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M. A. MEHENDALE
in the Jaipur State, Rüpnäth (ru) in the Madhya Pradesh, Maski (mk) and Kopba] (kpb) in the south Hyderabad State, and Yerragudi (yr) in the Kurnool district of the Andhra State, show the non-eastern influence in their language. Unlike the Mysore versions, these six versions are found at places far away from each other and hence they are not quite identical in their text and language. In the first instance we have to note that the Sahasräm version, which is in the east, was translated into the eastern dialect; the Bairat version is more or less in agreement with it and thus it shows the extent of the influence of the Magadhan dialect. The other versions on the other hand are more or less free from the eastern influence in Phonology and show adherence to the non-eastern forms. Since many of the important points as to what may be considered eastern and what non-eastern have been already discussed and the reasons why eastern features are found in the minor rock edict have been stated, these considerations will not be repeated here. The correspondences of the non-eastern forms occurring in the minor rock edict with those in the Niya Prakrit, the later Kharoşțhi inscriptions and the literary Prakrits have also been pointed out in the paper on the Mysore version referred to above. It will be sufficient in this paper here to show the regional distinctions which occur in the remaining versions of the minor rock edict. However, I have referred to in the foot-notes for the sake of comparison certain forms occurring in the Bhattiprolu inscription in which LUEDERS has observed a north-western characteristic."
One thing may be noted regarding the contents of the versions. While most of the versions end with the declaration that the edict was. issued while the king was on tour, and that he had been on tour for 256 nights, only the Mysore and the Yerragudi versions add to it some more matter describing what the king considered to be the dhammaguņā. Even with regard to this additional passage the Yerragudt version is more extensive than the Mysore version. Unfortunately the Yerragudi version is not well preserved and hence it has not been fully explained.
br-Brahmagiri version of the minor rock edict. sd-Siddapur version of the minor rock edict. MRE-The versions of the Minor Rock Edict.
8. Only the Gavimath and the Pälkigundu versions at Kopbal are near to each other and are identical in contents. The Pälkigundu version, however, is much damaged.
4. The s version shows only the following few non-eastern features which it has allowed to remain from the original draft. These are-diyadhiya, savachala, pavatave, and palakamamina which are discussed below.
5. On the basis of the distinction made in the sibilants and 8 in the Bhattiprōļu inscription, LUEDERS (Philologica Indica, p. 217), observes-Ich bin daher geneigt, den Dialekt von Bhattiprolu diesen Dialekten anzugliedern und in den Leuten, die den Stupa errichteten, Kolonisten aus dem Nordwestern zu sehen."
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