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JULY, 1892.]
THE INSCKIPTIONS OF PIYADASI.
203
THE INSCRIPTIONS OF PIYADASI. BY E. SENART, MEMBRE DE L'INSTITUT DE FRANCE. Translated by G. A. Grierson, B.C.S., and revisel by the Author.
(Concluded from page 177).
CHAPTER V. THE LANGUAGE OF THE EDICTS, AND THE LINGUISTIC HISTORY
OF INDIA. It is not sufficient to consider the language of Piyadasi as an isolated subject. His monuments form only the first link in the chain of Indian epigraphical documents. The facts which they reveal cannot fail to throw light on the period following, and our conclusions, if they are correct, cannot fail to find a more or less direct verification in later facts. It is this order of ideas which I propose to consider in this concluding chapter.
PART I, THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE INSCRIPTIONS. The most urgent task is to establish, as exactly as possible, the chronological classification of the monuments with which we have now to deal. I do not propose to examine once more in detail the thorny problems which the chronology of India presents for the period which extends from Asoka to the kings of Valabhî : still less do I propose to bring forward here any original system of my own. These questions have been studied by such good judges, and have been replied to in so many different ways, that little room is left for new theories. I believe that the true solutions have been already indicated, and I intend simply to group dispersed elements together, and to connect them into a coherent whole, both by the consistency with which the principal dates fit into each other in one uninterrupted chain, and by the support lent to them by accessory considerations and coincidences.
Amongst the works which have thrown most light on a very obscure subject, Prof. Oldenberg's essay, leber die Dalirung der ältesten indischen Münz- uwl Inschriftenreiher, certainly holds the first place. It is, I believe, sufficient to combine his conclusions with certain results obtained by the labours of Messrs. Bühler, Bhagwanlal Indraji, Bhandarkar, and Fleet, I only mention the most recent publications, to obtain a chronological series, the main points of which appear to be firmly established.
With Prof. Oldenberg, I consider that the saka era starts from the coronation of Kanishka, and that it is in this era that the inscriptions of this king and of his Indo-Scythian successors are dated.2 With him, I consider that the era of the Guptas, which was also adopted by the kings of Valabhi, should be calculated, in accordance with the evidence of Alberûni, from the year 319 A. D., and that no sufficient reason exists for distarbing one of the rare positive traditions which we have the good fortune to possess.3
This being settled, it remains to determine the chronology of the Satraps of Surashtra and of the Andhrabhrityas. Here several synchronisms come to our help.
1 Zeitschr. für Numismatik, Vol. VIII. pp. 289 and ff. ? Prof. Max Müller holds the same opinion, India; What it can teach us, p. 291. 3 With regard to the era of the Guptas, I would refer the reader specially to Appendix A. of Prof. Bhandar.
of the Deckan. New arguments have been put forward quite recently, which have led Dr. Bühler to the same opinion (cf. Bühler, Ueber eine Inschrift des Königs Dharasena IV von Valabhi, in the Sitzungsber. der Wiener Akademie, 1885, pp. 13 and f, of the reprint). (Since the above was published the admirable researcbes of Mr. Fleet, contained in the 3rd volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, have put an end to all debate regarding the era of the Guptas. It has not been necessary for me to modify my original text in consequence, for it maintains the accuracy of the fact, of which Mr. Fleet has proved the certainty: but I cannot deprive myself, en passant of the pleasure of rendering a grateful tribute to the fertile labours of this skilful epigraphist. ]
