Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/94

92 The imperial government was an absolute autocracy in which the king’s will was suprcme. From about 259 Asoka applied his autocratic power to the Buddhist Church, which he ruled as its Head. In the Bhâbrû Edict 'His Grace the King of Magadha addresses the Church with greetings and bids its members prosperity and good health,' and after this exordium proceeds to recommend to the faithful, lay and clerical, the passages from the holy books which he desires them to study with special care. Many years later, in the Sârnâth Edict and its variants, we ﬁnd His Sacred Majesty declaring that 'the Church may not be rent in twain by any person,' and prescribing the canoanical penalties to be inflicted upon schismatics. Asoka's position ﬁnds a close parallel in that of Charlemagne, whose 'unwearied and comprehensive activity made him throughout his reign an ecclesiastical no less than a civil ruler, summoning and sitting in councils, examining and appointing bishops, settling by capitularics the smallest points of Church discipline and polity .'

The imperial orders, whether in purely civil or in ecclesiastical matters, between which nice distinctions were not drawn, were communicated through an organized body of officials, the superior grades of