Crime and Punishment mind. Dostoevsky's letter to Katkov reveals his immediate inspiration, to which he remained faithful even after his original plan evolved into a much more ambitious creation: a desire to counteract what he regarded as nefarious consequences arising from the doctrines of Russian nihilism. In the novel, Dostoevsky pinpointed the dangers of both utilitarianism and rationalism, the main ideas of which inspired the radicals, continuing a fierce criticism he had already started with his "Notes from Underground". Dostoevsky utilized the characters, dialogue and narrative in "Crime and Punishment" to articulate an argument against westernizing ideas. He thus attacked a peculiar Russian
Religion and capital punishment that "the death penalty is necessary in certain cases to do justice to society's anger against the crime." An example of recent capital punishment in India includes Mohammad Afzal Guru, who was sentenced to death in 2013 after attacking the Indian Parliament in December 2001. Emperor Ashoka, who ruled during what is called "the golden age" of Hinduism, was one of the first rulers to completely outlaw the use of capital punishment. This was because of his large emphasis on ahimsa, or nonviolence. In Hinduism, the concept of ahimsa bans the killing of any living being, no matter how small.