Indian Antiquary Vol 18

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 14

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JANUARY, 1889.
its prototype in Sanskțit. Dr. Kern compares the Hindustani chahna, the meaning of which, 'to desire,'' to wish,' would be sufficiently suitable. But to explain directly, and without any intermediate form, an expression of the time of Asoka by Hindustani, is in itself so desperate an expedient, that it appears to me necessary to search once more in a less distant region. I have only a conjecture to offer. I should propose to take chagghati as an alteration of jagrati like pati-jaggati, which is so continually employed in the Buddhist language in the meaning of to take care,' to watch.' PAli presents more than one example of the hardening of a medial into a tenuis (cf. E. Kuhn, Beiträge zur Páli Gramm., p. 40; Trenckner, Páli Miscellany, 161 and ff.), and the other Průksits have even more instances. There are several in our inscriptions; I mention only one,-kubhá = guha.
Patichalati should be taken purely and simply as an equivalent of paricharati, only used in the classical language in the meaning, here very suitable, of 'to serve, to obey.' Examples of the substitution of prati for pari are not wanting in the Prakrit dialects. I cite only the Pali patipati for paripáti; and the Buddhist Sanskrit parijágrati, beside the Pâli pațijaggati(cf. Mahavastu, I. 435; of. also ibid., p. 396).
Dr. Kern, as well as Burnouf, corrects pulisáni into pulisánari, and makes it a genitive dependent on the substantive chhandarinani. The unanimity of the versions prohibits our considering a correction which is not so easy as it would seem at first, the regular form being pulisánari (1) and not pulisundin (D). It only remains for us to take pulisani as a nominative plural. So great is the confusion amongst the genders in all our texts, and the analogies in the history of the popular languages (I refer above all to Buddhist Sanskrit) are so numerous, that the use of a neuter termination with a masculine noun need not stop us for a moment. It is clear that the sense thas obtained is in every way satisfactory. Throughout the entire edict, the first thought of the king is visibly to connect all his officials directly with his personal action,-to cause his orders, his wishes, to reign everywhere and immediately. So it is here : The rajjúkas shall apply themselves to serve me, and (under their influence) the officials (designated generally under the term "men of the king") will follow my wishes and my orders.'
The parallel versions establish the true reading beyond a doubt to be chhardarinani, and not chhandanáni. There is therefore no need of thinking of a secondary derivative, equivalent in meaning to chhanda. Burnouf had already thought of taking pulisani as the masculine, and of analysing chhandannáni into chhandájía, but he would have made the two words accusatives and the second an epithet of the former. All this construction is irreconcilable with the meaning of patichalisanti. It is, on the contrary, very simple to recognise chhandavináni as a Dvandva, compounded of chhanda and ájñá, . will and order,' in the accusative case, dependent on patichalati.
There are, however, three syllables, the analysis of which it is necessary to correct. Hitherto chakáni has been considered as one word, the equivalent of the Sanskrit chakrám, (or, after correction, chaleránát) and attempts have in turn been made to translate it as a body of troops' and as a province. I have already (I. 161) had occasion to indicate that it is necessary to divide it into cha káni. I have shown the existence of an adverb káni in the language of Piyadasi; it depends on the evidence of the passagos in the vith. (1.6) and viith. (1. 18) edicts, where kedni is not as in our other examples, preceded by cha. As regards the meaning it remains somewhat undetermined, as indeed might be expected from its origin. The example of the vth. edict (1. 9) might suggest our attributing to it the meaning of 'in general,' 'in a general way'; but it seems to me to be on the, whole, safer, for the reasons given in the passage above referred to, to consider káni as almost equivalent to khalu, and the phrase cha káni to the phrase cha khu so commonly met with in this style.
Yéma, in the twelfth line, means in order that,' but this is not the only meaning which the word can have that of 'because' is not less common. If we adopt this latter meaning here (1.9), and refer té, as would be natural, to the pulisas,' we get a satisfactory explanation of the whole sentence. Let the rajjúkas conform to my views, and all my officers carry out my wishes. They also (the officers) will spread my religious teaching far and wide, if