________________
the era, and the date of the accession of Asoka being now nearly settled, it is possible to finally determine the date of this inscription. 'Though opinions vary as to the exact year of Asoka accession, it is settled within the margin of a few years. According to General Cunningham's calculations, which I believe are most probable, Asoka's accession falls about B.C. 263. Thus the eighth year in which he conquered Kalinga and when this era was probably founded, goes to B.C. 255. The date in the inscription when Khāravela did certain works in the Udayagiri caves in 165 Maurya or (B.C. 255-165) 90 B.C. This is the thirteenth year of Khāravela's accession, which gives 103 B.C. as the year of his accession. And as he became heir apparent nine years before, 112 B.C. is the year in which his yauvarājya began. And as the fifteen years previous were passed in boyish sports and amusements, Khäravela's birth falls in 127 B.C.' Buhler adopted the Pandit's view that the thirteenth year of Khāravela corresponds to the year 165 of the Maurya era, but held the opinion that this era begins with the coronation of Candragupta, which he placed between 322 B.C. Khāravela's accession should therefore, he thinks, be dated between 170 and 160 B.C. Buhler's explanation was generally accepted until the late Dr. Fleet? challenged it and maintained that the inscription did not contain any date. He pointed out that panamtariya of panatariya cannot mean ‘sixty five that it might mean' 'seventy-five but probably represents a Sanskrit prajñaptărya, and further that vochine cannot correspond to Sanskrit vicchinna but is the 'well-known Jain technical term vocchinna', which is 'applied to sacred texts which have been 'cut off, interrupted', or in other terms have been neglected or lost sight of : and even apart from other considerations, the use of this term quite prohibits the existence of a date. The record is primarily devoted to acts done by Khāravela to promote the Jain faith. And while we are not prepared to say just now what may be the exact meaning of the words in which the Pandit found 'in the 165th year', we can say that the whole passage does not present any date, but tells us that Khāravela restored some texts...and the sixtyfourth chapter or other division of the collection of seven Angas, which had been neglected since(?) the time of the Maurya king or kings. Where the Pandit reads sathivasa-sate, preparing his lithograph (which is not a
Te 4511 37001 -
17, 2006
-
91
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org