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attempted with the exception of an incomplete one given by Prinsep.
In this edict, King Aśoka, in the eighth year of his reign, expressed his mingled feelings of sorrow and joy, sorrow at the bloodshed of a hundred thousand of his warriors and of an equal number of those of his opponents in the battlefield, and of joy at the glorious victory he achieved in religious matters in his newlyconquered kingdom of Kalinga. He valued his achievement of religious success more than his political victory. He mentions with the great
est satisfaction that Antioko, the Yavana king, who resided in a far-off country, lying at a distance of 800 yojanas, and his four tributary kings, as well as other kings of surrounding Indian countries, followed the precepts of his religion.
The two separate edicts in the Ja ug ad â and Dhauli inscriptions also have not been correctly translated as yet, and the translations of other edicts are incomplete.
I give below, as an example, a transcript and
translation of the first edict. This transcript was made by me after a careful personal examination of texts on their respective spots.
I think it proper here to draw attention to an important fact in Indian Palmography, which we obtain from the Girnâr inscription, in regard to the compound letters, more especially those compounded with ra. It must be observed that the Indian alphabet is first presented to us in the Girnår inscription and among the Asoka records. In it the letter ra is always represented with a zigzag or wavy vertical line thus and when any other letter is joined with it, this is done by giving a zigzag
tra
form to the straight line of the said letter, as we see in the following instances:kra in the word parakrama (edict vi, line 14). sarvatra (ed. ii, lines 3 & 6), and also in other places. prajuhitavyam (edict i, line 3). (edict iv, line 2). pratipati práni (edict i, line 9). priyo,priyadasi &c.,(ed. i, 1. i,&c.)
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pra " pro
prá pri
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"
11
13
"
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
..
[APRIL, 1881.
bra
pru in the word pruvam (edict iv, line 4). brahamana (ed. iv, lines 2 &6). vrachha (edict ii, line 8). (edict iv, line 1).
ora
Bra
sraman srd sahasráni From this it will be seen that this system of
(edict i, line 9).
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joining letters together is irregular and quite
distinct from that in use in the Western India Cave inscriptions, which are of a period subsequent to this. The system observed in later times was to join the letters according to the order of pronunciation. But this is not the case in the Girnår inscription. The method observed therein seems to be simply that of joining letters in the manner that seemed most convenient for the purpose without regard to the order of their succession in pronunciation. Thus we have rva and vra in the words sarvatra and vrachha written in the same way.
M. Senart has already pointed this out, ante vol. IX, p. 285; but the Pandit's discovery is quite independent, as he drew my attention to it some years ago, and had the materials of this paper then ready. Even the English MS. of this was sent to the press early in October last, bat owing to a press of other matter the printing of it has been
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"1
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Again, this want of system is not confined to the compound of other letters with ra, but prevails universally in all compound letters; as for instance, in writing vya in vyáptá and vyanjanato, it is put together thus, which in the usual way according to the later system would be read yva. This is also the case in respect to sta in the words tistanto and others. From these examples, however, it should not be inferred that the system has always inverted the order of the consonants; in several cases they are correctly combined as pta in the word vyaptá, sta in asti, and dva in dvddasa, &c.
This extraordinary mode of combining consonants leads us to think of two questions, viz.,
(1) whether it was owing to the alphabet being only newly introduced when the inscriptions were engraved, or (2) whether it was merely a mistake on the part of the writers. The latter, however, does not seem to be the cause, for we know that so important a task as that of engraving such religious edicts must have been entrusted as usual to some minister of religion, (Dharma Mahâmâtras,) by King A soka, and so it is highly improbable that such mistakes as these could have escaped his notice.
delayed. M. Senart and Pandit Bhagwanlal are thus independent discoverers, but M. Senart has had the priority in Iublication. The Pandit's facsimile of the first edict from Kapure-di-garhi is a most important addition to our know. ledge.-ED.
