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6
M. A. MEHENDALE
(2) In the third major rock edict the king records that he has ordered his officers to go on tours every five years to carry out state business and to instruct the people in morality. The details about the instruction in morality to be given to the people as mentioned in this edict viz. obedience to the parents, liberality to friends and relatives, abstention from killing animals, etc., are practically the same as those mentioned in the additional portion of the edict as represented in the Mysore versions. The similarity of this instruction contained in the Mysore versions with the one mentioned above which the officers were expected to give while on tour leads one to believe that the instruction contained in the minor rock edict was also the one which the king himself gave on tour and which he asked to be recorded for the benefit of his officers.
(3) In the eighth major rock edict we are told that Asoka took pleasure in undertaking tours of morality since he was anointed ten years. Among the things done on such tours of morality were instructing the people in morality and enquiring with them about morality. Once in such enquiries the king seems to have found out that there was a misunderstanding prevailing among his subjects, especially among those who were away from the capital, as regards the people who could acquire heaven. These people believed that only those that were highly placed, and not others, were able to attain heaven as a fruit of religious merit. It is true the king had stated in his tenth rock edict that "It is indeed difficult either for a lowly person or for a high one to accomplish this (i.e. religious merit) without great zeal (and without) laying aside every (other aim). This is indeed difficult to accomplish for a high (person)." The misunderstanding, therefore, seems to have arisen because in this edict the king has only emphasized how difficult it is to obtain religious merit; and a reference to the highly placed persons alone in the end seems to have left the impression that this difficult task was well-nigh impossible for the lowly persons. In order to remove this serious misunderstanding which he came to know while on religious
8. The translation of the last section (F) given above differs from the one adopted by HULTZSCH. He translates eta tu kho usatena dukaram (Girnär) as But among these (two) it is indeed (more) difficult to accomplish for a high (person). But eta can mean only this' and not among these (two)'. BLOCH (op. cit. p. 119) translates- Mais c'est difficile surtout aux grandes, The Jaugada version which is nearer to the capital has usatena cu dukalatale which means 'This is more difficult for a highly placed'. As the Kälsi version shows, usateneva at Mansehra is to be read as usatena va. BLOCH (op. cit. p. 119, line 20) reads only usaten for the M version.
Madhu Vidya/286
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