________________
NOVEMBER, 1880.]
of inscriptions: the Fourteen Edicts of Girnår, Kapurdi-giri, Khâlsi, Dhauli, Jaugada, to which the Detached Edicts of Dhauli and Jaugada form a natural pendant; the Pillar Edicts at Dehli, Allahâbâd, Mathia and Radhia; the Detached Rock Edicts at Bhâbra, Sahasrâm, Rupnâth and Bairat. The commentary will be followed by a grammatical study and some historical remarks; an index of the words contained in the inscriptions will close the paper.
In all our texts, M. Senart points out, there appear examples, too numerous to be regarded as mistakes, of the equivalence of the long vowel and the vowel nasalized. It may suffice to give some examples from the first of the xiv edicts:
PIYADASI INSCRIPTIONS.
I. Kh. 1. 2: dosá for dosam.-K. 1.1: hidamloke (at Khâlsi hidd); nam-ná for na, like cha for cha; 1. 3: panam for paná pránáni.Dh. I. 4: tiimi for tini-trini; pancha for páchá, an equivalent form of pachchhá för paśchát. J. 1. 4: timni triņi.
II. Dh. amni for ani-yáni.-K. 1. 3: savatam for savatá sarvatra.
III. Kh. 1. 7: nikhamátu for nikhamamtu; 1. 8 cham for cha-cha.
IV. G. 1. 1: atikátai for atikantam-atikrántam; 1. 6 avihisd for avihinsa.-Kh. 1. 9: bábhana for banibhana-brahmana; 1. 12: titháto for tithamto.-Dh. 1. 12 and 15: bábhana for bambhana; 1. 17: tithata for tithamto.-K. 1. 8: dharmanusanthaya representing anusáthi for anusasti; 1.9: esam for esá.
V. G. 1. 3: atikátam, as above; 1. 4: dháma for dhamma-dharma; 1. 5: aparátá for aparamtá.-K. 1. 13: patividhanamye-pratividhánaya; savatam for savatá-sarvatra.-Dh. 1. 22, Kh. 1. 15, and K. 1. 13, we have bandhanambadhasa for bandhanabadhasa-bandhana+abaddhasya or bamdhand + baddhusya with the lengthening of the final a in composition so frequent here.
VI. G. 1. 1; atikútam.-Dh. 1. 31 and J. 1. 4, we read amnataliyam and amnamtaliyam for anamtaliyam, anamtariyam.-Dh. 1. 32: ammaniyam for ananiyam; 1. 33: palatam for palata= paratra; 1. 33: palakamátu parakramaitu. J. 1. 5: kammatalá corresponding to kahmatarash of the other versions.-Kh. 1. 17: uyanási for uyanamsi udyáne; 1. 20: amnaniyah and palatain as at Dhauli.-K. 1. 15: savata: 1. 16: namtaro for the usual nátaro-naptáraḥ.
VII. G. 1. 3: nichá for nicham.-Dh. 1. 1: sayamam samnyaman.
283
=
It is needless to extend this enumeration; these are enough to justify, without special proof, the equivalence of am and á, &c., wherever the grammar or the sense require it. It is not necessary to dwell here on the grammatical interest of this fact. It is to be compared with certain well known phenomena of the Prâkrit: the instrumental enam, for example, of the Jains, in this light, is only a particular instance cf a fact quite common in the cognate dialects the indifference of the final vowel. The same thing explains those examples in which it was thought that the sign of the anusvára might serve equally in the Aśoka alphabet to mark the redoubling of the following consonant; kimti ought not to be read kitti but rather kimti; only this form is equivalent to kiti, which itself, following the constant law of Prakrit phonetics, is equivalent to kitti-kirti.
3 P.-802.
We have just had palatam for paratra; we find also (K. vi. 16) the reading parata, and we have no right to deny the possibility of it; in a certain number of words am and u are interchanged and consequently equivalent. Here are the principal instances:
K. i, 1 samsamata which can only be explained as susamata.J. iv, 16: dusayitu is for damsayitu darśayitva.-Kh. v, 14, Dh. v, 23 and J. v, 24: supadalaye sampradarayet.-K. v, 13, without insisting on ayo ayam, but anamvetutu (or anuvetutu according to Wilson's facsimile) represents anuvartamtu.-Kh. vi, 19, mutehi is to be explained as representing maintraiḥ.-K. viii, 17: we have nikhamisham which can only be nikhamishu, as in 1. 22: humsan humsu for abhumsu; in the same 1. 17 is also found subodhi for sambodhi.-K. ix, 9: suyama for samnyama.-K. x, 21: dharmasamsusha dharmasuśruská.-K. x, 22: damkara corresponding to dukale of Khalsi.-Kh. xi, 30: we read kam for ku, that is to say khu khalu.G. xii, 7, has susamserd which is the 3rd per. plur. of the optative for sususeram.-Kh. xiv, 17, has sukhitena, corresponding to samkhitena of the other versions, i. e. samkshiptena.
=
This fact is important for the interpretation of many details: it is sufficiently established even if we admit that part of the instances given might arise from a material confusion
R
