07/09/2017
Q-- What is found common in Ashoka’s ‘Dhamma’ and Akbar’s ‘Din-i-Ilahi’? Elaborate.
Ans - Dhamma and Din I Ilahi were moral intellectual foundations of two great rulers of India viz Ashoka and Akbar respectively. The two emperors presided over a vast empire of subcontinental size and faced the challenge of peace, harmony and integration. The diverse faiths, languages, customs, beliefs and practices existing within the Empire gave rise to dissent, turbulence and disorder. Peaceful coexistence, fraternity and an ethical code of conduct became the imperatives of the Empire under both rulers. Traditional religion and orthodoxy became unsuitable to meet the challenges of the great empire.
After much deliberation, Ashoka came up with the idea of the Dhamma. Dhamma was aimed at creating an attitude of mind in which the ethical behaviour of one person towards another was primary and was based on a recognition of the dignity of human beings. Dhamma was stated in terms of tolerance, respect, obedience, piety, righteousness. All this provided a common code of conduct for diverse groups.
Akbar enunciated the policy of Din I Ilahi also known as Tauhid I Ilahi or divine monotheism. It was not based on books or scriptures, rituals, priests. It was based on Akbar's concept of Sulh-i- kul ie peace to all. It demanded equal toleration of and respect to all sections, irrespective of their religious beliefs .Thus, both Dhamma and Din I ilahi had one thing: humanism above sectarianism.
