Ashoka's thinking on social justice included not only his conviction that advancing the welfare and freedom of people in general is an important role for the state as well as of the individuals in noeiety, but also that this social enrichment could be achieved through the voluntary good behaviour of the citizens themselves, without being compelled through force. Ashoka spent a good bit of his life trying to promote good, spontaneous behaviour in people towards each other, and the inscriptions that he erected across the country were a part of this effort.*