North Indian Inscriptions

THE SIDDAPURA EDICTS OF ASOKA.

has been preached :― “Both small men and great men shall exert themselves to this (end),”[8] and even my neighbours [9] shall know it, and this exertion shall be of long duration. And this matter will grow, and it will even grow largely, at the least it will grow one size and a half. And this sermon has been preached by the Departed, 256 [10] (years ago).”

Second Edict.

......“Even thus [11] speaks the Beloved of the gods :― Obedience should be rendered to mother and father. Moreover, the respect for living creatures should be made firm,[12] the truth should be spoken. Even these virtues prescribed by the sacred law should be practised. Moreover, the pupil should honour his teacher, and towards blood-relations one should indeed [13] behave as is due to them. This is the ancient standard (of virtuous conduct), [14] this conduces to long life,[15] and this should thus be performed.”

......Written by Paḍa the scribe.

REMARKS.

......1. Possibly the termination te (tas) has here the sense of the locative, in accordance with the maxim of the Sanskṛit grammarians, declaring the affix tasi may serve to express any case-relation. If so, the translation has to be altered slightly. In addition to the parallel passages mentioned by Mr. Rice and M. Senart, the second line of the Nâsik inscription No. XI. B (Rep. Arch. Surv. West. India, p. 106) ought to be compared, where we read :― raño Gotamîputasa Sâtakaṇisa mahâdeviya cha jîvasutâtuya râjamâtuya vachanena Govadhane Sâmako âroga vatavo tato eva vatavo. Regarding the meaning of ayaputa see the introductory remarks.

......2. The second version has :― “The Beloved of the gods speaks thus.”

......3. Aḍhatiya is, in Sanskṛit, not ardhatṛitîya, as Mr. Childers asserts, but ardhatraya.

......4. Savachhara or saṁvachhara would have to be translated by ‘a year,’ but for the variæ lectiones of Sahasrâm,― saḍvachhale (formerly misread saviṁchhale), and of Rûpnâth, chhavachhare, which both correspond to the Sanskṛit shaḍvatsaram. Instead of saḍ (compare also saḍuvîsati, Pillar-Edicts I-VI.), sa or saṁ may, of course, be used, the following consonant being doubled ; compare sapanâla in the Sahasrâm Edict, and â-saṁ-mâsike, Pillar-Edict V.

......5. Upayîte, upayite, or up . te, i.e. upêtaḥ, is the reading of all the versions. Up . te is plain in the facsimile of the Rûpnâth version, where formerly I read wrongly papite. As Aśôka contrasts here the period yaṁ mayâ saṁghe upayîte with that when he was upâsake, ‘a lay- worshipper,’ it appears that the phrase means that he had entered Saṁgha, and had become, at least nominally, a monk ; compare the Sanskṛit phrases yajñam, vratam, or brahmacharyam upa-i. The Sanskṛit translation of the passage is : yan mayâ saṁgha upêtô bâḍhaṁ cha mayâ prakrântam. The prothesis of y in yîta for îta, i.e. ita, may be compared with that of v before u in vuchchati, vutta (upta), and so forth. It is common before ê in Marâṭhî words, e.g. yêk for êka, yêraṇḍa for êraṇḍa, etc.

......6. I do not think it either permissible or necessary to change, as M. Senart does, the word devehi, which occurs in two versions ; for the passage gives a good sense if devehi is taken as equivalent to dêvaiḥ saha, as certainly may be done. With this explanation, the transliteration into Sanskṛit would beֹ : Êtêna tu kâlênâmṛishâ santô manushyâ mṛishâ [kṛitâḥ] dêvaiḥ [saha]. The general meaning is that those men who were considered to be true, i.e. true prophets and instructors, like the ascetics and Brâhmaṇas teaching the Vaishṇavas, Śaivas, and other sects, were deprived of their high position by the efforts of Aśôka and lost the confidence of the people, and that their gods fell with them. The Rûpnâth Edict says, l. 2 :― Yi imâya kâlâya Jaṁbudipasi amisâ dêva husu te dâni masâ kaṭâ, and distinctly asserts the overthrow of the Brâhmaṇical deities. Here we have the very natural assertion that the prophets and teachers fell in the estimation of the people together with their gods. The question whether the Sahasrâm