Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 196

168
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
( SEPTIE, 1931
ATHABHAGIYE.
BY A. VENKATASUBBIAH. THIS word occurs in the Rummindei pillar inscription of Asoka (Ep. Indica, V, 4; Hultzsch's The Inscriptions of Asoka, p. 164) in lines 4-5 which read as
hida Bhagavam jále ti Lunmini-gdme ubalike kafe
atha-bhágiye ca It is said in these lines that the village Lumbin was made (by the king) ubalika and athabhágiya because the Lord (Buddha) was born there.
Of these two words, the meaning of ubalika is undisputed; it is the equivalent of Skt. udbalika and means 'tax-free. It also corresponds, as pointed out by Fleet (JRAS., 1908, p. 477), to Kannada umbali, ummali, umbalige, Tamil umbalikkai, and Telugu umbala, umbali, umbalike, all which mean 'tax-free land or village.'
About the meaning of atha-bhágiye, on the other hand, there has been much dispute. (1) It was looked upon as equivalent to Skt. artha-bhagya by Barth (Journal des Savants, 1877, p. 73, n. 2), Bühler (Ep. Ind., V, 5) and Neumann (ZDMG., 68, 721 ff.) and explained as 'partaking of riches,' the riches' being the hundred thousand gold pieces which, according to the Divyavadana (p. 390) Asoka spent at Lumbinivana. (2) Fleet regarded the word as equivalent to Skt. astabhagya and explained it (JRAS., 1908, p. 473 ff.) as 'entitled to an eighth share,' the eighth share being that referred to by Manu 7, 130 as leviable on grains. (3) In the opinion of Thomas (JRAS., 1914, p. 391 ff.), the word represents Skt. ardhabhagya and means 'paying half (of the usual amount to the royal treasury)'; while (4) in the opinion of Hultzsch (op. cit., p. 165) athabhágiye-Skt. astabhágika and means 'paying only an eighth share of the produce.' According to Hultzsch, bureaucracy triumphed against charity' and athabhagiye restricts the scope of the grant conveyed by the words Lammini-game ubalike kate ('the village Lumbini is made tax-free'), and imposes upon the village the obligation of paying an eighth share of the produce to the royal treasury.
These explanations do not seem to me to be satisfactory. (1) It is foreign to the stylo in which inscriptions are written to employ vague terms like 'partaking of riches. As a rule, the inscriptions state clearly the exact amount of money donated as a gift. Again, the gifts of money recorded in Indian inscriptions are made not indiscriminately to all men, but to priests only, that is, to Brahmanas, Jaina or Lingayat gurus or Buddhist bhikrus. The gift of 100,000 gold-pieces, therefore, stated in the Divyavadana as made by Asoka in the Lumbinivana must have been made to the Buddhist bhikṣus of some monastery established near by ; it can in no way be regarded as made to the freemen of the Lumbini village, and it would be incorrect to describe them as partakers of riches.' (2) Fleet's explanation too is unsatisfactory; for the eighth share of grains that he refers to is a tax payable to the king, and since the village is made ubalika, the freemen thereof will receive not only this tax but other taxes as well payable to the king, and the addition of the words afhabhágiye ca is, in the circumstances, meaningless and unnecessary. (3) Similarly, it is shown by the word ca after athabhágiye in the inscription that this word refers to the grant of something in addition to the freeing of taxes; and hence the explanations of Thomas and Hultzsch, according to which athabhágiye restricts the scope of the gift conveyed by the words Lummins-game ubalike kate are clearly untenable.
I propose therefore to make an attempt here to find out a more satisfactory explanation of that word.
As has already been indicated above, the king's making the Lumbini village tax-free means the grant by him of that village, that is, of the revenues derived from that village, payable to the king's treasury, to the freemen thereof. Such grants of tax-free villages are recorded in innumerable inscriptions of later times, and it is instructive in this connection to compare the wording of some of them with that of the Rummindei inscription. I shad