Nine unknown men of Ashoka

ANISH DHOPESHWARKAR

Everyone loves conspiracy theories. Area 51, Atlantis, Cicada 3301, knights templar etc are are some popular conspiracy theories from the Wstern world. For the common men, whose life revolves around a small circle of family,friends, colleagues such theories about people of supernatural intellect or secret societies wanting to change/protect the world, serve to fuel the curiosity. 

Being an ancient civilization, India too is home to many conspiracy theories, one of which comes from the ancient empire of Ashoka the great. The story goes that, after witnessing the destruction of Kalinga war Ashoka accepted Buddhism and renounced war. He subsequently created a supreme council of nine most intelligent men from the land, to collect information about various subjects and preserve,revise and update it. All this was done in absolute secrecy, and no one knew who these nine men were. They were asked to tour various places disguised as buddhist monks, spread ideas of Buddhism and non-violence and in the meanwhile collect information and continue with their research. If they retired or died, their successors (which were appointed by them) would take over and continue the work. 

They worked in nine fields namely 1)Propaganda 2)Physiology 3)Microbiology 4)Alchemy 5)Communication 6)Gravity 7)Cosmology 8)Light 9)Sociology. Their main objective was that all the advanced and scientifically developed information should not fall into the wrong hands.

Myth or fact?

THe theory about the ‘nine unknown men of Ashoka’ came into limelight in 1923, Tolbot Mundy ,a British police officer who served in India, wrote a book on a secret society of nine men worshipping Kali Mata.Similarly, in 1960, in a book titled Morning of Magicians, the authors mention an interesting story about Pope Silvester II. In 900s when the pope mysteriously landed up in India. On his return he brought back various “weird” gadgets. One of it was a bronze doll who could reply to his questions in Yes or No. But when he decided to reveal it to the public, he was found dead under “mysterious” conditions. 

In 1954 in a journal it was noted that the doll which the Pope had brought, it was programmed using binary number (just like any other modern electronic machine) and was one of the first possible use of AI. 

After this, there is the story of Swiss physician Alexandre Yersin. He was a colleague of Louis pasteur as well as  Haffkine (who discovered vaccination to cholera). During his stay in India, where cholera was at its zenith, it is said that one of the members of the “nine unknown” gave him the knowledge about vaccination, as they felt this disease might wipe out human civilisation

It is said that modern world scientists like Jagdish Bose, were considered as strong believers of this theory, and Bose was said to be one of the nine members. We proudly claim discovery of zero, and almost perfect calculation of mathematical constants in vedic periods, where there were no means present to do such estimation, so it is believed that it was the work of these highly intellectual nine unknown men. 

What’s the evidence? 

There’s no written or any inscribed evidence of their existence. In their defence, the conspiracy theorists claim that Ashoka had asked these men to collect and record as much information as available and not to let it fall into the hands of the public. Only under certain circumstances, when there is a stable government  this pivotal information should be released. And to an extent this statement stands historically correct as after the death of Ashoka there was no commendable development in science and technology. But during Gupta or Vijay Nagara empire when we had a stable government, we could see some spike in scientific temper of the subcontinent. 

Another important question which is asked is if this theory is true then how come Mughals and Britishers plundered this land for years? Why are we still one of the poorest countries?

These are some valid questions, but there aren’t any explainable answers to them. Being a conspiracy theory its just supposed to arouse some curiosity, and food for thought.