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he indulge in diversions like gladiatorial fights, or gambling as a
measure to compensate the pleasures lost in giving up drinks, meat
etc., No! What about hunting, the royal pleasure, then? He gave an
eternal holiday to it, for, it involves the killing of dumb creatures.
He detested hunting and made arrangements to give life to the
helpless dumb creatures by royal proclamations.
He
was a teetotaler, par excellence - yes a total abstainer, out and
out. He abstained from eating meat in any form, drinking intoxicants
on any occasion, hunting animals for any purpose, or using pungent
stuffs like tobacco and opium in any state. Asoka's personal purity
and austerity won universal acclaim. He set examples in every field
he stepped into by force, or chance or choice. Great men always
demonstrate greater powers to achieve the greatest exemplary deeds.
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