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August, 1905.]
ABOKA'S ALLEGED MISSION TO PEGU.
181
This independent corroboration of three out of the nine missions mentioned in the list raises a strong presumption of the correctors of the whole, which must prevail unless refuted by cogent evidence.
Comparison with the express testimony of Abóka's Book Edicte V. and XIII. on the subject of missions discloses points of both agreement and disagreement between the inscriptions and the chronicles. The edicts do not name any of the missionaries, and in that respect they neither confirm nor contradict the testimony of the Ceylonese writers. The only personal names distinctly confirmed by independent evidence are those of Mahinda (Mahendra), and Majjhima (Madhyama). The occurrence of the name of Kassapa (Kabyapa) at Sanchi is not absolutely conclusive, as the identity of the person so named in the casket records is not proved.
The oountries to which missionaries were sent, according to the edicts, were as follows:
1. The inhabitants of the empire generally; 2. The border nations - Yðnas, Kambojas, Gandharas, Rashtrikas, Pitánikss, Andhras,
Pulindas, Nabhâtas (), Nabhapantis (1), and others unnamed ; 3. The forest tribes; 4. The southern independent kingdoms - Châļa, Pandya Satiyapatra, and Keralapatra ; 3. Ceylon; 6. The foreign states of the Greek (Tôna) king Antiochos, and of Ptolemy, Antigoncs,
Magas, and Alexander. So far as the entries Nos. 1, 2, 8, and 5 in this list are concerned, they accord with the testimony of the chroniolers; but the latter omit all reference to entry No. 4, the southern kingdoms in the Tamil and Malabar country, as well as to No. 6, the foreign Hellenistic kingdoms; while they include Suvannabhami (Sovanabhami), which is not mentioned in the edicts.
of course, if monuments of Asoka's age still exist in Burma, that fact would outweigh the silence of the ediots, and would establish the testimony of the Ceylonese chronicles. There is some weak evidence that such monuments are in existence, but it needs critical examination and either verification or disproof. Mr. Taw Sein-Ko states that the Shwemôktaw pagoda at Sagaing in the district of that name was built by Asoka, according to tradition, and has been renovated many times with new coverings. A similar tradition attaches to the Shwezadi pagoda in the Ruby Mines District, and the author observes that the shape and architecture of this building bespeak its ancient origin. He also recommends the archeological survey of Yazagyo and Inwegin in the Chindwin Valley for the reason that that region is "redolent with the traditions of the Maurya dynasty under whose ægis Buddhism became a world-wide missionary religion."
The information given in the above extracts is obviously too meagre to justify any positive inference; but, so far as I can judge, the traditions alluded to are of very slight historical value, and are probably mere echoes of the stories imported from Ceylon or India in ages long subsequent to Asoka. All the localities named, the Sagaing and Ruby Mines Districts, and the Chind win Valley, are in Upper Burma, and remote from the sea. They are distant some two hundred miles, more or less, from Akyab in Arakan, and about double that distance from Rangoon in Pegu. It appears incredible that Asoka's agents should have penetrated to Upper Burma, and that territory so difficult of access should have been included in the country of Savannabhůmi referred to by the Ceylonese chroniclers.
• The Satiyaputra and Kerala putra kingdoms are mentioned only in Rook Edict II., which denle chiefly with curative arrangemente', but we may reasonably suppose that missionaries also were sent to those countries, as well as drags and doctors.
1 Report on Archeological Work in Burma for the Year 1903-04, pp. 9, 30. • Ibid. for the year 1902-08, p. 2
