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246
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1905.
VII.
The meaning of chikichhs in the same ediot; and revised
translation of the edict.
Aboks declares that he provided two kinds of chikichha - namely, chikichha for men and chikichha for animals in the various countries to which bis beneficence was directed. Interpreters differ in their translations of the term thus emphasized. Before discussing the rival renderings it is desirable first to exhibit the variant readings of the text, which are as follows:
1. Girnår-Priyadasino rdño dve chikichha katd manusa chikichhd cha pasuchik chha
cha: 2. Shahbâzgarhi - Priyadraśisa raño duvi 2 (chiki]sa ki[£ra] manuka(chiki]sa.
pasu[chiki]sa cha: 3. Mansêra – Priya[dra]óisa rajine duve ? chikisa kata manusachi kisa cha) patu
chikisa cha: 4. Kalsi - Piyadasisd lajine dute chikisakú kad manusachikisa-cha pasuchikidd-chú: 5. Dbaoli - Piyadasino ..... cha ....... 8dchikisa cha pasuchikisa cha:
6. Jaugada - Piyadasind läji_ ikiod cha pasuchikisa cha.& The word under oonsideration thus appears in three dialectio forms-chilohha. chikisa, and chikisaka - all equivalent to one or other of the Sanskrit words chikitsd and chikitsaka.
Four translations have been published by competent scholars.
Professor Kern translates : The system of caring for the sick, both of men and cattle, followed by King Devinâmpriya Priyadarsin, has been everywhere brought into practice.'
M. Senart renders: - Partout le roi Piyadasi, cher aux Devas, & répandu des remèdes de deux sortes, remèdes pour les hommes, remèdes pour les animaux. In my book I followed M. Senart's authority, and wrote, Everywhere, on bebalf of His Majesty King Priyadarsin, have two kinds of remedies been disseminated - remedies for men, and remedies for beasts.'
Bühler, influenced perhaps by the tradition of earlier scholars, boldly translated :Everywhere King Priyadarsin, beloved of the gods, has founded two kinds of hospitals, both hospitals for men and hospitals for animals.'
Chilichha (with its variants), therefore, means, according to Professor Kern, system of caring for the sick '; according to M. Senart, remedios,' and, according to Bühler, 'hospitals.'
Y.D. B. Bhandarkar (loc. cit.) objeots to the renderings of both M. Senart and Bühler. "If we onrefully attend to the contents of this edict," he observes, "it cannot fail to strike
as that, when Piyadasi says that he has established two kinds of chikichha, he makes only "a general statement, of which the works of charity he mentions further on are particular "instances. If so, the word ohikichhd must be interpreted in such a way as to go naturally " with planting trees, raising orchards, digging wells, and such other charitable works which “Pivadasi has instituted. But if we hold with Dr. Bühler that the word means a hospital,' or " with M. Senart that it signifies remedies,' that we shall have to suppose that this edict * simply sets forth a congeries of facts thoroughly unconnected with one another. I, therefore, " propose to take ohikiohha in the sense of provision,' or provident arrangement.' "If this sense is adopted, the word chikichhd goes with all the charitable acts specified by
• The transliteration is that of Bühler.
