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264
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[AUGUST, 1891.
used by the Dhammapada with a certain amount of insistence, for instance in verses 212-216:
Piyatô jayatî sôkô piyatô jayati bhayam
piyatô vippamuttassa natthi soko kutô bhayam; etc... or again in verse 336 :
Yô vê tam sahati jammim tanhaṁ lôkê durachchayam sôka tamhâ papatanti udabindu va pôkkhara.
In verse 195, the Buddhas and the Srâvakas receive the epithet tingasskapariddava.
From this use of sóka is deduced the adjective asoka, as in verse 412: -
Yodha puññañ cha pâpañ cha ubhô samgam upachchagâ asôkam virajam suddhain tam aham brumi brâhmaņaṁ.
The word is again found in verse 28:
Pamâdam appamâdêna yada nudati panditô paññâрâsâdam âruyha asôkô sôkinim pajam pabbataṭṭhò va bhummaṭṭhê dhirô bâlê avêkkhati.
The same thought is expressed in verse 172:
Yô cha pubbê pamajjitva pachchhâ so nappamajjati so imam lokam pabhâsêti abbhâ muttô va chandima.
The last stanza but one contains six padas, which would lead one to suppose at first that there has been some interpolation; and, indeed, the middle double páda, - paññápásádam, &c., - could be suppressed without in any way altering the general sense; it would appear, moreover, to be wanting in the version which is reproduced by the Chinese translation. To tell the truth, it does not fit in well in meaning with the rest of the passage; we should at least expect a va or an iva. I cannot help thinking that this half-verse is an addition intended to explain and complete the general idea, by an allusion to our Aéôka-Piyadasi. Under these considerations, the use of pajs, which may signify the 'subjects' of the king, and the use of the rather rare metaphor, paññápásáda, the palace of wisdom,' take a new meaning. Although we are driven to admit that the half-verse in question is an addition, which did not originally form an integral portion of the stanza, I consider that it does not spoil the sense, and that perhaps the first author had, as à matter of fact, the allusion, which it expresses, in his mind's eye. The theory of a similar allusion in verse 172 explains well what would, under any other hypothesis, appear excessive and too emphatic in the words imam lokam pabháséti in this and in the following verse. I may add that the above seems to me to suggest, in regard to verses 212 ff., which have just been quoted, an analogous idea, and it may be asked whether in the first, which has served as a prototype for the others, the contrast between piya and soka has not similarly been inspired by a pun on the double name of Piyadasi and Asôka.
These passages are scattered almost throughout the work. Each confirms the other, and I think it may be inferred that the general composition of the book, I do not say its definite taking of shape, or, in any case, its form as we have it now, goes back to a time not far from that of Piyadasi, to an epoch when his memory was yet alive. This is not the place to seek if we can discover other grounds of a nature to confirm those which we have just suggested, and it will be sufficient to point out that, for entirely different reasons, it has been generally considered that the Dhammapada is one of the most ancient Buddhist texts.100 At the same time I do not presume to attribute to the hypothesis which I have been led to suggest, either more certainty, or more importance, than is due to it.
To return to my general conclusions regarding the Buddhism of Piyadasi: - In my opinion, our monuments are witnesses of a stage of Buddhism sensibly different from that to which 100 Cf. Fausböll, pref. pp. VI. and ff.
Cf. Beal, Dhammapada, p. 70.
