Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 3

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

Page 92

DATE (TITHI) OF THE STARTING OF ASOKA'S DHARMALIPI 83 (B) FROM ROCK EDICT VIII
8. He undertook a pilgrimage to Sambodhi (i.e., Mahābodhi cr Bodh-Gaya) in the tenth year after his coronation. This means the said pilgrimage forms part of his period of exertion, nay of the earlier his period of exertion and not of the later part containing his vivāsa wbich was continuous allowing no break. “The pilgrimage to Sambodhi, the holiest of the Buddhist tirthas where the Buddha attained enlightenment, may be regarded as one of the earliest acts of the active period of Asoka's religious life, to which Minor Rock Edict I pointedly refers." We may not even feel surprised if it proves to be the second important act of the parčkrama (977*) period, the first being the Sangha-upaganana(HE341787) as stated in MRE.I.
(C) FROM KANDAHAR BILINGUAL (GRAECO-ARAMAIC)
EDICT 9. The rock inscription of Asoka discovered in 1958 in a locality called Shar-i. Kuna near Kandahar in Afghanistan admirably supports and supplements the information contained in Rock Edict VIII :
Greek version : "Piety (Gk. Eusebia, Pkt. Dhama) has been shown2 to the people by king Priyadarsin ten years after his coronation' (Skt. Graaffar fatit ETS forgafar). And, since then, he has rendered the people more pious, and all prosper in the whole earth."
Aramaic version : “Piety has been shown (or, Truth has been instituted) by our lord, king Priyadaršin, ten years after his coronation”4 (Skt. दशवर्षाभिषिक्तन राज्ञा प्रियदर्शिना).
(D) FROM PILLAR EDICT VI 10. It was in the twelfth year after his coronation that Asoka began to cause his Dharmalipis to be written down. This means the 257th day of the king's tour of pilgrimage, on which the declaration (śrāvana) contained in MRE I was made, fell in the twelfth year of his reign.
1. 2.
Ibid., pp. 116-117. Ibid., p. 114n : "The following sentence makes it clear that the reference is to an earlier event." The English translation of the opening sentence in each version has been made by us on the basis of Dr. Sircar's translations (English, Prakrit and Sanskrit), differing from him only in the matter of the interpretation of the regnal year (pp. 114 and 115 for Greek and Aramaic versions respectively). The regral years mentioned in Asoka's inscriptions were in our opinion current years and not expired years. See the previous note.
4.