Indian Antiquary Vol 41

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 174

170
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1912.
EPIGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUESTIONS.
BY D. R. BHANDARKAR, M.A.; POONA.
(Continued from above, Vol. XL., p. 240.)
XII - Sahasram-Rüppath-Brahmagiri Edict of Asoka. THERE are two knotty passages in this edict which have for long been the subject of much discussion among scholars. Great interest in this matter has recently been awakened by two articles published in the Journal Asiatique. One of these is entitled "Les Vivasah d'Asoka" by Dr. F. W. Thomas (May-June, 1910, pp. 507-22) and the other “ Vyuthena 256" by M. Sylvain Lévi (1911, Part 1, pp. 119-26). I crave indulgence to lay my views before the scholars interested in Asoka's inscriptions.
I. The first pagsage is as follows, in accordance with the three recensions of this edict : Rūpnâth :-Ya imdya kalaya Javibudipasi amisá devá kusu te dani misa katá. Sahasram:-[Ellena anta) lena Jahbudipasi ammisain devd santa munisa-misain deva tara. Brahmagiri :--I mind chu kalena amisd samdnd munisa Jambudi pa si misd derehi.
The words misd and amisá occurring in these sentences had so long been taken to be equivalent to the Sanskrit mrisha and amrisha. But M. Sylvain Lévi has now shown that they stand for misrah and amisráh. The Pâli form of msisha would be musd and not misa. And secondly in the Sahasrâm recension we have the forms anmisam aud misas, which can correspond only to amisram and migram, and never to mrisha. Again, munisa-misan of the Sahasram text is a compound which can only be dissolved as manushyaiḥ miśran. Mrishd bas absolutely nothing to do here with misaa. It is also now agreed by most scholars that the words derd and munisa are to be taken in their usual sense of gods' and 'men.' So the question now arises : what can be the actual meaning of the three sentences ? Asoka says that for more than two years and a hali he was a lay-follower, and did not exert himself strenuously, but for more than a year that lie was in the Sangha he did exert himself strenuously. And what was the result? The result was that the gods who were so longʻunmixed with men were mixed with them. He, therefore, advises the people to put forth strenuous exertion. This will, he says, enable even a lowly person to attain the great heaven. Thus the fruit of exertion is expressed in two different phrases: (1) by the commingling of men and gods and (2) by the attainment of heaven (svarga). The two things are thus identical, and consequently the first phrase must be interpreted in the light of the second. What, therefore, the first passage in my opinion means is something like this. Asoka has explained to his people what dhamma is. The performance of dhanma leads to punya (spiritual merit), and the accumulation of punya to the attainment of heaven. Gods were formerly aloof from men and men from gods, because there were no men who had hoarded so much of punya as to vie with them. But now through the teachings of Asoka men have become so much punyavat and consequently such equals of gods that the old gull no longer existed between them and they have become one another's associates. But this punya (and through it svarga) can be secured only through parákrama (strenuous exertion). And hence it is that he exhorts men to exert themselves strenuonsly. That the performance of punya leads to the attainment of heaven was formerly as it is now the accepted belief of all sects, (compare, e. g. Te tai bhuktvá svarga-lokan viádla kshine punye martya-loke visanti-Bhagava l-gita, Chap. IX. v. 21; and also the words of the Buddba sache leho pan' a88a epain ditthi hoti: imind 'hain silena vd vatena va tapena vd bhahmachariyena a dero rd bhavissámi devaññataro rd, &c. occurring in the Majjhima-nikaya, sutta 57). This idea is also not foreign to the inscriptions of Asoka, as we shall shortly see.
In order to understand this edict better, it is necessary to compare it with Rock Edict X.. a passage from which is as follows:
Yaih tu kishchi pardkarate Devlnam (priyo) Priyadasi rajd ta savam paralrikdya [:] kinti [?] sakale apaparisrave asa.
1 I am sorry to say that not knowing French I have not the good fortune of knowing the views of these scholars first-hand.