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2007-08-20 Afghanistan

Afghanistan celebrates independence from Britain

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Posted by Steve White 2007-08-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 I wonder where they'd be today if they had just gone along with it.

Posted by gorb 2007-08-20 02:14|| 2007-08-20 02:14|| Front Page Top

#2 Had they been absorbed into the Raj, they would be part of Pakistan now.

You need to go back more than two thousand years, to the time when that region was recaptured from Selucius Nicator (Satrap of Alexander the Great) by the Indian Emperor Chandragupta Maurya.
His grandson the emperor Ashoka converted to Buddhism and sent missionaries to China, Japan, SE Asia to spread the word of the Buddha.

Afghanistan was full of centers of learning, full of Buddhist monasteries and libraries. It was actually civilized.

Nothing remained after the Muslim conquests. The Buddhist monks (who believed in non-violence) were slaughtered and their libraries burnt. All Buddhists were forcibly converted to Islam.

The Bamiyan Buddhas, one of the last remnants of the Buddhist presence were blown up by the Taliban.

Posted by john frum 2007-08-20 08:03|| 2007-08-20 08:03|| Front Page Top

#3 Good commentary, john frum. Churchill wrote a passage in one of his books along the same line.

But now, if Karzai is speaking about the virtue of education, isn't that apostasy?

Posted by treo 2007-08-20 10:28|| 2007-08-20 10:28|| Front Page Top

#4 Edict of the Indian Emperor Ashoka, at Kandahar, Afghanistan

Inscription is in both Greek and Aramaic

"Ten years (of reign) having been completed, King Piodasses (Ashoka) made known (the doctrine of) Piety to men; and from this moment he has made men more pious, and everything thrives throughout the whole world. And the king abstains from (killing) living beings, and other men and those who (are) huntsmen and fishermen of the king have desisted from hunting. And if some (were) intemperate, they have ceased from their intemperance as was in their power; and obedient to their father and mother and to the elders, in opposition to the past also in the future, by so acting on every occasion, they will live better and more happily."

Posted by john frum 2007-08-20 11:49|| 2007-08-20 11:49|| Front Page Top

#5 "All religions should reside everywhere, for all of them desire self-control and purity of heart."

"Here (in my domain) no living beings are to be slaughtered or offered in sacrifice."

"Contact (between religions) is good. One should listen to and respect the doctrines professed by others. Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, desires that all should be well-learned in the good doctrines of other religions."

Posted by john frum 2007-08-20 11:54|| 2007-08-20 11:54|| Front Page Top

#6 Of course, it helps when you have a big army...

"But this last combat with Porus took off the edge of the Macedonians' courage, and stayed their further progress into India. For having found it hard enough to defeat an enemy who brought but twenty thousand men and two thousand horse into the field, they thought they had reason to oppose Alexander's design of leading them on to pass the Ganges, too, which they were told was thirty-two furlongs broad and a fathoms deep, and the banks on the further side covered with multitudes of enemies. For they were told the kings of the Gandaritans and Praesians expected them there with eighty thousand horse, two hundred thousand men, eight thousand armed chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants. Nor was this a mere vain report, spread to discourage them. For Androcottus, who not long after reigned in those parts, made a present of five hundred elephants at once to Seleucus, and with an army of six hundred thousand men subdued all India.

Vita Alexandri by Plutarch

And he was pretty mean before he converted and embraced Buddhist Dharma...

"Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, conquered the Kalingas eight years after his coronation. One hundred and fifty thousand were deported, one hundred thousand were killed and many more died (from other causes). After the Kalingas had been conquered, Beloved-of-the-Gods came to feel a strong inclination towards the Dhamma, a love for the Dhamma and for instruction in Dhamma. Now Beloved-of-the-Gods feels deep remorse for having conquered the Kalingas." Rock Edict Nb13

Posted by john frum 2007-08-20 12:45|| 2007-08-20 12:45|| Front Page Top

Map of the Maurya Empire under Ashoka's rule.

Posted by john frum 2007-08-20 18:36|| 2007-08-20 18:36|| Front Page Top

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