Indian Antiquary Vol 47

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

Page 52

THE INDIAN ASTIQUARY
[ FEBRUARY, 1918
ASOKA NOTES, NO. XIJ. (No. XI appeared in Vol. XXXIX ante, for 1910, p. 64.)
BY VINCENT A. SMITH, M.A. (Oxon. )
Idontification of Tambaparani in the Rock Ediets. The name Tambapasini occurs twice in the Edicts, namely, in Rock Edict II. which asserts that 'curative arrangements were organized as far as Tambapamni': and in Rock Edict XIII, which descrilies the conquest by t). Law of Piety,' or morality as extending to the same limit. The name undoubtedly is that written in Sanskrit ** Tamraparni (Tâm braparni of Imp. Gazetteer), which is applied both to Ceylon and to a river which formerly fowed through the ancient Pandya kingdom and now traverses the Tinnevelly District. In the second edition of my Akoka (Oxford, 1909 ) I translated the name in both passages by “Ceylo:1, but am satisfied that I was mistaken, and that the reference in both cases is to the river, not to the island. Asoka meant that his medical institutions and Buddhist propaganda extended into the Pandya territory. The Rock Ediots, as is now well known, were published in or about 2.57 B.C. At that date the relations of the Indian emperor with Ceylon had not begun. They did not come into existence until several years later, soon after the accession of Tissa as king of Ceylon, which event, according to Wickramasinghe, may be dated in 253 B.C. The reign of Tissa, who, like Asoka, bore the title Devana piya, lasted, as that of Asoka did, for about forty years. (Ep. Zeylanica, 1, 81.) Consequently, it is impossible that he word Tambapa ini in the Edicts should refer to Ceylon.
The Arthaslistra of Kautilya or Chanakya, which was composed in the time of Asoka's yrandfather, and makes only one reference to Tamra parụi, certainly treats the name as meaning the river. Chapter 11 of Book I. in which the various kinds of gems are described, mentions the Tâmraparņika kind as being that which is produced in the Tâmraparņi. The commentator explains the meaning by the note, 'A river in the Panilya country. The river was famous as the seat of fisheries for both pearls and the chank shell (Turbinella rapa). The ancient port of Korkal, then on the bank of the river and on the sea-coast, was a place of extensive commerce and a centre of the gem trade. The gems, other than pearls, must have come chiefly from Ceylon, and the close commercial relations between the Pandya kingdom and the island may explain the transfer of the name Tâmra parni from the river on the mainland to (evlon. Prior to the accession of T'issa, in or about 253 B.C., Ceylon probably was known to India mainly as a place which supplied gems and spices to the mart on the Tamraparni, from which it was not distinguished.
The Ta mraparni river was and is still a stream of exceptional importance on its own account. although its course, windings included, measures only about seventy miles. The catchment area receives both the S.W. and N.E. monsoons, with the result that the river is in flood twice in the year and offers unique facilities for the irrigation of rice. Its valley is the wealthiest portion of the Tingevelly District. The river rises in the Potiyam or Potigai mountain, also called Agastya's Hill, the Potalaka of Hinen Tsang, 6800 feet high, which receives an annual rainfall of 300 inches, while the Tinnerelly plain receives only 25. The river is said to be mentioned in both the Aranya-parve of the
1 Real, II, 233 : Watters, II, 231.