Epigraphia Indica Vol 33

SR No.: 032587
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 514
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 29 MB

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336
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXIII
Akoka's Minor Rock Edicts I-II were issued earlier than his Fourteen Rock Edicts. They were promulgated when Asöka had passed the 256th night of a long tour undertaken for the propagation of Dharma.Minor Rock Edict I states that, at the time of its issue, Asoka had already been an upăsaka (i.e., a lay follower of the Buddha) for a little over two years and a half and that, out of this period of a little over two years and a half, he had not been zealous in respect of Dharma for one year at the beginning, but that, as a result of his close contact with the Sangha or Buddhist church, he became a zealous propagator of Dharma thereafter for a little over one year. To this period of zealous activity must be assigned the emperor's pilgrimage to Sambodhi (i.e., Mahābodhi or Bodhgayā) undertaken, according to Rock Edict VIII, in the tenth year after his coronation (i.e., in the eleventh regnal year), and the creation of the posts of the Dharma-Mahämätras in the thirteenth year after coronation (i.e., in the fourteenth regnal year), which is referred to in Rock Edict V. The pilgrimage to Sambodhi, the holiest of the Buddhist tirthas where the Buddha attained enlightenment, may be regarded as one of the earliest acts of the active period of Ašāka's religious life, to which Minor Rock Edict I pointedly refers. Pillar Edict VI, issued in the twentysixth year after Asöka's coronation (i.e., in the twentyseventh regnal year), states that he issued (i.e., first issued or began to issue) Dharma-lipis, i.e., edicts relating to the Dharma he preached, in the twelfth year after his coronation (i.e., in the thirteenth regnal year). Rock Edict III contains an order of Asoka asking certain classes of his officers to set out on tour once in every five years for the propagation of his Dharma in addition to their normal duties, and this order was promulgated in the twelfth year after coronation, i.e., in the thirteenth regnal year. Rock Edict VI is stated to have been caused to be written down in the same year. These activities of the thirteenth regnal year of Asöka must likewise be attributed to the period when he was a zealous propagator of Dharma.
On the basis of these facts, we suggested elsewhere (1) that Asöka became a Buddhist in the second half of his tenth regnal year (i.e., nine years after his coronation, c. 260-259 B.C.), (2) that he came into close contact with the Buddhist Church, became a zealous worker in the cause of Dharma and undertook a pilgrimage to Sambodhi, in the second half of the eleventh regnal year (i.e., ten years after coronation, c. 259-258 B.C.), (3) that he set out on a tour for the propagation of Dharma about the middle of his twelfth regnal year (i.e., eleven years after coronation, c. 258-257 B.C.), and (4) that Minor Rock Edicts I-II were issued in the course of that tour in the first half of his thirteenth regnal year (i.e., twelve years after coronation, c. 257-256 B.C.).
The Shar-i-Kuna edict now coroborates the suggestion that Asoka became an active propagator of Dharma ten years after his coronation, i.e., in his eleventh regnal year, and sets at rest certain unwarranted speculations about the duration of Asoka's upāsakatua when Minor Rock Edict I was issued. The nature of the Shar-i-Kuna edict is similar to that of Minor Rock Edicts I-II and both the former and the latter appear to have been issued in the same year and may be counted among the earliest edicts issued by Abāka.
As indicated above, the imperial order contained in Rock Edict III was issued and Rock Edict IV was caused to be written down in the thirteenth regnal year of Asoka. But Rock Edict V, belonging to the set of the Fourteen Rock Edicts including Rock Edicts III and IV, contains & reference to the creation of the posts of Dharma-Mahāmätras in the following year.
1 Cf. Ancient India, No. 4, pp. 18-19; my Maski Inscription of Addka, p. 25, notel; above, Vol. XXXII, p. 3. *Cf. Maski Inscription of Asoka, pp. 29-30.
. For the meaning of the words upēla, upayāta and upagati used in indicating Asoka's relation with the Sangha, seo ibid., p. 24 ; above, Vol. XXXII, p. 9, note 1.
. This is quite obvious from the language of the different versions of Minor Rock Edict I (see Marki Inscription of Asöka, pp. 23-25) and is now corroborated by the evidence of the Shar-i-Kuna edict.
Ibid., p. 25. Ibid., pp. 23 ff., 29-30.