Epigraphia Indica Vol 34

Author(s): D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 25

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXXIV
3 wbkl 'rq' r'mshty w'p zy znh bm'kl' Imr'n mlk' z'yr 4 qtln znh lmhzh klam ’nshn 'thủsynn 'zy nwny' hdn 5 'lk ’nghn ptyzbt knm zy prbst hwyn 'lk 'thủsynn mn 6 prosty whwptysty I'mwhy wl'bwhy wlmzyshty' nghn 7 'yk 'sthy hlqwt' wl' 'yty dyn' Iklhm' 'nshy' hsyn 8 anh hwtyr lklhm nghn wwep yhwrt.
TRANSLATION
(Line 1) Ten years having elapsed (?), it happened (?) that our Lord Priyadarsi, the King, became the institutor of Truth.
(Line 2) Since then, evil diminished among all men, and all misfortunes (?) he caused to disappear;
(Line 3) and upon all the earth (there are) peace (and) joy. And further more, (there is) this about food : for our Lord, the king,
(Line 4) a few (animals) are killed ; seeing this, all the men ceased (killing animals), even (?) those who catch fish (i.e. the fishermen);
(Line 5) these men are subject to prohibition. Similarly, those who were without restraint have ceased
(Line 6) to be without restraint. And there reigns) obedience to one's mother and to one's father and to old people
(Line 7) according to the obligations set on every one by fortume. And there is no Judgement for all pious men.
(Line 8) This (i.e. the practice of the Law) has been profitable for all men and shall be still profitable.
Both the Greek and Aramaic texts are clearly free translations of some instruction on Dhamma sent from Pătaliputra to the local authorities on behalf of the king. They are not word-for-word translations of any of the edicts of Asoka so far discovered. As Prof. Lamotte has pointed out, they belong to the class of texts referred to in Rock Edict XIV as samkhitena lekhāpiti, 'caused to be written concisely'. But they truly preserve the aims of Asoka's Dharma-lipis and are close to Rock Edicts I and IV.
The dating de Greek version of the record refers to expired years and, according to the analogy of the dates in the Prakrit inscriptions of Asoka, the reckoning started from his abhiseka. The fact that the date in the Greek text under study unquestionably refers to expired and not current years is very important. The dates of Asoka's inscriptions do not indicate whether the years are current or expired. They are generally supposed to refer to expired years, though some scholars
1 From Prof. Dupont-Sommer's French translation * Op. cit., p. 704.