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WOOD: Since ancient times,
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Indian civilisation has been
driven by great ideas,
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by the search for knowledge and truth.
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Here in South India,
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the people of the Jain religion pay
homage to a teacher who was once a king,
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who renounced his kingdom
to seek enlightenment.
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From the Buddha to Mahatma Gandhi,
Indian history is full of such figures,
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men and women who contested the idea
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that history should only
be written by the men of war.
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From the 5th century BC,
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these ideas shaped one of the most
revolutionary times in history,
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when great empires were founded in India
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on these universal principles
of peace and non-violence.
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The next chapter in the story of India.
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But our journey begins
very much in the present.
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MAN: Making a Hollywood film?
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WOOD: Not Hollywood, no, no.
BBC documentary.
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Good morning. Times of India, please.
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WOOD: Amid one of the all-too-common
crises of our modern world,
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we humans are a competitive species
fighting for power, resources and ideas,
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still to learn history's lessons.
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Well, we're heading to Varanasi
on the River Ganges.
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Tempered slightly
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because last night there was a
terrible series of bombings in the city,
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the railway station
and in one of the temples.
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Nobody knows quite why it's happened,
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but we think the trains
are still running,
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so we'll see what happens.
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There are over six billion people
in today's world,
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compared with 1 00 million
in the 5th century BC.
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And the fulfilment of our desires
has become a goal of civilisation.
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Every person has his own identity,
his own needs.
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Mr Wood...
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Mr Wood... Ah, yes, here.
Indian Railways, wonderful.
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All the great ancient civilisations
meditated on these big questions.
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How to live life,
sharing the planet with other people.
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How to find happiness.
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For Indian people,
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the traditional goal of life is
to live with virtue, dharma,
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to gain wealth and success, artha,
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to find pleasure, kama,
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but in the end, to seek
enlightenment, moksha.
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Back in the 5th century BC,
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a series of kingdoms had grown up
in the Ganges Plain with cities.
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And in history,
cities are always vehicles for change.
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India's greatest sacred city, Varanasi,
was founded around 500 BC.
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It's been called the Jerusalem of India.
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And here you can
find living continuities
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with the old ritual order
of Indian society.
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That order was founded
on the caste system,
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into which all Hindus are born,
marry and die.
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(MEN CHANTING)
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The caste system divides
people by birth, from high to low.
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It fixes their jobs
and their place in society.
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We're gonna meet one of the family
of the Dom Rajas, the lords of the dead.
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They are the only people who can perform
the funeral pyres here in Benares.
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When family comes to have
cremation of family member,
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the fire can only come from your family.
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Because if they could not
take the fire from us,
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it means he could not be burn
the body even prime minister die.
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-Even the prime minister.
-Even prime minister die.
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-Is it allowed to see?
-Yes, allowed to see.
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-May we come?
-Yes.
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-We follow you? Okay.
-Yes.
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The sacred fire from which
all funeral pyres must be lit
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has been kept burning here
continuously for thousands of years.
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-WOOD: So is this the fire here?
-This is the fire, here.
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And in the fire momently keeping here
since 3,500 years.
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WOOD: In all societies in history,
religions offer a path to salvation.
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But in practice, religions create bonds,
both physical and mental.
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The essence of India's
ancient system was that
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salvation only came by the precise
performance of the right rituals
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in the right time and place.
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Before he start burning,
he must walk around five time,
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because of the five element.
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-Earth, water, wind, fire, ether.
-Fire, water, air, earth, ether.
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In the ritual universe, order is vital,
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and so it was with society
in the 5th century BC.
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Know your place in the order,
perform the necessary rituals,
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fulfil your duty,
whatever caste you're born into.
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WOOD: You and your family are
very, very important people in India.
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In a way of thinking.
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-In a way of thinking.
-In a way of thinking.
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But in a way of naturality,
if you say, people think us...
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We are the very low caste,
we cannot touch him, we cannot...
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You are low caste, you are...
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Yes, we are untouchable.
If we are a pariah, if the people...
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When we walk in a street,
people don't like to touch us.
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-That is the biggest things.
-Really.
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So even though... Because you perform...
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You do the rituals for the dead
and you touch the dead,
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-you are very low caste.
-Low caste.
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-But everybody needs you.
-Without us, they cannot do.
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From ancient times,
that was the Indian way
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and it's lasted thousands of years,
a system of power from the Iron Age,
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now being renegotiated
in modern, democratic India.
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But it was challenged before.
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People first started to question
the old order in the 5th century BC,
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and not just in India.
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In China,
there was Confucius and Lao-Tzu.
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Across in the Mediterranean,
the Greek philosophers.
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In Israel, the Old Testament prophets.
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It was a revolutionary time
for humanity,
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the birth of conscience, putting ethics
at the centre of the world.
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And nowhere were these questionings
more intense than in India.
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Speculation about the nature
of the universe, the nature of the self
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and the connection between the two
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is one of the oldest obsessions
of Indian civilisation.
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They were at it even in the Bronze Age.
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But in the cities of the Ganges Plain
here in India, in the 5th century BC,
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a host of thinkers arose.
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Rationalists, sceptics, atheists.
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There were those who denied
the existence of the afterlife
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and reincarnation.
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There were those, like the Jains,
who believed that all living creatures
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were bonded together
in a chain of being across time.
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There were scientists,
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very closely resembling
their contemporaries
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in the Ionian Islands in Greece,
the Greek philosophers,
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who suggested that the world
was composed of atoms
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and that everything was change.
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And there were those who said
there were immutable laws of the cosmos
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and all change was illusory.
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But the most influential
of these thinkers,
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in the history of India
and in the history of the world,
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was the Buddha.
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The Buddha's story
is the stuff of fairy tales.
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He came from a world
of princely magnificence
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and nowhere does princely
better than India.
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Young, newlywed, high caste,
he had everything.
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But then, in a sudden bolt of lightning,
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he saw the reality of
human life for everyone,
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suffering and death.
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So there and then, young Gautam
left behind his wife and family
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and set out on the road, seeking truth.
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Six years he wandered,
a long-haired dropout,
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until he finally came here,
to Bodh Gaya.
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(GREETING IN TIBETAN)
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-How are you?
-Hi.
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This one is the birth,
when Buddha himself...
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Oh, from the side of his mother?
Oh, yes, here.
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So here, he's... This is when he says,
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''My black hair, I cut off.''
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-Yeah, yeah.
-Yeah, right.
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So he left his wife and his baby.
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Today, nearly 400 million people
are Buddhists.
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From Burma and Korea
to China and now the West.
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Young Gautam will reshape history.
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But at this moment,
when he first comes here,
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he's another ragged renouncer.
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And the Buddha had come here
to do what Indian holy men did,
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practising almost
unbelievable austerities.
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''I ate so little those days,''
he said later,
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''that my buttocks looked
as knobbly as a camel's hoof,
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''the bones of my spine
stuck out like a row of spindles,
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''and my ribs looked like
a collapsed old shed.
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''And much good did it do me.''
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And that's his voice.
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A vivid realistic turn of phrase,
not holier than thou.
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His years on the road
had taught the ex-prince
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to speak the common language.
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So he sits here, under a pipal tree,
seeking enlightenment.
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It's one the great moments in history
and this is the very place.
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This is the diamond throne.
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-WOOD: The throne?
-The throne, the diamond throne.
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So this is the place where the Buddha
is believed to have sat and attained...
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Not believed, this is the place where
he sat and attained enlightenment.
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This is also called
the Navel of the Earth.
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So, for all Buddhists,
the most sacred place?
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For all the Buddhists
from all over the world,
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this is the most sacred place
for worship and veneration.
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(PEOPLE CHANTING)
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Some of his devotees wanted
a statue of the Buddha to be made.
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He, then and there,
rejected the idea, the proposal.
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And he said that if at all
people need something,
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then it should be the bodhi tree,
which has given me shelter underneath
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to sit and meditate
and attain the supreme bliss
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that I had experienced.
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And it will also give shelter to
thousands and thousands of people
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who are in search of truth.
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And today,
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Bodh Gaya is a magnet for thousands
of people from all over the world,
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whether seeking truth or simply curious.
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And it's a luminous place, magical.
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And yet full of life.
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It's great, isn't it?
All the monks enjoying themselves.
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How often we make our history
the story of the great conquerors,
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the men of violence,
Alexander, Napoleon, Hitler.
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That's what we teach our children
in their history books, isn't it?
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But here's one man
who sits under a tree, thinking,
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and changes the world.
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But this is an Indian story.
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By the morning,
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the Buddha had crystallised in his mind
what he called the four noble truths.
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In essence, the idea was very simple.
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''The nature of the human condition,''
he thought, ''is suffering.''
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And suffering is caused, in the end,
by human desire, by attachment,
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by covetousness,
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in the inner life
and in the outside world.
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''Free yourself from those desires, ''
the Buddha thought,
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''and you can become
a liberated human being.
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''But it can only come from within. ''
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DALAI LAMA: Ultimately,
inner happiness, inner satisfaction,
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must create by oneself.
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You could be a billionaire,
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but deep inside, very lonely person,
very lonely feeling.
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00:14:25,117 --> 00:14:30,510
So therefore, as a human being,
regardless believer or non-believer,
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these inner human value
is very essential
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in order to have happier individual,
happier family,
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00:14:39,997 --> 00:14:42,465
happier society or happier nation.
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WOOD: The core of the Buddha's ideas
was the Eightfold Path.
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Respect for living things,
compassion, truth, non-violence.
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Ethical action,
it's so easy to say, isn't it?
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00:15:03,677 --> 00:15:06,430
But we're still struggling for it today.
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He's still on his own at this point.
So he travels from Bodh Gaya to Sarnath.
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Here in the deer park,
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he picks up five old friends
from his time on the road.
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They become his first disciples
and he tries his ideas out on them.
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And on this spot,
now marked by the great stupa,
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he gives what becomes
known as the First Sermon.
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This first sermon is called
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.
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It means Setting the Wheel
of Doctrine in Motion.
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Setting the Wheel of Doctrine,
or Law, in Motion?
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-The wheel, yes.
-Yes.
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The teaching of Buddha
is not only for monks,
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it is for all.
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Bahujanahita means,
''For the well-being of many.''
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And for the next more than 40 years,
the Buddha journeyed and preached.
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-Yeah, 45 years.
-45 years.
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-Journeyed and preached.
-He walked, he never...
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-Never stay at one place.
-Yeah, yeah.
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And now it becomes a great Indian story.
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The real journey begins.
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He wanders, no possessions,
on foot, begging,
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00:16:33,237 --> 00:16:37,469
through the small world of the Iron Age
kingdoms of the Ganges Plain.
236
00:16:46,317 --> 00:16:49,753
But the thing to remember is
he's a protestor.
237
00:16:49,837 --> 00:16:51,475
Through the whole of Indian history,
238
00:16:51,557 --> 00:16:56,426
there's a tension between the rulers
and those who fought for social justice.
239
00:16:56,517 --> 00:16:59,873
From the wandering medieval saints
to the freedom fighters,
240
00:16:59,957 --> 00:17:03,472
and the flood of
modern poets and agitators,
241
00:17:03,557 --> 00:17:06,913
he's the first
of India's million mutineers.
242
00:17:12,317 --> 00:17:15,673
Then he comes here to Rajgir,
invited by the King,
243
00:17:15,757 --> 00:17:17,793
who saw something in him.
244
00:17:23,797 --> 00:17:26,470
The King gave him some land
on which to build a hut,
245
00:17:26,557 --> 00:17:29,549
a bamboo grove, it's still here.
246
00:17:31,517 --> 00:17:33,826
It was a place where there
were monks living all the time.
247
00:17:33,917 --> 00:17:38,115
We know a place in this grove, like
the Karanda Tank, which is still here,
248
00:17:38,197 --> 00:17:41,075
the squirrels' nesting place,
the peacocks' dancing place...
249
00:17:41,157 --> 00:17:43,671
So you can imagine what it was like.
250
00:17:46,517 --> 00:17:48,269
Every year,
he went back to the same place.
251
00:17:48,357 --> 00:17:50,507
So people knew where he was.
252
00:17:51,877 --> 00:17:53,674
It was a good time for monks to regather
253
00:17:53,757 --> 00:17:55,987
and if anybody wanted to be
with the Buddha, for example,
254
00:17:56,077 --> 00:17:58,511
they could come to the same place.
255
00:17:58,757 --> 00:17:59,792
It's quite impressive.
256
00:17:59,877 --> 00:18:03,916
He's got about
1 ,000-1 ,250 disciples by that time.
257
00:18:06,477 --> 00:18:09,389
The King comes to meet him, as
was tradition, and even tradition now.
258
00:18:09,477 --> 00:18:12,389
I mean, kings or powerful politicians
go and meet religious leaders,
259
00:18:12,477 --> 00:18:13,830
not the other way around.
260
00:18:13,917 --> 00:18:17,307
The King says, ''I had five wishes.
The first was to be king,
261
00:18:17,397 --> 00:18:20,275
''and the second was to be able
to receive an enlightened person.
262
00:18:20,357 --> 00:18:22,871
''The third was to be
able to hear him speak.
263
00:18:22,957 --> 00:18:24,993
''The fourth was to be
able to understand that.
264
00:18:25,077 --> 00:18:28,547
''And the fifth was to be
able to be grateful for that.''
265
00:18:31,197 --> 00:18:34,985
WOOD: In the hills above Rajgir,
there's a little cave
266
00:18:35,077 --> 00:18:38,353
where the Buddha lived
through the monsoon seasons.
267
00:18:39,717 --> 00:18:41,912
SETH: The Buddha really loved
this place.
268
00:18:41,997 --> 00:18:45,194
It was a little higher
than the surrounding area.
269
00:18:46,397 --> 00:18:50,595
It was one of his favourite places
of meditation, he even says so.
270
00:18:50,677 --> 00:18:53,316
He loved watching the sunset from here.
271
00:18:54,517 --> 00:18:59,033
And he just came again and again,
just for the sheer pleasure of it.
272
00:19:00,397 --> 00:19:01,830
This cave, actually, is lovely,
273
00:19:01,917 --> 00:19:05,751
because you can know
that the Buddha was in this cave.
274
00:19:05,837 --> 00:19:09,273
SETH: As you go into the cave,
it's a little, sort of,
275
00:19:09,357 --> 00:19:11,587
lower in height in the beginning
and then it gets deeper.
276
00:19:11,677 --> 00:19:13,747
So you can stand up inside.
277
00:19:14,517 --> 00:19:16,633
And you can just sit here
and meditate for hours and hours
278
00:19:16,717 --> 00:19:19,709
and just be with the Buddha, you can
really feel the breath of the Buddha.
279
00:19:19,797 --> 00:19:22,709
Even though he was 2,500 years ago,
you can really feel his presence
280
00:19:22,797 --> 00:19:24,435
in this cave now.
281
00:19:34,237 --> 00:19:37,149
WOOD: And again, that realistic voice.
282
00:19:37,237 --> 00:19:39,148
''Be your own lamp, ''he said.
283
00:19:39,237 --> 00:19:41,910
''Seek no other refuge but yourselves.
284
00:19:42,797 --> 00:19:44,992
''Let truth be your light. ''
285
00:19:53,837 --> 00:19:55,156
(CHIMING)
286
00:20:26,277 --> 00:20:29,747
For me, it's one of
the never-failing miracles of history,
287
00:20:29,837 --> 00:20:34,308
that a human mind from so long ago
can still speak to us directly
288
00:20:34,397 --> 00:20:39,232
in his own voice and mean
something now in our time of change.
289
00:20:41,637 --> 00:20:44,549
But then his was a time of change, too.
290
00:20:48,877 --> 00:20:52,153
Buddhism is a system
based on pure morality,
291
00:20:52,237 --> 00:20:54,148
what we would call universal values.
292
00:20:54,237 --> 00:20:57,673
Trust, truthfulness,
non-violence, that sort of thing.
293
00:20:59,037 --> 00:21:02,507
And those ideas were very attractive
to the rising class of merchants
294
00:21:02,597 --> 00:21:05,634
and traders in the cities
of the Ganges Plain.
295
00:21:08,797 --> 00:21:10,628
But it's also atheistic.
296
00:21:10,717 --> 00:21:12,867
The logic of the Buddha's message
297
00:21:12,957 --> 00:21:17,553
is that belief in God itself
is a form of attachment,
298
00:21:18,517 --> 00:21:23,830
of clinging, of desire,
and in the land of 33 million gods
299
00:21:23,917 --> 00:21:26,306
or is it 330 million?
300
00:21:27,677 --> 00:21:30,510
That eventually would
prove a step too far.
301
00:22:00,517 --> 00:22:03,554
''But all things must pass, ''
as he would say.
302
00:22:03,637 --> 00:22:06,310
No one in history
was clearer about that.
303
00:22:06,397 --> 00:22:09,389
No promise of heaven, no threat of hell.
304
00:22:13,237 --> 00:22:17,788
He's an old man now, around 80.
This was his last journey.
305
00:22:17,877 --> 00:22:20,675
Among the scavengers
and the dispossessed,
306
00:22:20,757 --> 00:22:24,466
with their unending struggle
for mere survival.
307
00:22:26,957 --> 00:22:30,586
Around 486 BC,
according to the traditional date,
308
00:22:30,677 --> 00:22:34,113
he headed back across the plain
towards the Himalayas.
309
00:22:35,317 --> 00:22:39,868
Now he's heading north,
back to the land of his childhood.
310
00:22:43,677 --> 00:22:46,430
Perhaps he was consciously heading home.
311
00:22:47,517 --> 00:22:49,712
He knew he was going to die.
312
00:22:52,517 --> 00:22:54,030
(HORNS HONKING)
313
00:23:07,077 --> 00:23:10,706
The Buddha's story ends
in an endearingly scruffy little town
314
00:23:10,797 --> 00:23:13,516
on the Ganges Plain, Kushinagar.
315
00:23:14,237 --> 00:23:17,434
On the stalls,
India's deities, old and new,
316
00:23:17,517 --> 00:23:21,192
and he's become one of them,
against his wishes of course.
317
00:23:24,437 --> 00:23:26,587
One of the Buddha's
faithful disciples begged him
318
00:23:26,677 --> 00:23:28,872
to hold on a bit longer
and not die here.
319
00:23:28,957 --> 00:23:32,233
''It's a miserable, wattle-and-daub
little place stuck in the jungle,
320
00:23:32,317 --> 00:23:33,909
''in the middle of nowhere,'' he said.
321
00:23:33,997 --> 00:23:36,147
''Couldn't you die in a famous place
322
00:23:36,237 --> 00:23:39,149
''where they could
give you a great funeral?''
323
00:23:39,917 --> 00:23:43,034
And the Buddha said,
''A small place is fitting.''
324
00:23:51,517 --> 00:23:54,827
He took some food
in the house of a blacksmith, pork.
325
00:23:54,917 --> 00:23:57,909
Like most ancient Indians,
the Buddha was a meat-eater.
326
00:23:57,997 --> 00:23:59,635
And he fell ill.
327
00:24:01,157 --> 00:24:05,355
Again the tradition marks the very spot
on the edge of Kushinagar.
328
00:24:10,317 --> 00:24:14,026
At the end,
his disciples can't bear to let him go.
329
00:24:14,117 --> 00:24:18,588
''What more do you want of me?''he says.
''I've made known the teaching.
330
00:24:18,677 --> 00:24:22,067
''Ask no more of me.
You're the community now.
331
00:24:22,157 --> 00:24:24,796
''I have reached the end of my journey. ''
332
00:24:25,797 --> 00:24:28,914
There are several versions
of the Buddha's last moments.
333
00:24:28,997 --> 00:24:32,387
One of them says that he made a gesture
and exposed the upper part of his body
334
00:24:32,477 --> 00:24:35,549
to show how age and sickness
had wasted it,
335
00:24:35,637 --> 00:24:38,709
to remind his followers
of the human condition.
336
00:24:40,077 --> 00:24:44,389
But all versions agree
that his last words were these.
337
00:24:45,037 --> 00:24:50,828
''All created things must pass.
Strive on diligently.''
338
00:24:58,637 --> 00:25:00,548
Meanwhile, far to the west,
339
00:25:00,637 --> 00:25:03,754
tremendous events
were changing the world.
340
00:25:03,837 --> 00:25:06,192
At the time of the Buddha's death,
the Persian Empire,
341
00:25:06,277 --> 00:25:09,587
the greatest the world had ever seen,
invaded Greece.
342
00:25:09,677 --> 00:25:10,996
And in the following century,
343
00:25:11,077 --> 00:25:13,910
the Greeks came east
looking for revenge.
344
00:25:13,997 --> 00:25:15,988
(MAN CHATTERING ON RADIO)
345
00:25:17,797 --> 00:25:22,268
And Europe faced Asia
in the perennial battleground of Iraq.
346
00:25:22,357 --> 00:25:25,633
What happened here
would change the story of India.
347
00:25:36,957 --> 00:25:41,075
Great ideas in history don't always
spread beyond their own country.
348
00:25:41,157 --> 00:25:45,753
The ideas of the Buddha remained
a local cult in the Ganges Plain
349
00:25:45,837 --> 00:25:48,351
for 200 years after his death.
350
00:25:48,437 --> 00:25:52,430
And the catalyst for change,
as so often in history, was war.
351
00:25:56,037 --> 00:26:01,589
1 st October, 331 BC, the greatest
battle of antiquity was fought here,
352
00:26:01,677 --> 00:26:04,589
near the little village of Gaugamela.
353
00:26:04,677 --> 00:26:06,747
A true war of the worlds.
354
00:26:06,837 --> 00:26:10,227
It was waged between
the might of the Persian Empire,
355
00:26:10,317 --> 00:26:14,196
which ruled as far as the Indus Valley
and the plains of India,
356
00:26:14,277 --> 00:26:16,745
and an army which had
marched from Greece
357
00:26:16,837 --> 00:26:22,514
under an extraordinary young general,
the 25-year-old Alexander the Great.
358
00:26:40,157 --> 00:26:44,833
Alexander's invasion of the East
was a true clash of civilisations.
359
00:26:45,477 --> 00:26:47,991
A different model for history.
360
00:26:48,077 --> 00:26:51,387
One that we in the West
have always been seduced by.
361
00:26:51,957 --> 00:26:56,587
The East as the other,
the heroic leader, a superman.
362
00:27:00,757 --> 00:27:03,794
The man whose giant ego
literally overwhelms
363
00:27:03,877 --> 00:27:06,596
the Persian divine king, Darius,
364
00:27:06,677 --> 00:27:09,908
and subdues history itself to his will.
365
00:27:24,357 --> 00:27:26,632
MAN: Alexander was a globalist.
366
00:27:26,717 --> 00:27:30,187
Alexander would thoroughly
understand the world today.
367
00:27:31,557 --> 00:27:35,470
The thing that unifies all armies
is the will of the commander.
368
00:27:35,957 --> 00:27:40,314
Even in a battlefield like this,
which comprised at that stage
369
00:27:40,397 --> 00:27:45,232
maybe 1 50 to 200,000 individuals
on this plain at that time,
370
00:27:45,317 --> 00:27:48,992
this all came down to a contest
of wills between two individuals.
371
00:27:49,077 --> 00:27:51,875
-WOOD: And they both understood that?
-Oh, I think they entirely...
372
00:27:51,957 --> 00:27:53,231
-And they can see each other?
-Exactly.
373
00:27:53,317 --> 00:27:56,036
-Actually see each other, don't they?
-And the spears thrusting into the faces
374
00:27:56,117 --> 00:27:57,755
of the Persians.
375
00:27:57,837 --> 00:28:00,397
At which point Darius takes flight
376
00:28:00,477 --> 00:28:04,152
and drives his chariot out
and away back down to the river.
377
00:28:11,397 --> 00:28:14,833
Alexander's guru, Aristotle,
another great teacher,
378
00:28:14,917 --> 00:28:17,226
a seeker after truth and reason,
379
00:28:17,317 --> 00:28:20,036
had a different take
on the world from the Buddha.
380
00:28:20,117 --> 00:28:22,585
''The Greeks have strength and reason, ''
he said.
381
00:28:22,677 --> 00:28:25,510
''So it's right
they should rule the world. ''
382
00:28:27,317 --> 00:28:29,990
So Alexander went on,
over the mountains,
383
00:28:30,077 --> 00:28:33,706
over the Khyber Pass
and down into the plains of India.
384
00:28:39,197 --> 00:28:42,553
It was the first meeting
of India and the West.
385
00:28:47,317 --> 00:28:51,276
Alexander finally stopped in the Punjab,
near today's Amritsar.
386
00:28:54,517 --> 00:28:59,432
The Greek army reached the River Beas
here, beginning of September, 326 BC.
387
00:29:02,197 --> 00:29:05,587
But it wasn't any Greek army
that you've imagined before.
388
00:29:05,677 --> 00:29:08,316
Some of them were wearing
Central Asian clothes,
389
00:29:08,397 --> 00:29:11,992
Persian trousers, Indian cotton tunics.
390
00:29:13,077 --> 00:29:15,272
This isn't a classical Greek army.
391
00:29:15,357 --> 00:29:20,909
It's close to a science fiction army.
An ancient Greek version of Mad Max.
392
00:29:20,997 --> 00:29:22,715
And in the middle of them,
Alexander the Great
393
00:29:22,797 --> 00:29:24,913
in his parade uniform
394
00:29:24,997 --> 00:29:29,707
with his ram's horn helmet
with its great white plumes.
395
00:29:29,797 --> 00:29:32,595
And on his armour,
the head of the gorgon
396
00:29:32,677 --> 00:29:36,829
which was supposed to turn to stone
anybody who gazed into its eyes.
397
00:29:37,397 --> 00:29:39,991
Well, there was one person here
who wasn't turned into stone.
398
00:29:40,077 --> 00:29:42,750
A young Indian had
come to Alexander's camp.
399
00:29:42,837 --> 00:29:47,592
He was deeply impressed
by this spectacle of imperialism,
400
00:29:47,677 --> 00:29:51,033
by the glamour of Alexander's violence.
401
00:29:51,317 --> 00:29:54,912
And he would become one of
the greatest figures in Indian history
402
00:29:54,997 --> 00:29:59,149
who would create the greatest
Indian empire before modern times.
403
00:29:59,237 --> 00:30:01,876
His name, Chandragupta Maurya.
404
00:30:12,957 --> 00:30:15,471
In time, Chandragupta seized power,
405
00:30:15,557 --> 00:30:17,912
drove Alexander's successors
out of India
406
00:30:17,997 --> 00:30:20,750
and ruled from the Khyber to Bengal.
407
00:30:20,837 --> 00:30:24,716
And his state is the first forerunner
of today's India.
408
00:30:27,557 --> 00:30:32,108
In 300 BC the Greeks sent
their ambassadors to him bearing gifts.
409
00:30:32,597 --> 00:30:36,510
And they give the first ever
account of India from the outside.
410
00:30:37,437 --> 00:30:41,510
From Stone Age tribes in the Himalayas
to the cities of the plains.
411
00:30:41,597 --> 00:30:46,034
A land of 1 1 8 nations, rich and fertile,
412
00:30:46,117 --> 00:30:49,746
with rivers so wide,
they couldn't see the other side.
413
00:30:51,317 --> 00:30:56,471
''One of them, '' the Greeks said,
''worshipped by all Indians, the Ganges. ''
414
00:30:59,397 --> 00:31:03,868
The embassy eventually arrived
at Chandragupta's capital, Patna.
415
00:31:05,717 --> 00:31:09,312
The Greek ambassadors were
amazed by what they saw.
416
00:31:09,597 --> 00:31:13,988
The city stretched 9 or 1 0 miles
along the bank of the Ganges.
417
00:31:15,397 --> 00:31:20,107
And all along the river frontage,
they saw palaces, pleasure gardens.
418
00:31:20,877 --> 00:31:24,392
The Greek ambassador Magasthenese said,
''I've seen the great cities of Asia,
419
00:31:24,477 --> 00:31:29,107
''I've seen Susa in Persia,
but nothing compares with this.''
420
00:31:30,357 --> 00:31:33,110
And if Magasthenese's
description is accurate,
421
00:31:33,197 --> 00:31:36,234
this was indeed
the greatest city in the world.
422
00:31:39,557 --> 00:31:42,117
The city stood
at the junction of four rivers
423
00:31:42,197 --> 00:31:44,665
and measured 22 miles in circuit.
424
00:31:48,797 --> 00:31:54,667
In the king's camp were over 400,000
men with 3,000 war elephants.
425
00:31:56,837 --> 00:32:01,831
And he never travelled in state except
with his bodyguard of female warriors,
426
00:32:01,917 --> 00:32:04,715
Indian Amazons, loyal only to him.
427
00:32:29,277 --> 00:32:30,710
Good morning.
428
00:32:41,917 --> 00:32:45,512
Patna today has almost
turned its back on the Ganges.
429
00:32:45,597 --> 00:32:49,556
The silted shore of the ancient city
now high and dry.
430
00:32:54,917 --> 00:32:57,909
Fantastic.
There's the edge of old Patna.
431
00:33:01,037 --> 00:33:03,710
Of course, in the days when
the Greek ambassadors came,
432
00:33:03,797 --> 00:33:06,834
you've got to remember
it was a new city then.
433
00:33:06,917 --> 00:33:10,387
A new imperial city, there would've
been brick kilns everywhere
434
00:33:10,477 --> 00:33:13,514
that would be needed
in a great city like this.
435
00:33:22,597 --> 00:33:26,067
Today's Patna is right off
most people's tourist trail.
436
00:33:26,197 --> 00:33:28,188
But what a place it is!
437
00:33:30,397 --> 00:33:35,596
It's an amazing city Patna because
you've got the layers of the past
438
00:33:35,677 --> 00:33:38,032
sort of superimposed here.
439
00:33:38,117 --> 00:33:41,553
Tombs of Muslim saints
sit on ancient Buddhist mounds.
440
00:33:44,077 --> 00:33:48,389
It's a city where all of India's
communities have mixed over centuries
441
00:33:49,397 --> 00:33:55,916
and left the tangled roots of history,
as so often in India, all still alive.
442
00:33:57,477 --> 00:34:00,867
With its crumbling palaces
and merchants' mansions,
443
00:34:00,957 --> 00:34:04,791
it's like wandering through
an Indian version of ancient Rome.
444
00:34:06,357 --> 00:34:08,393
What a beautiful building!
445
00:34:08,557 --> 00:34:10,309
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
446
00:34:11,717 --> 00:34:12,866
Hello.
447
00:34:14,877 --> 00:34:16,310
How old is the house?
448
00:34:16,397 --> 00:34:17,989
(SPEAKING HINDI)
449
00:34:20,437 --> 00:34:23,554
1 05 years, right, right, right.
It's a lovely house anyway.
450
00:34:31,277 --> 00:34:34,394
But what about the very
earliest layer of Patna,
451
00:34:34,477 --> 00:34:38,709
the imperial city of Chandragupta,
visited by the ancient Greeks?
452
00:34:39,277 --> 00:34:43,156
In a forgotten corner of the city
is the last pleasure lake
453
00:34:43,237 --> 00:34:45,273
of Chandragupta's capital.
454
00:34:46,237 --> 00:34:50,753
And here, on a little island,
is an ancient Jain shrine.
455
00:35:06,397 --> 00:35:08,115
Tucked away here,
456
00:35:08,197 --> 00:35:11,826
the remains of a temple going back
to the time of Chandragupta himself.
457
00:35:15,157 --> 00:35:18,991
The shrine is dedicated
to Chandragupta's guru.
458
00:35:19,077 --> 00:35:21,545
And it holds the key
to the incredible tale
459
00:35:21,637 --> 00:35:25,027
of how, at the height of his power,
the king renounced his empire.
460
00:35:25,117 --> 00:35:26,994
Only worshipping the feet,
there's no image of...
461
00:35:27,077 --> 00:35:30,592
India, so the story goes,
was ravaged by famine.
462
00:35:30,677 --> 00:35:34,226
The powerless king turned to
a Jain guru and bowed to him
463
00:35:34,317 --> 00:35:36,911
as, in the end, all Indian rulers must.
464
00:35:39,557 --> 00:35:42,833
And so he left his throne
and headed south in penance
465
00:35:42,917 --> 00:35:45,477
to the mountain of Shravanabelgola,
466
00:35:45,557 --> 00:35:48,071
where, in the myth,
the ancient King Bahubali
467
00:35:48,157 --> 00:35:52,548
had also renounced his kingdom
for moksha, salvation.
468
00:35:57,557 --> 00:36:02,677
His mother had a dream
in which the Goddess told her,
469
00:36:02,757 --> 00:36:06,432
''You have to go and seek
the blessings of Lord Bahubali.''
470
00:36:08,237 --> 00:36:10,626
Chandragupta Maurya,
he took a bow and arrow
471
00:36:10,757 --> 00:36:14,955
and then he shot the arrow on the...
Where he could see that... Just...
472
00:36:15,037 --> 00:36:17,835
He could see
the impression of the statue.
473
00:36:19,477 --> 00:36:24,631
And then he got the artist who could
carve this statue of Lord Bahubali.
474
00:36:32,757 --> 00:36:37,751
So Chandragupta Maurya became a
naked holy man on a windy mountain top,
475
00:36:37,837 --> 00:36:41,352
seeking moksha,
liberation through knowledge.
476
00:36:41,437 --> 00:36:43,348
(CHANTING)
477
00:36:51,357 --> 00:36:56,431
Chandragupta Maurya, when he came here,
he wanted to renounce everything.
478
00:36:56,997 --> 00:37:02,993
And for himself he want to get into
the penance and then moksha.
479
00:37:08,197 --> 00:37:12,588
That's why he stood there renouncing
his whole kingdom, everything.
480
00:37:14,797 --> 00:37:18,346
While he is doing penance,
nobody eats anything.
481
00:37:21,277 --> 00:37:24,474
Finally, they attain moksha.
Not one or two...
482
00:37:24,557 --> 00:37:26,946
-WOOD: They die or...
-They die. Yeah.
483
00:37:32,917 --> 00:37:37,274
The first great king of India
starved himself to death in this cave,
484
00:37:37,357 --> 00:37:41,589
witness to the age-old injunction
to pursue knowledge and liberation
485
00:37:41,677 --> 00:37:43,588
above all other things.
486
00:37:59,597 --> 00:38:03,431
Chandragupta made
the first great Indian state.
487
00:38:03,517 --> 00:38:06,987
The template of all future Indias,
right down to today.
488
00:38:08,277 --> 00:38:10,666
A religious renouncer at the end.
489
00:38:10,757 --> 00:38:15,911
But what he bequeathed the future
was the idea of secular authority,
490
00:38:15,997 --> 00:38:20,229
a universal king who was
the source of power and of law.
491
00:38:27,197 --> 00:38:29,836
But 20 years after Chandragupta's death,
492
00:38:29,917 --> 00:38:33,273
his grandson would
take those secular ideas,
493
00:38:33,357 --> 00:38:36,110
join them to the ethics
of the Jains and the Buddhists
494
00:38:36,197 --> 00:38:39,507
and put that synthesis
at the heart of politics.
495
00:38:42,877 --> 00:38:46,711
This astonishing story was
only rediscovered in modern times.
496
00:38:47,837 --> 00:38:52,194
The tale takes us to Calcutta,
in the days of the East India Company.
497
00:38:52,797 --> 00:38:55,948
It was here that the lost script
of the Mauryan Empire
498
00:38:56,037 --> 00:39:00,315
was deciphered in 1 837
in the Asiatic Society.
499
00:39:03,757 --> 00:39:07,033
A young Briton with a talent
for codes and ciphers
500
00:39:07,117 --> 00:39:09,995
became fascinated
by mysterious inscriptions
501
00:39:10,077 --> 00:39:12,955
on great pillars in Delhi and Allahabad.
502
00:39:13,037 --> 00:39:15,107
His name was James Prinsep.
503
00:39:17,077 --> 00:39:20,114
Prinsep's attention was
drawn to a carved boulder
504
00:39:20,197 --> 00:39:23,473
which turned out to be
India's Rosetta Stone.
505
00:39:24,797 --> 00:39:28,790
The decipherment came like so many
great examples of code-breaking,
506
00:39:28,877 --> 00:39:30,515
by a hunch.
507
00:39:31,437 --> 00:39:37,910
Prinsep guessed that this unknown script
contained a form of early Sanskrit.
508
00:39:38,637 --> 00:39:43,870
He began to put two and two together.
He realised that this strange squiggle
509
00:39:43,957 --> 00:39:47,916
with an inverted ''T'' and a dot
next to it was probably
510
00:39:47,997 --> 00:39:51,831
the sign for a gift,
dhanam, in Sanskrit.
511
00:39:51,917 --> 00:39:55,114
The gift of somebody, of something.
512
00:39:55,197 --> 00:40:01,591
He realised that the strange hooked ''C''
was a possessive, so-and-so's gift.
513
00:40:02,077 --> 00:40:05,308
And then he cracked
an absolutely crucial phrase
514
00:40:05,397 --> 00:40:08,195
which occurred over and over again
in these inscriptions
515
00:40:08,277 --> 00:40:11,394
and on the great pillars
in Delhi and Allahabad.
516
00:40:11,757 --> 00:40:15,067
The phrase which begins
this inscription here...
517
00:40:15,157 --> 00:40:17,717
(SPEAKING SANSKRIT)
518
00:40:20,437 --> 00:40:24,953
''The Raja Piyadasi,
beloved of the Gods, says this.''
519
00:40:26,357 --> 00:40:30,509
It was a king, and a king who,
judging by the inscriptions,
520
00:40:30,597 --> 00:40:34,715
had ruled from the Himalayan foothills
almost to the south of India,
521
00:40:34,797 --> 00:40:38,346
from the Bay of Bengal
almost across to Afghanistan.
522
00:40:38,437 --> 00:40:41,554
And a king whose memory
had completely vanished
523
00:40:41,637 --> 00:40:43,548
from the historical record in India.
524
00:40:46,637 --> 00:40:48,195
The name of the beloved of the Gods
525
00:40:48,277 --> 00:40:51,633
was none other than
Chandragupta's grandson, Ashoka.
526
00:40:57,557 --> 00:41:00,151
And back in Patna,
the capital of his empire,
527
00:41:00,237 --> 00:41:02,307
he'd never been forgotten.
528
00:41:03,637 --> 00:41:09,234
And here I was expecting
a dry-as-dust archaeological site.
529
00:41:09,317 --> 00:41:11,512
That's India for you.
530
00:41:11,597 --> 00:41:15,590
The place is an ancient sacred well,
still used by the people of Patna
531
00:41:15,677 --> 00:41:18,908
in their thousands
for their marriage ceremonies.
532
00:41:23,517 --> 00:41:25,712
It's now an auspicious place,
533
00:41:25,837 --> 00:41:30,228
but it's remembered in legend
as a place of torture, a living hell.
534
00:41:31,997 --> 00:41:34,431
And the name of the king who built it...
535
00:41:35,757 --> 00:41:37,907
(SPEAKING HINDI)
536
00:41:40,477 --> 00:41:45,312
He told us that well was
constructed by King Ashoka.
537
00:41:45,397 --> 00:41:48,594
MAN: Ashoka.
WOOD: The well was built by Ashoka?
538
00:41:52,077 --> 00:41:56,195
-Namaskar. This is the well?
-This is the Agam Kuan.
539
00:41:56,277 --> 00:41:57,869
-Can we have a look?
-Yeah.
540
00:41:57,957 --> 00:42:00,187
(MAN SPEAKING HINDI)
541
00:42:03,957 --> 00:42:08,030
According to the legend told here,
Ashoka decided to build
542
00:42:08,117 --> 00:42:11,348
what was called a hell on earth,
which was on this spot.
543
00:42:11,437 --> 00:42:13,871
A kind of prison with
great high walls within which
544
00:42:13,957 --> 00:42:18,075
terrible tortures were devised
for people who went against his rule.
545
00:42:23,277 --> 00:42:29,068
WOMAN: The great king Ashoka had
500 beautiful young women in his harem.
546
00:42:31,117 --> 00:42:34,871
One spring day,
he found his thoughts lingering
547
00:42:34,957 --> 00:42:37,425
on the seductive forms around him.
548
00:42:38,077 --> 00:42:41,911
But the great king had a flaw,
he had bad skin.
549
00:42:43,437 --> 00:42:46,395
Horrid to touch. Ugly Ashoka.
550
00:42:46,477 --> 00:42:48,433
(CHUCKLING)
551
00:42:50,437 --> 00:42:53,747
Wrap them all in hot copper plates
and burn them.
552
00:42:54,877 --> 00:42:56,674
Majesty,
553
00:42:56,757 --> 00:43:01,308
a king should build
a proper execution chamber
554
00:43:01,917 --> 00:43:05,956
and appoint executioners
to carry out his commands.
555
00:43:09,717 --> 00:43:14,268
Ashoka agreed.
And in Patna he built a torture chamber
556
00:43:14,957 --> 00:43:17,187
that he called hell on earth.
557
00:43:18,277 --> 00:43:22,589
When the people saw this,
they called him ''Chand Ashoka''.
558
00:43:23,677 --> 00:43:25,668
Ashoka the Cruel.
559
00:43:31,837 --> 00:43:35,625
The legend of Ashoka the Cruel
has been told for centuries.
560
00:43:35,717 --> 00:43:39,676
But the edicts deciphered by Prinsep
give us real history.
561
00:43:39,757 --> 00:43:43,432
And they tell of Ashoka's attack
on the eastern kingdom of Kalinga,
562
00:43:43,517 --> 00:43:45,030
today's Orissa.
563
00:43:45,437 --> 00:43:48,156
So if Ashoka is going to invade Kalinga,
564
00:43:48,237 --> 00:43:50,797
-this river he must cross?
-Yeah. Yeah.
565
00:43:50,877 --> 00:43:54,233
Yeah. So, this was the entry point
for the Mauryan army.
566
00:43:54,317 --> 00:43:55,511
Yeah, yeah.
567
00:43:57,957 --> 00:44:01,552
So the real story begins
with a brutal war of aggression.
568
00:44:04,437 --> 00:44:07,474
And only in the last year
have archaeologists in Orissa
569
00:44:07,557 --> 00:44:10,355
found the first evidence
for the fighting.
570
00:44:14,237 --> 00:44:17,866
Wow, that's...
That's very clear, isn't it?
571
00:44:18,637 --> 00:44:20,036
And what does it say?
572
00:44:20,117 --> 00:44:24,668
And it is clearly written,
''Toshali Naga.''
573
00:44:24,757 --> 00:44:25,826
Naga...
574
00:44:25,917 --> 00:44:28,829
We know that Toshali is
the name of the capital of Kalinga
575
00:44:28,917 --> 00:44:30,828
-at the time of Ashoka.
-Yeah.
576
00:44:30,917 --> 00:44:35,752
This Toshali, it is the name
which appears in the holy inscription.
577
00:44:35,837 --> 00:44:38,635
MAN: See, this is a weapon.
578
00:44:39,637 --> 00:44:41,753
PRADHAN: This is your arrowhead.
579
00:44:41,837 --> 00:44:45,671
This is our metallurgical equal,
resembling with Mauryan iron equipments.
580
00:44:45,757 --> 00:44:48,476
So this kind of thing has been found
in the Ganges valley?
581
00:44:48,557 --> 00:44:51,276
So, all this metal work has come
from a very small area of excavation?
582
00:44:51,357 --> 00:44:53,154
MAN: Very small.
PRADHAN: Yes, very small.
583
00:44:53,237 --> 00:44:57,196
A host of spearheads, arrowheads,
bits of weaponry.
584
00:44:58,117 --> 00:45:02,076
This is only a tiny sample
that the Mauryan army
585
00:45:02,157 --> 00:45:06,708
fired an immense amount of weaponry
at the people of Kalinga.
586
00:45:19,037 --> 00:45:22,916
The King, the beloved of the Gods,
attacked Kalinga.
587
00:45:22,997 --> 00:45:26,990
1 50,000 living persons
were carried away captive.
588
00:45:27,077 --> 00:45:31,548
1 00,000 were killed in the war
and almost as many died afterwards.
589
00:45:34,157 --> 00:45:37,069
But after the Kalingas had been crushed,
590
00:45:37,157 --> 00:45:40,194
there arose in the King
a great conflict,
591
00:45:40,277 --> 00:45:42,313
a regret for his conquest
592
00:45:43,157 --> 00:45:45,387
and a yearning for justice.
593
00:45:48,437 --> 00:45:51,315
(SCREAMS)
594
00:45:58,077 --> 00:46:02,036
''In war, ''said Ashoka,
''everyone suffers.
595
00:46:02,117 --> 00:46:04,187
''There is killing and injury.
596
00:46:04,277 --> 00:46:07,587
''People are cut off forever
from the ones they love.
597
00:46:07,677 --> 00:46:10,111
''War is a tragedy for everyone. ''
598
00:46:11,477 --> 00:46:15,311
Ashoka had hit on one of the most
dangerous ideas in history,
599
00:46:16,037 --> 00:46:17,789
non-violence.
600
00:46:30,197 --> 00:46:33,428
The legend says Ashoka
now turned to Buddhism
601
00:46:33,517 --> 00:46:36,270
and built memorial stupas in atonement.
602
00:46:36,797 --> 00:46:39,595
And the archaeologists
have also found their remains
603
00:46:39,677 --> 00:46:41,747
on the hills above the battlefield.
604
00:46:41,837 --> 00:46:45,273
-Many architectural members are found.
-Yeah.
605
00:46:45,357 --> 00:46:47,917
Three letters are clearly visible.
606
00:46:47,997 --> 00:46:52,275
One is ''A,'' second is ''Sho,''
and there a ''Ka.''
607
00:46:52,357 --> 00:46:54,871
The name Ashoka is clearly visible.
608
00:47:05,437 --> 00:47:09,715
''All we human beings, ''says Ashoka,
''whatever our station in life,
609
00:47:09,797 --> 00:47:15,155
''share the same human values.
Love of parents, respect for elders,
610
00:47:15,237 --> 00:47:18,229
''kindness and attachment
to friends and neighbours,
611
00:47:18,317 --> 00:47:20,547
''even to servants and slaves. ''
612
00:47:25,637 --> 00:47:31,189
''From now on, ''says Ashoka, ''I desire
non-violence for all creatures.
613
00:47:31,837 --> 00:47:35,034
''And I resolve to conquer
by persuasion alone. ''
614
00:47:37,157 --> 00:47:39,591
Of course, one should always take
the words of politicians and leaders
615
00:47:39,677 --> 00:47:43,829
with a pinch of salt, especially
when they've waged an aggressive war.
616
00:47:43,917 --> 00:47:46,385
But in this case,
Ashoka's words are so personal,
617
00:47:46,477 --> 00:47:49,833
so self-recriminating
and so idiosyncratic
618
00:47:49,917 --> 00:47:53,671
that it's hard not to think
that it's his voice speaking to us.
619
00:47:53,757 --> 00:47:58,228
When the war in Kalinga was over,
he says, and the people conquered
620
00:47:59,277 --> 00:48:05,989
he felt inside him a great crisis,
a striving for meaning and remorse.
621
00:48:12,957 --> 00:48:17,473
So like his grandfather,
Ashoka goes on pilgrimage across India,
622
00:48:17,557 --> 00:48:19,627
seeking a guru, a teacher.
623
00:48:21,997 --> 00:48:26,115
And by the riverbank, he met the son
of a perfume seller from Varanasi,
624
00:48:26,197 --> 00:48:27,789
a Buddhist monk.
625
00:48:29,077 --> 00:48:32,274
And the monk told him to
go and sit beneath the bodhi tree
626
00:48:32,357 --> 00:48:35,076
where the Buddha
had found enlightenment.
627
00:48:36,957 --> 00:48:39,676
And there the power of ideas
and the power of the state
628
00:48:39,757 --> 00:48:42,749
came together in a uniquely Indian way.
629
00:48:43,557 --> 00:48:45,627
A rejection of the path of violence,
630
00:48:45,717 --> 00:48:48,834
indeed, of a whole way
of understanding history.
631
00:49:07,797 --> 00:49:10,914
While he was here,
Ashoka gave rich gifts
632
00:49:10,997 --> 00:49:14,034
to the poor and the sick
of this part of Bihar.
633
00:49:14,117 --> 00:49:16,312
He consulted with the local communities
634
00:49:16,397 --> 00:49:20,026
about proper governance,
about good conduct.
635
00:49:20,117 --> 00:49:22,950
Citizenship, I suppose,
we'd call it today.
636
00:49:24,877 --> 00:49:29,667
Forming in his mind now
was an idea for a political order,
637
00:49:29,757 --> 00:49:33,989
such had never been conceived of
before in the history of the world.
638
00:49:41,797 --> 00:49:46,552
All over India, he carved his edicts
on rocks and great stone pillars,
639
00:49:46,637 --> 00:49:51,153
and he erected stupas where he enclosed
portions of the ashes of the Buddha,
640
00:49:51,237 --> 00:49:54,195
symbols of the source
of his moral authority.
641
00:50:02,477 --> 00:50:04,866
Copies of the edicts
are still being discovered,
642
00:50:04,957 --> 00:50:07,391
20 of them in the last 40 years.
643
00:50:08,917 --> 00:50:11,715
This one's near
the battle site in Orissa.
644
00:50:14,557 --> 00:50:18,027
One of the great documents
in the history of the world.
645
00:50:18,637 --> 00:50:22,232
One of the great ideas
in the history of the world.
646
00:50:22,317 --> 00:50:27,311
The forerunner, the first forerunner,
of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
647
00:50:27,837 --> 00:50:33,150
This amazing outpouring of ideas
all boils down to one idea,
648
00:50:33,757 --> 00:50:35,554
''All humans are one family.''
649
00:50:35,637 --> 00:50:38,356
As Ashoka says,
''All men are my children.''
650
00:50:46,557 --> 00:50:50,232
Does that make Ashoka's India
sound a bit like a nanny state?
651
00:50:50,317 --> 00:50:53,195
Well, maybe. But as Ashoka said,
652
00:50:53,277 --> 00:50:56,075
''It's hard to persuade people
to do good. ''
653
00:50:59,517 --> 00:51:01,906
His edicts didn't just cover humans,
654
00:51:01,997 --> 00:51:05,194
his are the first animal rights laws
in the world.
655
00:51:09,597 --> 00:51:12,111
He even had police to enforce them.
656
00:51:16,917 --> 00:51:19,477
This is a police raid
on a load of bird shops
657
00:51:19,557 --> 00:51:21,866
and animal shops, pet dealers.
658
00:51:23,157 --> 00:51:24,590
People climbing up...
659
00:51:24,677 --> 00:51:27,908
People trying to escape up
into the roof and over the roof.
660
00:51:30,397 --> 00:51:34,436
-Not illegal, legal.
-So exotic birds...
661
00:51:34,517 --> 00:51:36,872
-Exotic birds.
-...is okay?
662
00:51:36,957 --> 00:51:39,187
The amazing thing
is that in Ashoka's day,
663
00:51:39,277 --> 00:51:42,667
they had a network of police
to enforce these rules
664
00:51:42,757 --> 00:51:44,475
in the 3rd century!
665
00:51:47,877 --> 00:51:51,836
As a result, India has the oldest
animal hospitals in the world.
666
00:51:53,477 --> 00:51:54,876
WOOD: So this is... This is...
667
00:51:54,957 --> 00:51:56,675
This is Raja,
who's the oldest inmate here.
668
00:51:56,757 --> 00:51:59,715
Almost the oldest inmate, yes. Hi, Raja.
669
00:51:59,797 --> 00:52:01,549
-WOOD: Hello, Raja.
-Hi, Raja.
670
00:52:03,877 --> 00:52:06,789
There's a fantastic passage
in one of Ashoka's edicts,
671
00:52:06,877 --> 00:52:10,108
where he says,
''I have made these provisions
672
00:52:10,197 --> 00:52:13,985
''which are to ban
the killing of certain animals.
673
00:52:14,077 --> 00:52:19,390
''But the greatest thing we could do
is to protect all living things.''
674
00:52:19,477 --> 00:52:23,595
He talks about practical things,
but then the ideal.
675
00:52:23,677 --> 00:52:26,145
He understood,
if you're cruel to animals
676
00:52:26,237 --> 00:52:28,705
you will be cruel to humans as well.
677
00:52:28,797 --> 00:52:30,708
Since animals are powerless
it shows your true nature
678
00:52:30,797 --> 00:52:32,594
in your interaction with them.
679
00:52:32,677 --> 00:52:34,235
Because since they can't
do anything back to you
680
00:52:34,317 --> 00:52:37,070
and you don't have to be
worried about anybody reacting,
681
00:52:37,157 --> 00:52:38,954
you can be your true self.
682
00:52:54,677 --> 00:52:58,067
In history there have been
many empires of the sword.
683
00:52:58,677 --> 00:53:02,113
But only India created
an empire of the spirit.
684
00:53:05,717 --> 00:53:09,027
And from the edicts we learn
that Ashoka didn't even stop there.
685
00:53:09,117 --> 00:53:13,395
He sent embassies to
the kings of Greece and Macedonia,
686
00:53:13,477 --> 00:53:15,866
North Africa, Syria, Babylonia...
687
00:53:16,597 --> 00:53:18,428
All part of his project
688
00:53:18,517 --> 00:53:21,429
for the brotherhood of man
and world peace.
689
00:53:31,197 --> 00:53:34,712
Ashoka also asked
for religious tolerance.
690
00:53:34,797 --> 00:53:37,072
''We must respect all religions, ''
he said,
691
00:53:37,157 --> 00:53:39,751
''for all religions in the end
have the same goal,
692
00:53:39,837 --> 00:53:42,112
''which is enlightenment. ''
693
00:53:42,197 --> 00:53:44,757
And it's fitting that here
at the sacred confluence
694
00:53:44,837 --> 00:53:46,793
of the Rivers Ganges and Yamuna,
695
00:53:46,877 --> 00:53:51,905
where Indian kings traditionally made
great acts of charity to all faiths,
696
00:53:51,997 --> 00:53:55,876
his greatest pillar edict
still stands today.
697
00:54:03,717 --> 00:54:07,790
There's a key idea that lies
behind all these edicts of Ashoka.
698
00:54:08,357 --> 00:54:11,986
And simply it's this,
''The message isn't from God.''
699
00:54:16,397 --> 00:54:19,150
What Ashoka's doing is
taking the ideas of the Buddhists,
700
00:54:19,237 --> 00:54:23,355
the Eightfold Path, truthfulness,
compassion, right conduct
701
00:54:23,797 --> 00:54:26,436
and the teachings of the Jains
on non-violence,
702
00:54:26,517 --> 00:54:31,432
and making them not only the core
of personal morality but of politics.
703
00:54:37,397 --> 00:54:42,266
The social welfare legislation,
the teachings on religious toleration,
704
00:54:42,357 --> 00:54:43,995
even the ecological measures
705
00:54:44,077 --> 00:54:46,910
on the conservation
of species and plants,
706
00:54:46,997 --> 00:54:49,750
from the rhino to the Ganges porpoise,
707
00:54:49,837 --> 00:54:54,274
the conservation of forests,
preservation from needless destruction,
708
00:54:54,357 --> 00:54:56,587
it's moving the sphere of politics
709
00:54:56,677 --> 00:55:00,033
away from the sanctions
of religion and magic
710
00:55:00,117 --> 00:55:02,756
to the rule of reason and morality.
711
00:55:02,837 --> 00:55:05,590
What's on that pillar
is an extraordinary product
712
00:55:05,677 --> 00:55:08,555
of an extraordinary time, the Axis Age.
713
00:55:15,317 --> 00:55:19,105
And when the time came
to free India from British rule,
714
00:55:19,197 --> 00:55:23,793
what better symbol for the national flag
than Ashoka's wheel of law.
715
00:55:33,797 --> 00:55:37,426
As for the man himself,
his last days are a mystery.
716
00:55:37,517 --> 00:55:41,226
But the legends tell of an old man
stripped of everything.
717
00:55:43,597 --> 00:55:46,907
In the end,
all the great king Ashoka had left
718
00:55:46,997 --> 00:55:49,750
was one half of an amalaka fruit.
719
00:55:50,637 --> 00:55:53,788
Broken-hearted,
he summoned his ministers.
720
00:55:55,397 --> 00:55:57,592
Who now is Lord of the Earth?
721
00:55:58,077 --> 00:56:02,036
Oh, Majesty.
Without question, of course it is you.
722
00:56:02,117 --> 00:56:05,666
-The great Emperor Ashoka himself.
-Liar.
723
00:56:06,757 --> 00:56:08,793
I have lost all my power.
724
00:56:10,077 --> 00:56:14,548
This piece of amalaka fruit in my hand
is all that I can call my own.
725
00:56:16,797 --> 00:56:19,391
Now I understand when the Buddha says,
726
00:56:20,117 --> 00:56:23,951
''All fortune is
the cause of misfortune.''
727
00:56:37,637 --> 00:56:41,312
All things must pass,
even Buddhism itself.
728
00:56:41,877 --> 00:56:44,710
It became the greatest religion
of the ancient world.
729
00:56:44,797 --> 00:56:46,867
It's still a power in Asia.
730
00:56:46,957 --> 00:56:50,552
But in the middle ages
it died in the heartland of India.
731
00:56:57,197 --> 00:56:58,755
In the 1 8th century,
732
00:56:58,837 --> 00:57:02,193
when British explorers
came seeking its lost history,
733
00:57:02,637 --> 00:57:06,550
they dug in the jungle
here at Kushinagar where he died.
734
00:57:07,637 --> 00:57:11,391
And under the forest, they found
an astonishing image of the Buddha
735
00:57:11,477 --> 00:57:14,992
in the moment of death,
the moment of nirvana.
736
00:57:20,477 --> 00:57:23,594
And that would begin
the next cycle of the story,
737
00:57:24,117 --> 00:57:27,507
spreading the Buddha's message
to new lands of the West
738
00:57:27,597 --> 00:57:30,873
and to continents that
Buddha had never dreamed of.
739
00:57:43,477 --> 00:57:48,505
WOOD: All across the world now,
there is a big interest in the Buddha.
740
00:57:49,157 --> 00:57:52,945
In Western people also.
Why do you think this is?
741
00:57:53,517 --> 00:57:55,747
Buddha message true,
742
00:57:56,837 --> 00:57:58,873
so all people accept.
743
00:58:00,077 --> 00:58:02,910
-The Buddha's message is true.
-True, yeah.
744
00:58:09,517 --> 00:58:11,553
Next in the Story of India.
745
00:58:11,637 --> 00:58:15,152
Silk roads, spice routes
and China ships.
746
00:58:16,437 --> 00:58:20,191
Epics of the south
and lost empires of the north.
747
00:58:21,117 --> 00:58:23,267
Ancient India goes global
748
00:58:23,357 --> 00:58:26,508
in the happiest time
in the history of the world.