भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

civilians but also amongst the soldiers. Naturally, in those frontier provinces of India, the warlike spirit and armed strength began to decrease as speedily as the untrammelled propaganda about non-violence and other Buddhistic principles gained momentum everywhere with the avowed royal support. After carrying on such demilitarizing and anti-national propaganda for twenty years, Ashoka breathed his last. His successors, the Buddhist weaklings, surpassed Ashoka in the neglect of the invincible frontier guards, which had been so scrupulously and assiduously maintained in well-equipped military outposts since the time of Chandragupta. This was ignored to such an extent that the whole defence-line collapsed as would a whole turret, the base of which has sunk underground. In Short 176. Because Ashoka and his descendants with their imperial support carried throughout their empire, the incessant propaganda of the one-sided extremist Buddhist principles, which derided martial prowess, and criminally neglected the intrepidity and valour which fought for national independence, and because they transformed the whole empire into a gigantic Buddhistic monastery, and converted the fighting warriors into saffron-clad Buddha bhikksu, the heroic spirit among the people of the frontier provinces and their staunch patriotism suffered a horrible debasement, and the military organization that had been the strongest in the world since the time of Chandragupta wore out completely because of this internal virus. And that is the reason why Demetreos' Greek forces, far inferior to those of Alexander and Seleucos, could so easily reduce the whole region from the Hindukush to Panchnad and could march proudly towards Magadha. 177. With all the imperial authority and resources at the disposal of these Buddhists, none of the provincial governors, nor any administrator, nor even the Buddhist population, got excited and boldly came forward to fight in the battlefield these Yavan foes, who dared snatch away the independence of India and subjugate it. They were not enraged at this insult of India, nor were they ashamed of it. The very descendant of Ashoka in Magadha, who called himself emperor and was warming the imperial throne, the Buddhist King Brihadrath, never took a step to resist the advance of the Greek enemy! 178. Perhaps that Buddhist King was trying to win over the Greeks by his unrestrained observance of the Buddhistic principle of ‘non- resistance’ and