPSC Relevance and Exam Focus
Where Ashoka's Dhamma Fits in the UPSC-CSE Syllabus
This topic belongs to General Studies Paper I: ancient Indian history and culture, and the Kalinga War with the policy of Dhamma is the single most heavily examined area of the Mauryan period.
For Prelims, hold the firm facts: the Kalinga War was fought about 261 BCE; Rock Edict XIII records the casualties and Ashoka's remorse but was not inscribed in Kalinga itself; Dhamma was an ethical code of tolerance and non-violence, not Buddhism made the state religion; the Dhamma Mahamatras spread it; and Mahinda and Sanghamitra carried Buddhism to Sri Lanka.
For Mains, the policy of Dhamma is a rich theme on the relation of religion, ethics and statecraft, and on whether it was idealism, practical politics, or both.
Recurring linked concepts an aspirant should keep in working memory:
- The Kalinga War: c. 261 BCE; the turning point; recorded in Rock Edict XIII.
- Dhamma: An ethical code of non-violence and tolerance, not a state religion.
- The Mahamatras: The Dhamma Mahamatras, officers who spread the policy.
- The Third Council: Pataliputra, c. 250 BCE, under Moggaliputta Tissa.
- The missions: Mahinda and Sanghamitra to Sri Lanka, and others abroad.
A common Prelims trap is to call Dhamma the same thing as Buddhism. Dhamma was a moral code for all subjects of every faith; Ashoka's personal Buddhism is a separate matter.
Another trap is to expect the remorse of Rock Edict XIII to appear in Kalinga. It does not; the Kalinga sites carry two separate administrative edicts instead.
Prelims MCQ practice
Each question below tests one specific concept on the topic. Click to reveal the answer and a full option-wise explanation.
Q1. The Kalinga War, the turning point of Ashoka's reign, was fought about:
- 322 BCE
- 261 BCE
- 232 BCE
- 185 BCE
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 261 BCE
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. The Kalinga War was fought about 261 BCE, in the eighth year of Ashoka's reign. Hence option (b).
Q2. The casualties of the Kalinga War and Ashoka's remorse are recorded chiefly in:
- Minor Rock Edict I
- Major Rock Edict XIII
- The Rummindei Pillar Edict
- The Barabar cave inscription
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Major Rock Edict XIII
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. Major Rock Edict XIII records about 100,000 killed and 150,000 deported, and Ashoka's remorse. Hence option (b).
Q3. Ashoka's policy of Dhamma is best described as:
- Buddhism made the state religion
- An ethical and moral code for all subjects
- A ban on all religions but Buddhism
- A new philosophical school
Show answer and explanation
Answer: An ethical and moral code for all subjects
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. Dhamma was an ethical code of non-violence and tolerance set before subjects of all faiths, not Buddhism made the state religion. Hence option (b).
Q4. With reference to Ashoka's policy of Dhamma, consider the following statements:
- The Dhamma Mahamatras were officers appointed to spread the policy of Dhamma.
- Dhamma required the abandonment of all faiths other than Buddhism.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 1 only
Explanation.
Statement 1 is correct: the Dhamma Mahamatras spread the policy. Statement 2 is wrong: Dhamma preached tolerance of all faiths, not their abandonment. Hence option (a).
Q5. The Third Buddhist Council, held under Ashoka's patronage, met at:
- Rajagriha
- Vaishali
- Pataliputra
- Kundalavana
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Pataliputra
Explanation.
Option (c) is correct. The Third Buddhist Council met at Pataliputra about 250 BCE under Moggaliputta Tissa. Hence option (c).
Q6. The Buddhist mission to Sri Lanka was led by Ashoka's:
- Brothers Susima and Tissa
- Son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitra
- Ministers Radhagupta and Rakshasa
- Generals Pushyagupta and Tushaspha
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitra
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. Ashoka's son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitra carried Buddhism to Sri Lanka. Hence option (b).
Sources and Further Reading
Editorial Disclaimer
This article is for UPSC preparation. The date of the Kalinga War, the casualty figures of Rock Edict XIII and the details of the missions are given in the conventional forms used by historians, and some rest on later tradition.
