Indian Antiquary Vol 42

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

Page 267

OCTOBER, 1913]
EPIGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUESTIONS
EPIGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUESTIONS. BY D. B. BHANDARKAR, M. A.; POONA. (Continued from Vol. XLII. p. 168.) XIX.-Aboka's Rock Edict I. Be considered.
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Eleven years ago I contributed a note to the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society on Asoka's Rock Edict I., and therein showed what the true sense of the word samaja was and why it was that the Buddhist monarch spoke of it in an edict connected with the preservation of life. I am glad to find that my view has now been generally accepted. I have, however, since I wrote last about it, found many more references to samaja, which are interesting and which throw light, in particular, on the passage asti pi chu ekacha samájá sádhumata Devanam-priyasa Priyadasino, which I then was not fully able to comprehend. The last portion of the edict wherein he makes mention of hundreds of thousands of animals slaughtered every day in his royal kitchen was also not quite clear. I, therefore, make no excuse for considering this edict again, and, above all, making a somewhat detailed discussion about the word samája.
I have in my last article on the subject cited a passage from the Harivamia, which represents Krishna to have held in honour of the god Bilvodakeśvara a samdia, which "abounded in a hundred (varieties) of meat and curry, was full of diverse (kinds) of food, and surcharged with condiments." Samaja was thus a public feast where meat formed one of the principal articles of food served. This is one sense of the term, and doubtless shows why Aśoka took objection to such a kind of samaja. But there is another sense of the word which indicates that there was a second kind of samaja where no animal life was sacrificed and which could not consequently have been disapproved by him. No less than three descriptions of such samajas I have been able to trace in the Brahmanic literature. One of these has been set forth in the Harivamhéa in verses 4528-4538 and 4642-4658. This samaja was called by Kamsa in order that his people might witness a wrestling match between Krishna and Balarama on the one hand and Chânûra and Mushțika on the other. Here the word samája is used synonymously with ranga and prekshágára, and appears to be a building erected by Kamsa for permanent use for entertaining his subjects by the exhibition of public spectacles. The building was at least two-storeyed and divided into a number of compartments with passages running inside. They all faced the east, and were provided each with manchas which were arranged in raised tiers one behind the other. Some of these compartments were specially reserved for the various guilds (ren) and classes (gana), which on festive occasions decorated them with banners indicative of their profession. The prostitutes had also their own manchas separately. But ladies of the harem were accommodated in the compartments of the upper storey, some of which were furnished with minute lattice windows (súkshma-jala) and others with curtains (javanika). The golden paryankas and the principal seats were covered with painted cloths (kutha) and flowers. Drinking pitchers were fixed into the ground at due intervals, and fruits, stimulants (avadakia) and ungents (kashaya) were provided for. A not forgettable feature of the samaja was the offering of bali, which has been twice mentioned in this account.
A second description of samdia is contained in the Mahabharata, Adiparvan, chap. 184 and ff. When Drona made the young Kaurava and Pandava princes conversant with the science of arms, he informed Dhritarashtra of it, who thereupon ordered Vidura to have a public exhibition made
1 Vol. XXI., p. 392 fr.
Smith's Asoke (nd edition), p. 156, note; Early History of India, p. 165, note 3; Hultscoh in Jour. R. As. Boe, for 1911, p. 785.
Mofcha no doubt corresponds to the Hindi mamcha or Gujarati maohs, and denotes a kind of stool or chair Paryanka was only an elaborate kind of mañcha.