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296
THE INDIAN ANTIQUART.
[MAY, 1903.
It is impossible not to perceive the very close resemblance between this procedure and the ancient judicial system of Vaisali, and it is difficult to believe that the two systems have not a common origin.
Farther information about tho Tibetan criminal law will be found in Mr. Rockhill's excellent article on "Tibet from Chinese Sources" (J. R. A. S., 1891, pp. 216-218).
A CHINESE ASOKA.
BY VINCENT A. SMITH, M.A., I.C.S. (Red.). In the first Minor Rock Edict, of which versions, more or less complete, exist at Rūpnath, Sahasrâm, Bairat, and Siddapura, Aboka says:
"For more than two years and a half I was a lay-disciple without exerting myself strenuously. A period of six years, or rather more than six years, has elapsed since I joined the Order, and have strenuously exerted myself, and during this time the men who were, all over India, regarded as true, have been, with their gods, shown to be untrue,"1
When recently discussing this passage (Ashka, p. 19) the only parallel to the monk. emperor which I could cite was that of the Jain prince, Kumara pala Chaulukya, mentioned by Bühler. But I have since learned of the existence of a much more closely parallel case in China.
In his charming work on Chinese Literature, Professor Giles writes (p. 138):
“The original name of a striking character who, in A. D. 502, placed himself upon the throne as first Emperor of the Liang dynasty, Was Hsiao Yen.
"He was a devont Buddhist, living upon priestly fare and taking only one meal a day; and on two occasions, in 527 and 529, he actually adopted the priestly garb. He also wrote * Buddhist ritual in ten books. Interpreting the Buddhist commandment Thou shalt not kill,' in its striotest sense, he caused the sacrificial victims to be made of dough. *The following short poem is from his pen :
Trees grow, not alike, by the mound and the moat; Birds sing in the forest with varying note; Of the fish in the river some dive and some float. The mountains rise high and the waters sink low,
But the why and the wherefore we never can know.'" Some scholars have felt a difficulty in believing that a reigning emperor could become a monk without abdicating his temporal power. With reference to the imperfectly parallel case of Kumirapêla, I argued that, like him, Asoka probably "undertook vows of imperfect and limited obligation. It is also possible that he once, or several times, adopted the practices of a Baddhist mendicant friar for a few days at a time, during which periods of retreat his ministers would have administered the kingdom. The Buddhist ceremony of ordination (upasampadł). does not convey indelible orders, or involve a life-long vow. Both in Burma and Ceylon men commonly enter the Order temporarily, and after a time resume civil life. Asoka conld have done the same, and a proceeding which is easy for an ordinary man is donbly easy for an emperor. A formal compliance with the rules reqniring the monk to beg his bread could have been arranged for withoat difficulty within the precincts of the palace."
The Chinese case, in which the actaal facts are recorded, establishes the validity of these observations, and should finally remove the doubts of the "nost seeptical concerning the propriety of the literal interpretation of Asoka's distinct and categorical statement that he joined the Order.
1 From the Brahmagiri-Siddapura text, ad. Bühler, in 8. I., VOL III. p. 141. The words sarughe upayfte can only mean joined the Order.'
· Heinemann, 1901.
