ASOKAS AS A PREACHER

Asoka  left Kalinga, but Kalinga never left him. It haunted him day in and day out. Every second the dreadful sight began thrusting its full weight against his sensitive heart. His gloom began looming large with every tick of the clock. He felt his heart was pounded, soul, squeezed; conscience, stifled; and mind, defunct, at its very mention. The suffering he inflicted on Kalingas appeared preying upon his soul gradually. He lost his mental peace. And Paradise too. 

Will he ever regain them? 

"Am I not justified?" he questioned himself. The answer startled him. It raised his mental crisis further. He sought explanation in the books on Politics and Law. Answers were insipid and stale. What about logic then? The cold logic cooled his soul further. The past never pacified him, nor the present mitigated his suffering. He turned to religion and scriptures for justification of his action. They abhorred him with all vehemence at their command. It was to him like a chorus song, strongly denouncing war. Yet, the repudiation was not complete. They neither indicated the proper goal, nor suggested the right action. It placed him in a dilemma.
 

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