Indian Antiquary Vol 42

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

Page 168

160
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1913
this same king, Devânâmpiya Piyadasi, when he was ten-years-anointei: (but) the Tranquil One went to true knowledge': therefore there is now this touring for dhamma". I submit my interpretation of the passage so that the scholars may take it for what it is worth. The knotty expression with which we are concerned is, aydya sambodhin. The natural meaning of it is * went to Sanibodhi" and not a set out for sambodhi" as contended by Messrs. Senart, Bühler and Rhys Davids. The words we have in the text are ayáya and not patthito. Now the question arises : in what sense is the word sabodhi to be taken here? Is it to be understood in the sense of "perfect intelligence" as done by all scholars ? As pointed out by M. Senart, it is impossible to credit Asoka with pretending to have attained to perfect intelligence. This meaning must, therefore, be rejected. It is worthy of note, that, while the Girnar recension has aydya the Shahbâzgarhi and Mansberâ texts give nikrami and the Kalsf nikami[th]a. This root nishkram, which always has a physical signification, precludes us from taking sanbodhi in the above sense; in other words, sanbodhi nish-kram cannot mean " attain to perfect intelligence". Sanbo lhi must, therefore, denote something with reference to which the physical action of going is possible. The conclusion is thus irresistible that the term here refers to the place where Buddha attained to true knowledge. If any instance is needed of the word bodhi or sambodhi having been employed in this sense, it is furnished by the following passage from the Divyáradána.
Yavad rajñ= Açokena jatau bodhau dharmachakre parinirvane ekaika-sata-sahasraan dattan tasya bodhau viséshataḥ prasáda(o) játa iha Bhagavat=dnutlard samyak-sashbodhir = abhi savibuddh=eti sa yani visesha-yuktani ratndni tani bodhin preshayati, etc., etc.
I have no doubt that the word bodhi is in this passage employed in the sense of," the word place where the Buddha attained to perfect intelligence". It may, perhaps, be argued that the word bodhi does not here denote the place where, but the date when, Buddhs obtained perfect knowledge. But that this is not the sense here intended is shown by the words bodhin preshayali where the word cannot possibly have that sense. The word sha occurring in the extract siinilarly points to a place and not to a date. It may, however, be argued that bothi here means the bodhi tree. This sense also can suit the passage of the edict, though it does not seem to be intended in the passage of the Divyava ldna. For it jali denotes the place where Buddha was born, bodhi must necessarily denote the place where he acquired true knowledge.
I have said, above, that bodhi or saubodhi, in the sense of the Bo troe, can also fit the passage of our Rock Edict. That this word has this signification is clear from Childers' Dictionary of the Pali Linguage. A slightly grander term is mahdbodhi, which is an almost exact equivalent of Sanbodhi. It occurs in the name Mahdbodhi-vainsa of a well-known Pali work, published by the Pali Text Society. Mahabodhin gam is an expression which is frequently met with in this book ; e. g., on p. 130, we have tajn kchanan yeva Bardnasi-raja hiniya Brahmadatta-rdjána adáyu mahabodhim upagantvd, etc., etc. .
Whichever sense of the word bodhi or sanbodhi is taken, the purport of the edict in question is clear. It tolls us that Asoka's religious touring commeaced with his visit to Bodhi. Of the four places connected with Buddbs, that where he obtained enlightenment is considered as most important by the Buddhists. The Divydvadanı also, as will be seen from the extract cited above, says that Aska attashed far more value to Bodhi than to anything else, and consequently gives a longer and much more glowing description of his visit there. It speaks of the religious benefactions made by him and also of the interviews he had with sthaviras, exactly as the Rock Edict tells us.
XVII.-Was Devagapta another name of Chandragupta II P On pp. 214-15 of this Journal for the last year, Prof. Pathak has given & snmmary of a Vákaçaka copper-plate grant which is in his possession. Therein Prabhavati, motber of the