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WESTERN INFLUENCE ON THE MYSORE EDICTS OF ASOKA
5
on tour. In the Brahmagiri version we read (line 8) - iyan ca sāvane sāvāpite vyuthena And this proclamation was issued by me on tour."?
6. Similar statement is found also in the Rūpnāth, Sahasram, and Yerragudi versions of the minor rock edict.
7. HULTZSCH (op. cit. Corrigenda, p. 259), however, gives up the meaning 'tour' assigned to myustr and expresses his conviction that the word means 'having spent the night (in prayer)'. Accordingly he corrects his translation of thd relevant section (J) of the Sahasrām edict as follows -- And this proclamation (was issued) by (me after I had) spent the night (in prayer).' In support of this view HULTZSCH refers to the Baudhāyana Dharmasutra IV. 5.30 (also cf. KIELHORN JRAS 1904, 364f., FLEET JRAS 1911. 1106). It is not possible to enter here into a detailed discussion of the much-discussed word vyuşta. For our present purposes it is sufficient to note that vivāsā occurring in the Rūpnāth version is clearly connected with viy vas 'to stay away from home, to be on journey' as in prabodhayati mavijan vyusite sokakarsita 'She enlightens me, who am ignorant, and she is harrassed with grief when I am gone on journey.' (Bhāg. Pur. 4.28.20) or priyan priyeva vyusitam visarna *as the dejected beloved (longs ta see) her husband who has gone on journey (Bhāg. Pur. 6.11.26). Accordingly the section K of the Sahasrām version should be translated as 'For two hundred and fifty-six nights I have stayed away from home' and not as HULTZSCH suggests in his Corrigenda - Two hundred and fifty-six nights (had then been) spent (in prayer)." This translation is not possible also because in the minor edict itself (cf. Rūpnāth, sections B-D) Asoka says "Two and a half years and somewhat more (have passed) since I am openly a sākya. But (I had) not been zealous. But a year and somewhat more (has passed) since I have visited the Sangha and have been very zealous." Thus according to this statement Asoka had been 'very zealous' in his observance of morality for more than one year when he issued the minor rock edict. This statement would contradict with the new translation proposed by HULTZSCH which purports to say that Asoka had spent only 256 nights in prayer which is much less than a year. That Asoka missed some nights of prayer even during that period of more than one ycar when he was very zealous' would be difficult to believe. It is thus clear that vivāsā cannot mean spending nights in prayer'. It only shows that while issuing the edict Asoka was on tour. The purpose of mentioning 256 nights may have been just to give proof of the king's great zealousness by showing how long he had been away from home while he was on his religious tour (dhammayātā). For the view vyusta =tour cf. F. W. THOMAS IA 37.22 (1908), JA (10 ; 15.51718 (1910), JRAS 1916.117; also cf. K. A. Nilkantha SASTRI, Journal of the Ganganath Jha Research Institute 1.93ff. (1943). The same meaning is assigned to vyaşta by J. FILLIOZAT (JA 237. p. 148, 1949) and by J. BLOCH (Les Inscriptions d'Asoka, p. 149, and p. 150, f. n. 14). BLOCH's translation of the relevant passage runs as - Cette proclamation a été faite (respy. proclamée) après tournée; deux cent cinquante-six nuits ont été passée en tournée. The translation of vyuştena as 'après tournée' is not happy, because viv vas means to be on journey' and not to return froin journey'. Probably the expression was so translated because the author believed that the edict was issued by Asoka from his capital when he returned to it during the monsoon period after having spent 256 days outside his capital in pious tour. For a new interpretation of the no, 256, see the article of FILLIOZAT referred to above,
Madhu Vidyā/285
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