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INTRODUCTION.
xxxvii
found the author's meaning in all cases; the Chinese is not easy; but in the main drift of the poem I have followed my text as faithfully and literally as possible. The concluding portion of the last section, as it seems to support the idea of only one Asoka, first fierce and then gentle, or religious, is, to say the least, a curious passage. But we may not attach too much weight to an isolated statement of this sort; there may have been reasons more than we know of why the orthodox tradition of the Dharma-Asoka, the patron of the Theravadi school, should have been ignored by a friend of Kanishka. But in any case the evidence is too slight to build upon; we can only say that in Asvaghosha's time it had become usual to put the Council of Påtaliputra out of sight, and to regard the Theravadi school as one opposed to the generally received traditions of the North.
I cannot conclude this Introduction without expressing my thanks to Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio, who kindly suggested emendations of my translation of some passages at the beginning of the work, and also to Professor Max Müller, to whom I am indebted for the restoration of many of the proper names that occur throughout the text.
S. BEAL.
THE RECTORY, WARK, NORTHUMBERLAND,
Feb. 4, 1883
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