Chennai (Tamil Nadu): To enlighten people with the honours of the inscriptions holding King Ashoka’s edicts through Carnatic music, Carnatic musician T M Krishna has released a video series titled ‘The Edict Project’ on October 14, the day Dr B.R.Ambedkar embraced Buddhism.
The musician said that ‘The Edict Project’ was released to enlighten the people about how things like religious equality and justice and administrative ability existed during King Ashoka’s reign.
The video has received good response from music enthusiasts and is said to be the first of its kind in India.
In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, T M Krishna said, “a violent circumstance is prevailing in the country and politics as well. Nobody realises that others have opinions too. It was in this situation that it occurred to me that Ashoka’s philosophies are needed today.”
Ashoka’s edicts in the Prakrit language
“By taking Ashoka’s philosophies to the people, we would be able to bring back the thoughts that existed during his period. Ashoka’s words are important, and it ought to be taken to the people. I’ve sung in the Prakrit language in the video. Soon, I would take it to everyone including Tamil, Hindi and Bengali. Prakrit has been the language of the people.
Prakrit was spoken by people during Ashoka’s period. It was not the language of the upper class. Buddhist monk Thamika and linguistics professor Naresh Keerthi helped me to understand the Prakrit language and guided with the pronunciation of the words.
Buddhism, the religion that Ashoka and Ambedkar followed
The reason for releasing the video on October 14 is because it was the day Dr B R Ambedkar embraced Buddhism. Ashoka had different political ideas, Ambedkar’s thoughts were for people at the grassroots level. Both of them were attracted to Buddhism and were in public life. Hence, I chose the date of October 14 to connect them.
Ashoka’s edicts in 37 places
Ashoka’s edicts don’t belong to me. It has to be taken to a diverse population. Ashoka’s edicts can be brought out through art forms like Gaana and Koothu. I have no royalty for this. There are over 100 edicts in 37 places in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. These have to be brought out in different forms. This is just the first step.
Religious equality
The politics today is violent. Murder alone could not be associated with violence. The society is responsible for murder as well as sexual violence. We build society. At present, most of us are afraid to voice out. Hence, it has become necessary to preach religious equality, love justice and peace to people through Ashoka’s edicts,” he said.
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