Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 3

Author(s): R P Poddar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 87

THB EXACT DATE (TITHI) OF THE STARTING
OF ASOKA'S DHARMALIPI PROGRAMME (Māgha Sukla 5 or Vasant Pañchami of 257 B.C.)
YOGENDRA MISHRA
The Minor Rock Edict I of Asoka (269-232 B.C.), found at seventeen different places in India by this time, is important in many respects. Its main importance, however, lies in the fact that it provides clues to the stages of Asoka's progress towards Buddhism and its chronology. Long ago, it was suggested by scholars like D. R. Bhandarkar and others that Ašoka speaks here of two different stages of his upāsakatva (3414ca) - the first, not characterized by any zeal on his part of the propagation of Dharma, covering more than two years and a half, and the second, when he was fully exerting himself, lasting for a little over one year. This interpretation would suggest that the period of Asoka's upāsakatva had lasted till the time when the present edict (the Minor Rock Edict I) was issued for more than two and a half years' plus more than a year', that is to say, for nearly four years in all. This theory is the result of an eagerness to prove that Asoka adopted Buddhism immediately after the conquest of Kalinga which event took place in the eighth year after his coronation (RE XIII, Prakrit and Greek versions, opening lines) and that his programme of issuing Dharmalipis started in the twelfth year after his coronation as stated by him in his Pillar Edict VI, and that the account of this four-year period is given in this edict (MRE I).
TWO STAGES OF AŚOKA'S EARLY UPĀSAKA-HOOD
Dr. D. C. Sircarl has rendered a yeoman's service by presenting a correct interpretation of the passage in question. He translates it as follows :
"I am (sumi =asmi) a lay follower [of the Buddha) for more than two years and a half; but indeed I was (husañ=abhuvan) not zealous (or, exceptionally zealous) for one year [ at the beginning of the above period). It is [now] more than a year that I have indeed 1. Asokan Studies, Calcutta, 1979. For his translation of the
passage in question see pp. 11, 62, 81, 85, 92, 103, 126. Especially see pp. 63-66, 76, 78, 88-89, 99, 106-7 for a discussion of the point.
Present Tense. 3. Past Tense (Aorist).