Epigraphia Indica Vol 05

SR No.: 032559
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: E Hultzsch
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 458
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 17

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. V.
Progress Report of 1895-96. According to an article in the Calcutta Englishman of June 1st and extracts in the Journal of the Mahabolhi Society, Vol. V. pp. 82 and 83, Dr. L. Waddell made the same discovery in 1896, published it in the Englishman, and applied for permission to proceed to Nepal.
As regards Asôka's history, the two edicts inform us that in the twenty-first year of his reign he went on a pilgrimage to the sacred places of the Buddhists situated in the extreme north. Very probably he visited on this occasion, as the legend in the Divyavaddna, p. 386 ff. (Cowell and Neil), asserts, not only the Stûpa of Kônákamans and the Lumbini garden, but also further east the site of Buddha's Nirvana and Råmagrima, and further West Kapilavasta, the Stapas of Krakuchchhanda and the old town of Sravastî, in several of which localities, pillars with his inscriptions were extant in Hiuen Tsiang's times. The Archæological exploration of the Nepalese Terai will bring certainty on this point. Asoka's route from Påtaliputra iowards the Terai is perhaps marked by the series of pillars extending from Bakhra near Vaibali through Radhia and Mathis to Râmpûrva in the Champêran district, most of which were later on inscribed with the so-called pillar odicts. The fact that Asoka undertook such a journey may be interpreted as indicating that he was at the time a believing Buddhist. But it may also be looked upon as one of the dharmayatds which, as the eighth rook-edict says, he undertook regularly since the eleventh year of his reign in order to obtain enlightenment.
The two edits tend also to show that the Nepal Terai formed part of Acoka's dominions. This is indisputable if the Paderia inscription declares that the king remitted the taxes of the village of Lummini. But even the mere fact that Asoka planted his pillars all over the Terai favours the view that it was subjeet to his rule.
TEXT OF THE PADERIA EDICT. 1 Devana-piyena Piyadasina &jina-visativasábhisitena 2 atana-Agacha mahigite hida-Budhe-jate Sakyamuni-ti 8 sild-vigadabhl-chA kAlApita siláthabhe-cha u sapåpite 4 hida-Bhagavam-jâte-ti
Lumminigame
ubalike-kate 5 athabhagiye-cha [ll]
TRANSLATION. King Piyadasi, beloved of the gods, having been anointed twonty years, came [1] himself and worshipped (2), saying (3): “Here Buddha śAkyamuni was born. And he caused to be made a stone (slab) bearing a big sun (P)[4]; and he caused a stone pillar to be erected (5). Because here the worshipful one was born, the village of Lummini has been made free of taxes and a recipient of wealth [6].
REMARKS. 1. Agacha stands for Pali dgachcha, Sanskrit agatya, and shows the substitution, frequent in the Prakrits, of a single consonant for a double one as well as the then necessary lengthening of a preceding short vowel.
2. Mahiyite stands for mahiyitam. The construction is the bhdvé prayoga, and the literal translation : "it has been worshipped," or "worship has been performed." The verb mahiy in the sense of to worship oucurs also in Sanskrit; see the larger St. Petersburg Dictionary, 3. v.
The words connected by hyphens are written continuously in the text. • The figures within orotebeta refer to the remarks given below.