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{{Short description|Legendary torture chamber}} | |||
{{More citations needed|date=June 2024}} | |||
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{{Use British English|date=July 2017}} | {{Use British English|date=July 2017}} | ||
'''Ashoka's Hell''' was, according to legend, an elaborate [[torture chamber]] disguised as a beautiful palace full of amenities such as exclusive baths and decorated with flowers, fruit trees and ornaments. It was built by Emperor [[Ashoka]] (304–232 BCE) in [[Pataliputra]] (modern-day [[Patna]], India), the capital city of the [[Maurya Empire]]. The torture palace's legend is detailed in the ''[[Ashokavadana]]'', | '''Ashoka's Hell''' was, according to legend, an elaborate [[torture chamber]] disguised as a beautiful palace full of amenities such as exclusive baths and decorated with flowers, fruit trees and ornaments. It was built by Emperor [[Ashoka]] (304–232 BCE) in [[Pataliputra]] (modern-day [[Patna]], India), the capital city of the [[Maurya Empire]]. The torture palace's legend is detailed in the ''[[Ashokavadana]]'', which describes Emperor Ashoka's life through legendary and historical accounts. | ||
According to legend, the palatial torture chamber was artfully designed to make its exterior visually pleasing, and was referred to as the "beautiful gaol". Beneath the veneer of beauty and deep inside the exclusive mansion, however, chambers were constructed filled with sadistic and cruel instruments of [[torture]]—including furnaces used to melt the metals that were to be poured on prisoners. | According to legend, the palatial torture chamber was artfully designed to make its exterior visually pleasing, and was referred to as the "beautiful gaol". Beneath the veneer of beauty and deep inside the exclusive mansion, however, chambers were constructed filled with sadistic and cruel instruments of [[torture]]—including furnaces used to melt the metals that were to be poured on prisoners. | ||
The narrative states the chamber's architect drew inspiration from the five tortures of the [[Naraka (Buddhism)|Buddhist hell]]. The ''Ashokavadana'' describes the torture chamber in such terrifying detail that it spawned a belief that Ashoka—in his quest to perfect its sinister design—had visited hell itself. Through a pact made between Ashoka and the official executioner of the torture chamber anyone entering the palace, even by chance as a visitor, was not allowed to come out alive. | The narrative states the chamber's architect drew inspiration from the five tortures of the [[Naraka (Buddhism)|Buddhist hell]]. The ''Ashokavadana'' describes the torture chamber in such terrifying detail that it spawned a belief that Ashoka—in his quest to perfect its sinister design—had visited hell itself. Through a pact made between Ashoka and Girika, the official executioner of the torture chamber, anyone entering the palace, even by chance as a visitor, was not allowed to come out alive. | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
According to the narrations of ''[[Ashokavadana]]'', Emperor [[Ashoka]], prior to his conversion to Buddhism, was a fierce and sadistic ruler, known as ''Ashoka the Fierce'', or Chandashoka (Ashoka the Cruel),<ref name="Obeyesekere2002">{{cite book|author=Gananath Obeyesekere|title=Imagining Karma: Ethical Transformation in Amerindian, Buddhist, and Greek Rebirth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yllblMkRgMMC&pg=PA172|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=2002|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-23243-3|pages=172–173}}</ref> who sent his minions on a quest to find a vicious man to work as his official executioner.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/> | According to the narrations of ''[[Ashokavadana]]'', Emperor [[Ashoka]], prior to his conversion to Buddhism, was a fierce and sadistic ruler, known as ''Ashoka the Fierce'', or Chandashoka (Ashoka the Cruel),<ref name="Obeyesekere2002">{{cite book|author=Gananath Obeyesekere|title=Imagining Karma: Ethical Transformation in Amerindian, Buddhist, and Greek Rebirth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yllblMkRgMMC&pg=PA172|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=2002|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-23243-3|pages=172–173}}</ref> who sent his minions on a quest to find a vicious man to work as his official executioner.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/> | ||
After some searching, Ashoka's men found a suitable candidate by the name of Girika who was so vicious that he killed his | After some searching, Ashoka's men found a suitable candidate by the name of Girika who was so vicious that he killed his parents because they did not want him to become Ashoka's executioner. Girika was introduced to Ashoka, who soon appointed him the official executioner of his empire.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/> | ||
==Design== | ==Design== | ||
According to legend, Girika persuaded Ashoka to design the torture chamber based on the suffering endured by people reborn in [[Buddhist hell]].<ref name="Scharfstein1995">{{cite book|author=Ben-Ami Scharfstein|title=Amoral Politics: The Persistent Truth of Machiavellism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ibkxwtmP7_UC&pg=PA61|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=1995|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-1886-5|pages=61–62}}</ref> The ''Ashokavadana'' documents a long list of torture acts Girika designed and planned to force upon his prisoners including "prying open their mouths with an iron and pouring boiling copper down their throats".<ref name="Rich2010"/> Innocent | According to legend, Girika persuaded Ashoka to design the torture chamber based on the suffering endured by people reborn in [[Buddhist hell]].<ref name="Scharfstein1995">{{cite book|author=Ben-Ami Scharfstein|title=Amoral Politics: The Persistent Truth of Machiavellism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ibkxwtmP7_UC&pg=PA61|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=1995|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-1886-5|pages=61–62}}</ref> The ''Ashokavadana'' documents a long list of torture acts Girika designed and planned to force upon his prisoners including "prying open their mouths with an iron and pouring boiling copper down their throats".<ref name="Rich2010"/> Innocent people were not exempt from such treatment.<ref name="Alahakōn1980">{{cite book|author=Hekṭar Alahakōn|title=The Later Mauryas: 232 BC to 180 BC|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gR4dAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=1980|publisher=Munshiram Manoharla|page=161|isbn=9788121502214}}</ref> | ||
In the narrative of ''Ashokavadana'', Ashoka asked Girika to disguise the torture chamber as a beautiful and "enticing" palace full of amenities such as exclusive baths and to decorate it with flowers, fruit trees and many ornaments. The palatial torture chamber was artfully designed to make people long to just look at it, and even attract them to enter, and was referred to as the "beautiful gaol".<ref name="Obeyesekere2002"/><ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="Gurugé1993">{{cite book|author=Ananda W. P. Gurugé|title=Aśoka, the Righteous: A Definitive Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwjjAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=1993|publisher=Central Cultural Fund, The Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Information|isbn=978-955-9226-00-0|quote=Ashoka is reportedly ruthless enough to aid and abet with Gririka in attracting innocent people to an infernal prison, a veritable hell, ...}}</ref> | In the narrative of ''Ashokavadana'', Ashoka asked Girika to disguise the torture chamber as a beautiful and "enticing" palace full of amenities such as exclusive baths and to decorate it with flowers, fruit trees and many ornaments. The palatial torture chamber was artfully designed to make people long to just look at it, and even attract them to enter, and was referred to as the "beautiful gaol".<ref name="Obeyesekere2002"/><ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="Gurugé1993">{{cite book|author=Ananda W. P. Gurugé|title=Aśoka, the Righteous: A Definitive Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwjjAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=1993|publisher=Central Cultural Fund, The Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Information|isbn=978-955-9226-00-0|quote=Ashoka is reportedly ruthless enough to aid and abet with Gririka in attracting innocent people to an infernal prison, a veritable hell, ...}}</ref> | ||
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''Ashokavadana'' refers to Girika as Chandagirika or Girika the Cruel. It appears that Girika overheard a Buddhist monk recite the ''Balapanditasutta'' which contains vivid descriptions of the five tortures of hell, such as: | ''Ashokavadana'' refers to Girika as Chandagirika or Girika the Cruel. It appears that Girika overheard a Buddhist monk recite the ''Balapanditasutta'' which contains vivid descriptions of the five tortures of hell, such as: | ||
{{ | {{blockquote|Finally, there are beings who are reborn in hell whom the hell-guardians grab, and stretch out on their backs on a fiery floor of red-hot iron that is but a mass of flames. Then they carry out the torture of the five-fold tether; they drive two iron stakes through their hands; they drive two iron stakes through their feet, and they drive one iron stake through their heart. Truly, O monks, hell is a place of great suffering<ref name="Obeyesekere2002"/>{{page needed|date=December 2018}}}} | ||
He got his ideas of how to torture prisoners from there. The text describes Girika's attitude toward punishment as follows: "Such are the five great agonies, Girika reflected, and he began to inflict these same tortures on people in his prison". In addition, the ''Balapanditasutta'' compares the King's torture methods to the tortures of hell.<ref name="Obeyesekere2002"/> | He got his ideas of how to torture prisoners from there. The text describes Girika's attitude toward punishment as follows: "Such are the five great agonies, Girika reflected, and he began to inflict these same tortures on people in his prison". In addition, the ''Balapanditasutta'' compares the King's torture methods to the tortures of hell.<ref name="Obeyesekere2002"/> | ||
== | ==Miracle in the chamber== | ||
The ''Ashokavadana'' further mentions that sometime later a Buddhist monk by the name of [[Samudra]] happened to visit the palace and upon entering he was informed by Girika that he would be tortured to death,<ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka">{{cite book|title=The Legend of King Ashoka: A Study and Translation of the Ashokavadana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kp9uaQTQ8h8C&pg=PA73|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=1989|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0616-0|pages=73–74}}</ref><ref name="ConferenceSharma2008">{{cite book|author1=Indian Society for Buddhist Studies. Conference|author2=Satya Prakash Sharma|author3=Baidyanath Labh|author4=Vijay Kumar Singh|author5=Anita K. Billawaria|title=The ocean of Buddhist wisdom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnYkAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=2008|publisher=New Bharatiya Book Corporation|isbn=978-81-8315-104-7|volume=3|page=135|quote=One day he arrived at Pataliputra and entered the torture chamber built by Ashoka which was beautiful from outside. As soon as he entered he was seized by Candagirika, the chief executive who told him that he would be executed by the ...}}</ref><ref name="Haynes2008">{{cite book|author=Jeff Haynes|title=Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQm9e7KVgogC&pg=PA13|accessdate=22 April 2013|date=14 November 2008|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-89054-7|page=13}}</ref> and was subsequently led into the torture chamber. His torturers, however, failed to injure him and he appeared able to neutralise their torture methods by realising that the suffering of the other prisoners is part of the Buddhist dogma of suffering and attaining [[arhatship]].<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/><ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/> | The ''Ashokavadana'' further mentions that sometime later a Buddhist monk by the name of [[Samudra]] happened to visit the palace and upon entering he was informed by Girika the Cruel, or Candagirika, that he would be tortured to death,<ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka">{{cite book|title=The Legend of King Ashoka: A Study and Translation of the Ashokavadana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kp9uaQTQ8h8C&pg=PA73|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=1989|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0616-0|pages=73–74}}</ref><ref name="ConferenceSharma2008">{{cite book|author1=Indian Society for Buddhist Studies. Conference|author2=Satya Prakash Sharma|author3=Baidyanath Labh|author4=Vijay Kumar Singh|author5=Anita K. Billawaria|title=The ocean of Buddhist wisdom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnYkAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=2008|publisher=New Bharatiya Book Corporation|isbn=978-81-8315-104-7|volume=3|page=135|quote=One day he arrived at Pataliputra and entered the torture chamber built by Ashoka which was beautiful from outside. As soon as he entered he was seized by Candagirika, the chief executive who told him that he would be executed by the ...}}</ref><ref name="Haynes2008">{{cite book|author=Jeff Haynes|title=Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQm9e7KVgogC&pg=PA13|accessdate=22 April 2013|date=14 November 2008|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-89054-7|page=13}}</ref> and was subsequently led into the torture chamber. His torturers, however, failed to injure him and he appeared able to neutralise their torture methods by realising that the suffering of the other prisoners is part of the Buddhist dogma of suffering and attaining [[arhatship]].<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/><ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/> | ||
In the Eight Manifestations of [[Padmasambhava|Guru Padmasambhava]],<ref name=EMGP>Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche (May 1992). The Eight Manifestations of Guru Padmasambhava. Translated by Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche. Padma Gochen Ling: Turtle Hill. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022</ref> Samudra is Guru Shakya Senge (Wylie: shAkya seng-ge, Skt: Guru Śākyasimha) of Bodh Gaya. Meaning "Undefeatable Lion", Padmasambhava as Shakya Senge manifests as [[Ananda]]'s student, travels to the torture chamber and brings Ashoka the Cruel to the Dharma through a display of miracles.<ref name=EMGP/> | |||
The | Narrations detail how Padmasambhava as Shakya Senge, or Samudra, while tortured in a cauldron full of boiling water, human blood, [[bone marrow]] and excrement, caused the contents of the cauldron to cool down and then sat meditating cross-legged on a [[Nelumbo|lotus]] sprouting from the fluid.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/><ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/><ref>Watt, James (January 1999). "Padmasambhava – 8 Forms: Dorje Drolo". Himalayan Art Resources. Retrieved 26 December 2022</ref> | ||
Narratives further describe that when Ashoka heard of these miracles, he was overcome with curiosity and decided to enter the chamber to verify for himself the veracity of the stories. After arriving there he witnessed Padmasambhava, or Samudra, levitating<ref name=EMGP/> with half his body on fire and the other half raining water.<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/><ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/> Intrigued he asked the monk to identify himself.<ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/> | |||
Samudra replied that he was a disciple of Buddha and adherent to the [[Dharma]] | Padmasambhava, or Samudra, replied that he was a disciple of [[Shakyamuni Buddha]] and adherent to the [[Dharma]],<ref name=EMGP/> and chastised Ashoka and Girika for having built the torture chamber and for torturing people. Ashoka was further instructed to build 84,000 [[stupas]] according to Buddha's prophecy, and to guarantee the security of all beings. To those demands, Ashoka acquiesced. Further, he confessed to his crimes and became a student of Buddhism and the Dharma.<ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/><ref name="DockettDudley-Grant2002">{{cite book|author1=Kathleen H. Dockett|author2=G. Rita Dudley-Grant|author3=C. Peter Bankart|title=Psychology and Buddhism: From Individual to Global Community|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RDP6DDsXZrcC&pg=PA25|accessdate=19 April 2013|date=31 December 2002|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-306-47412-5|page=25}}</ref> | ||
After his taming by Padmasambhava in the torture chamber, the king Ashoka the Cruel, or Candashoka, became known as the king Dharmashoka.<ref name=EMGP/> | |||
==Demolition== | ==Demolition== | ||
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Ashoka then questioned Girika as to who entered the torture palace first during their visit to see Samudra's miracles. Girika was then forced to admit that it was he who entered first. Upon the executioner's confession, Ashoka ordered him to be burnt alive and also ordered the demolition of the torture palace. According to the ''Ashokavadana'', "the beautiful jail was then torn down and a guarantee of security was extended to all beings".<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/> | Ashoka then questioned Girika as to who entered the torture palace first during their visit to see Samudra's miracles. Girika was then forced to admit that it was he who entered first. Upon the executioner's confession, Ashoka ordered him to be burnt alive and also ordered the demolition of the torture palace. According to the ''Ashokavadana'', "the beautiful jail was then torn down and a guarantee of security was extended to all beings".<ref name="Rich2010"/><ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/> | ||
From that point on, Ashoka became known as ''Ashoka the Pious''.<ref name="Rich2010">{{cite book|author=Bruce Rich|title=To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9ZoeR3r7ngC&pg=PT147|accessdate=18 April 2013|date=1 March 2010|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=978-0-8070-9553-9|page=147}}</ref><ref name="A History Of Ancient India">{{cite book|title=A History Of Ancient And Early Medieval India: From The Stone Age To The | From that point on, Ashoka became known as ''Ashoka the Pious''.<ref name="Rich2010">{{cite book|author=Bruce Rich|title=To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9ZoeR3r7ngC&pg=PT147|accessdate=18 April 2013|date=1 March 2010|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=978-0-8070-9553-9|page=147}}</ref><ref name="A History Of Ancient India">{{cite book|title=A History Of Ancient And Early Medieval India: From The Stone Age To The 12th Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA332|accessdate=18 April 2013|date=1 September 2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-1120-0|page=332}}</ref> Buddhist monk [[Xuanzang]] in his writings mentions that in the 7th century AD he had visited the place where Ashoka's torture chamber once was and that it was, even at that time, referred to in Hindu tradition as "Ashoka's Hell".<ref name="A History Of Ancient India"/><ref name="Durant2011"/> Xuanzang also claimed that he saw the column identifying the location of Ashoka's Hell.<ref name="Thapar1973">{{cite book|author=Romila Thapar|title=Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ntDAAAAYAAJ&q=ashoka+hell+on+earth|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=1973|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=29|quote=Fa-hsien repeats the story and explains that Ashoka personally visited the infernal regions and studied their methods of torture before inventing his own.1 Hsiian Tsang claims to have actually seen the pillar marking the site of Ashoka's 'Hell'}}</ref> | ||
In India, the palace is known as "Ashoka's Hell" and its location near [[Pataliputra]] became a popular destination for pilgrims. In the 5th century, [[Faxian]], also a Buddhist monk, reports visiting it and his account of the story of the palace differs slightly from that of Xuanzang's.<ref name="Durant2011">{{cite book|author=Will Durant|title=Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ru4LPyMAxxkC&pg=PT707|accessdate=18 April 2013|date=7 June 2011|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-4516-4668-9|pages=707}}</ref><ref name="The Legend of King Ashoka"/><ref name="SchlagerLauer2001">{{cite book|author1=Neil Schlager|author2=Josh Lauer|title=Science and its times: understanding the social significance of scientific discovery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OYU-AQAAIAAJ|accessdate=18 April 2013|year=2001|publisher=Gale Group|isbn=978-0-7876-3933-4|page=64}}</ref> In the 1890s, British explorer [[Laurence Waddell]], while in [[Patna]], established that [[Agam Kuan]], which means the "unfathomable well", was part of Ashoka's Hell as reported also by the two Chinese monks.<ref name=doa>{{cite web|title=Agam Kuan|url=http://yac.bih.nic.in/Da-01.htm#AgamKuan|publisher=Directorate of Archaeology, Govt. of Bihar, official website|accessdate=19 April 2013|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181914/http://yac.bih.nic.in/Da-01.htm#AgamKuan|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Material Life of Northern India: Based on an Archaeological Study, 3rd Century B.C. to 1st Century B.C.|author=Asha Vishnu|publisher=Mittal Publications|year=1993|isbn=8170994101|page=173|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaJ5oyrqBakC&dq=Agam+Kuan&pg=PA173}}</ref><ref name="India Perspectives">{{cite book|title=India Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iqqyAAAAIAAJ|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=2003|publisher=PTI for the Ministry of External Affairs|page=13|quote=A little distance away is another Ashokan remain, the Agam Kuan or the fathomless well which is believed to be a part of the legendary hell created by ...}}</ref><ref name="KuraishiIndia1931">{{cite book|author1=Mohammad Hamid Kuraishi|author2=Archaeological Survey of India|title=List of ancient monuments protected under Act VII of 1904 in the province of Bihar and Orissa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uOwLfHIYK8gC&q=Agam+Kuan+hell|accessdate=22 April 2013|year=1931|publisher=Govt. of India, Central Publication Branch|page=96|quote=Waddell, the Agam Kuan " seems to be a vestige of Ashoka's hell,...}}</ref> However, in archaeological surveys, no evidence of head bones or a skeleton has been discovered from the well, which contradicts the Buddhist legend.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.35492|title=Annual Report Of The Archaeological Survey Of India|last=Blakiston|first=J. F.|date=1928 |pages=34–36}}</ref> | |||
== See also == | |||
* [[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno, a book by Dante]] | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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[[Category:Maurya Empire]] | [[Category:Maurya Empire]] | ||
[[Category:Memorials to Ashoka]] | [[Category:Memorials to Ashoka]] | ||
[[Category:Torture]] | [[Category:Torture in India]] | ||
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Ashoka]] | |||
Latest revision as of 13:16, 12 March 2026
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2024) |
Ashoka's Hell was, according to legend, an elaborate torture chamber disguised as a beautiful palace full of amenities such as exclusive baths and decorated with flowers, fruit trees and ornaments. It was built by Emperor Ashoka (304–232 BCE) in Pataliputra (modern-day Patna, India), the capital city of the Maurya Empire. The torture palace's legend is detailed in the Ashokavadana, which describes Emperor Ashoka's life through legendary and historical accounts.
According to legend, the palatial torture chamber was artfully designed to make its exterior visually pleasing, and was referred to as the "beautiful gaol". Beneath the veneer of beauty and deep inside the exclusive mansion, however, chambers were constructed filled with sadistic and cruel instruments of torture—including furnaces used to melt the metals that were to be poured on prisoners.
The narrative states the chamber's architect drew inspiration from the five tortures of the Buddhist hell. The Ashokavadana describes the torture chamber in such terrifying detail that it spawned a belief that Ashoka—in his quest to perfect its sinister design—had visited hell itself. Through a pact made between Ashoka and Girika, the official executioner of the torture chamber, anyone entering the palace, even by chance as a visitor, was not allowed to come out alive.
Background[edit | edit source]
According to the narrations of Ashokavadana, Emperor Ashoka, prior to his conversion to Buddhism, was a fierce and sadistic ruler, known as Ashoka the Fierce, or Chandashoka (Ashoka the Cruel),[1] who sent his minions on a quest to find a vicious man to work as his official executioner.[2][3]
After some searching, Ashoka's men found a suitable candidate by the name of Girika who was so vicious that he killed his parents because they did not want him to become Ashoka's executioner. Girika was introduced to Ashoka, who soon appointed him the official executioner of his empire.[2][3]
Design[edit | edit source]
According to legend, Girika persuaded Ashoka to design the torture chamber based on the suffering endured by people reborn in Buddhist hell.[4] The Ashokavadana documents a long list of torture acts Girika designed and planned to force upon his prisoners including "prying open their mouths with an iron and pouring boiling copper down their throats".[2] Innocent people were not exempt from such treatment.[5]
In the narrative of Ashokavadana, Ashoka asked Girika to disguise the torture chamber as a beautiful and "enticing" palace full of amenities such as exclusive baths and to decorate it with flowers, fruit trees and many ornaments. The palatial torture chamber was artfully designed to make people long to just look at it, and even attract them to enter, and was referred to as the "beautiful gaol".[1][2][6]
According to the mythology, beneath the veneer of beauty, inside the exclusive mansion, torture chambers were constructed which were full of the most sadistic and cruel instruments of torture including furnaces producing molten metal for pouring on the prisoners.[2][4][7][8]
In the narrative, Ashoka made a pact with Girika that he would never allow anyone who entered the palace to exit alive, including Ashoka himself.[2][4][7][9][10] The torture chamber was so terrifying, that Emperor Ashoka was thought to have visited hell so that he could perfect its evil design.[11] In the Biographical Sutra of Emperor Ashoka the palace is described by the sentence: 'Emperor Ashoka constructed a hell'.[12]
Ashokavadana refers to Girika as Chandagirika or Girika the Cruel. It appears that Girika overheard a Buddhist monk recite the Balapanditasutta which contains vivid descriptions of the five tortures of hell, such as:
Finally, there are beings who are reborn in hell whom the hell-guardians grab, and stretch out on their backs on a fiery floor of red-hot iron that is but a mass of flames. Then they carry out the torture of the five-fold tether; they drive two iron stakes through their hands; they drive two iron stakes through their feet, and they drive one iron stake through their heart. Truly, O monks, hell is a place of great suffering[1][page needed]
He got his ideas of how to torture prisoners from there. The text describes Girika's attitude toward punishment as follows: "Such are the five great agonies, Girika reflected, and he began to inflict these same tortures on people in his prison". In addition, the Balapanditasutta compares the King's torture methods to the tortures of hell.[1]
Miracle in the chamber[edit | edit source]
The Ashokavadana further mentions that sometime later a Buddhist monk by the name of Samudra happened to visit the palace and upon entering he was informed by Girika the Cruel, or Candagirika, that he would be tortured to death,[10][13][14] and was subsequently led into the torture chamber. His torturers, however, failed to injure him and he appeared able to neutralise their torture methods by realising that the suffering of the other prisoners is part of the Buddhist dogma of suffering and attaining arhatship.[2][3][10]
In the Eight Manifestations of Guru Padmasambhava,[15] Samudra is Guru Shakya Senge (Wylie: shAkya seng-ge, Skt: Guru Śākyasimha) of Bodh Gaya. Meaning "Undefeatable Lion", Padmasambhava as Shakya Senge manifests as Ananda's student, travels to the torture chamber and brings Ashoka the Cruel to the Dharma through a display of miracles.[15]
Narrations detail how Padmasambhava as Shakya Senge, or Samudra, while tortured in a cauldron full of boiling water, human blood, bone marrow and excrement, caused the contents of the cauldron to cool down and then sat meditating cross-legged on a lotus sprouting from the fluid.[2][3][10][16] Narratives further describe that when Ashoka heard of these miracles, he was overcome with curiosity and decided to enter the chamber to verify for himself the veracity of the stories. After arriving there he witnessed Padmasambhava, or Samudra, levitating[15] with half his body on fire and the other half raining water.[2][3][10] Intrigued he asked the monk to identify himself.[10]
Padmasambhava, or Samudra, replied that he was a disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha and adherent to the Dharma,[15] and chastised Ashoka and Girika for having built the torture chamber and for torturing people. Ashoka was further instructed to build 84,000 stupas according to Buddha's prophecy, and to guarantee the security of all beings. To those demands, Ashoka acquiesced. Further, he confessed to his crimes and became a student of Buddhism and the Dharma.[10][17]
After his taming by Padmasambhava in the torture chamber, the king Ashoka the Cruel, or Candashoka, became known as the king Dharmashoka.[15]
Demolition[edit | edit source]
The Ashokavadana describes the events leading to the demolition of Ashoka's torture chamber. According to the text, the torture chamber had become the site and the reason for his conversion to Buddhism. Girika, as the resident executioner of the chamber, however, reminded Ashoka of his pledge to kill anyone entering the chamber including Ashoka himself.[2][3]
Ashoka then questioned Girika as to who entered the torture palace first during their visit to see Samudra's miracles. Girika was then forced to admit that it was he who entered first. Upon the executioner's confession, Ashoka ordered him to be burnt alive and also ordered the demolition of the torture palace. According to the Ashokavadana, "the beautiful jail was then torn down and a guarantee of security was extended to all beings".[2][3]
From that point on, Ashoka became known as Ashoka the Pious.[2][3] Buddhist monk Xuanzang in his writings mentions that in the 7th century AD he had visited the place where Ashoka's torture chamber once was and that it was, even at that time, referred to in Hindu tradition as "Ashoka's Hell".[3][9] Xuanzang also claimed that he saw the column identifying the location of Ashoka's Hell.[8]
In India, the palace is known as "Ashoka's Hell" and its location near Pataliputra became a popular destination for pilgrims. In the 5th century, Faxian, also a Buddhist monk, reports visiting it and his account of the story of the palace differs slightly from that of Xuanzang's.[9][10][18] In the 1890s, British explorer Laurence Waddell, while in Patna, established that Agam Kuan, which means the "unfathomable well", was part of Ashoka's Hell as reported also by the two Chinese monks.[19][20][21][22] However, in archaeological surveys, no evidence of head bones or a skeleton has been discovered from the well, which contradicts the Buddhist legend.[23]
See also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Gananath Obeyesekere (2002). Imagining Karma: Ethical Transformation in Amerindian, Buddhist, and Greek Rebirth. University of California Press. pp. 172–173. ISBN 978-0-520-23243-3. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Bruce Rich (1 March 2010). To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India. Beacon Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-8070-9553-9. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 A History Of Ancient And Early Medieval India: From The Stone Age To The 12th Century. Pearson Education India. 1 September 2008. p. 332. ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1995). Amoral Politics: The Persistent Truth of Machiavellism. SUNY Press. pp. 61–62. ISBN 978-1-4384-1886-5. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ Hekṭar Alahakōn (1980). The Later Mauryas: 232 BC to 180 BC. Munshiram Manoharla. p. 161. ISBN 9788121502214. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
- ↑ Ananda W. P. Gurugé (1993). Aśoka, the Righteous: A Definitive Biography. Central Cultural Fund, The Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Information. ISBN 978-955-9226-00-0. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
Ashoka is reportedly ruthless enough to aid and abet with Gririka in attracting innocent people to an infernal prison, a veritable hell, ...
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Mishi Saran; Mishi (1 July 2012). Chasing the Monk's Shadow. Penguin Books India. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-14-306439-8. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Romila Thapar (1973). Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. Oxford University Press. p. 29. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
Fa-hsien repeats the story and explains that Ashoka personally visited the infernal regions and studied their methods of torture before inventing his own.1 Hsiian Tsang claims to have actually seen the pillar marking the site of Ashoka's 'Hell'
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Will Durant (7 June 2011). Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization. Simon & Schuster. p. 707. ISBN 978-1-4516-4668-9. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 The Legend of King Ashoka: A Study and Translation of the Ashokavadana. Motilal Banarsidass. 1989. pp. 73–74. ISBN 978-81-208-0616-0. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ Nury Vittachi (13 April 2007). The Kama Sutra of Business: Management Principles from Indian Classics. John Wiley & Sons. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-470-82223-4. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ David Brazier (1 June 2002). The New Buddhism. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-312-29518-9. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ Indian Society for Buddhist Studies. Conference; Satya Prakash Sharma; Baidyanath Labh; Vijay Kumar Singh; Anita K. Billawaria (2008). The ocean of Buddhist wisdom. Vol. 3. New Bharatiya Book Corporation. p. 135. ISBN 978-81-8315-104-7. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
One day he arrived at Pataliputra and entered the torture chamber built by Ashoka which was beautiful from outside. As soon as he entered he was seized by Candagirika, the chief executive who told him that he would be executed by the ...
- ↑ Jeff Haynes (14 November 2008). Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-203-89054-7. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche (May 1992). The Eight Manifestations of Guru Padmasambhava. Translated by Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche. Padma Gochen Ling: Turtle Hill. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022
- ↑ Watt, James (January 1999). "Padmasambhava – 8 Forms: Dorje Drolo". Himalayan Art Resources. Retrieved 26 December 2022
- ↑ Kathleen H. Dockett; G. Rita Dudley-Grant; C. Peter Bankart (31 December 2002). Psychology and Buddhism: From Individual to Global Community. Springer. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-306-47412-5. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
- ↑ Neil Schlager; Josh Lauer (2001). Science and its times: understanding the social significance of scientific discovery. Gale Group. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-7876-3933-4. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ↑ "Agam Kuan". Directorate of Archaeology, Govt. of Bihar, official website. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
- ↑ Asha Vishnu (1993). Material Life of Northern India: Based on an Archaeological Study, 3rd Century B.C. to 1st Century B.C. Mittal Publications. p. 173. ISBN 8170994101.
- ↑ India Perspectives. PTI for the Ministry of External Affairs. 2003. p. 13. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
A little distance away is another Ashokan remain, the Agam Kuan or the fathomless well which is believed to be a part of the legendary hell created by ...
- ↑ Mohammad Hamid Kuraishi; Archaeological Survey of India (1931). List of ancient monuments protected under Act VII of 1904 in the province of Bihar and Orissa. Govt. of India, Central Publication Branch. p. 96. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
Waddell, the Agam Kuan " seems to be a vestige of Ashoka's hell,...
- ↑ Blakiston, J. F. (1928). Annual Report Of The Archaeological Survey Of India. pp. 34–36.