‘It’s important for the political world of today to own up to their mistakes in public’

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While this is arguably the first attempt at the famed edicts being sung, it is also the first time the language in which they are inscribed –Prakrit — has been set to music.

Krishna’s process began with understanding the edicts. He was advised by Shravasti Dhammika, an Australian Buddhist monk who sent him the four edicts, and Naresh Keerthi, a Sanskrit literature professor at School of Linguistics and Literary Studies, Chinmaya University, Kochi. Keerthi’s interest in literary histories of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu helped Krishna figure out the meanings and pronunciations of the words, which was close to Sanskrit “but still not Sanskrit”. Keerthi recorded the recitation and sent them to Krishna. “The edicts are in many places, so you have to look at different versions and dialects. Naresh gave me the version that completes the meaning. Apart from the pronunciation, there is enunciation in music to get the flow right. So it took some time for me to learn and figure how the edicts were to be sung,” says Krishna, who’s spent the last two months working on the project, which will be presented with subtitles.

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The edicts fundamentally speak about dharma or dhamma and one of the those that Krishna will sing is about Ashoka’s remorse after he understands the cost of the war and reflects on his own deeds publicly. “Public self-reflection is significant. It’s important for the political world of today — to ask and own up to their mistakes in public. In one of the edicts, Ashoka says, ‘what about people in areas that I haven’t annexed, they may not be a part of the kingdom, but they are also part of the land’. In a country where we are talking about CAA and NRC, look at the message there. These are so relevant that I felt it was time to rediscover them with lessons for the rulers of today,” says Krishna, who adds that the edicts need to be taught in schools, where students mostly learn about these being pillars and posts but not the actual philosophy that they represent. “They are so close to our constitution. We should be able to recite them in Kannada, Tamil, Urdu and Hindi, among others,” says Krishna, who adds that it’s a part of the sharing process where he hopes that others will collaborate or create their own version of the edicts. “It’ll be interesting if the edicts are sung as rock ‘n’ roll,” he adds.