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