Notes on the Ahraur? version of A?oka's first minor rock edict

1983 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. R. Norman
Keyword(s):  
Rock Edict

On the Etymology and Interpretation of Certain Words and Phrases in the Aśoka Edicts

1931 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 545-548
Author(s):  
M. De Z Wickermasinghe
Keyword(s):  
The Third ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law ◽  
Rock Edict

In the course of my tutorial work on the Palaeography and Epigraphy of India and Ceylon, I have had to read the Aśoka inscriptions with some of my pupils. As a result, I have come across the following words and phrases which to my mind seem to demand an interpretation other than that already supplied by scholars interested in the subject.(1) Rock Edict III. Girnār. Parisā pi yute ānapayisati gaṇanāyaṁ hetuto ca vyaṁjanato ca.This sentence, which occurs with dialectic differences in other versions of the third rock edict, has already been discussed by previous writers. I would, nevertheless, translate it thus:—“ The Council (of Mahāmātras) shall also give orders to the yuktas (in respect of these rules) in detail [i.e. item by item] regard being had to (their) raison d'être and to the letter (of the law).”

Notes on the Ahraurā version of Aśoka's first minor rock edict

1983 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-292
Author(s):  
K. R. Norman
Keyword(s):  
Rock Edict

AbstractI therefore conclude that the sentence amaca budhasa salīle ālohe at the end of the Ahraurā version of Aśoka's MRE I arises from the misreading by the scribe83 of a carelessly written exemplar,84 and from his subsequent conjecture of words to make sense of the apparent nonsense which he had received. Although this may perhaps seem unlikely to some readers, the examples of miswritten akaras and the attempts of scribes to make sense of them which I have discussed elsewhere85 make it quite clear that may suggestion is well within the range of possibility.

scholarly journals Agṅiskandha and the Fourth Rock-Edict of Aśoka

1915 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 521-527
Author(s):  
S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Keyword(s):  
Rock Edict

Notes on the Bahapur version of Aśoka's minor rock edict

1971 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-43
Author(s):  
K. R. Norman
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
First Person ◽  
Person Pronoun ◽  
Word Division ◽  
Rock Edict

THE EDITORS OF THE version of Aśoka's first Minor Rock Edict discovered at Bahapur deserve our thanks for making this inscription available so quickly.1 It is unfortunate that by some error the conventional symbols for a doubtful reading [ ], e.g. [sā]tileke in line 2, and a suggested emendation ( ), e.g. (ā)hā for ahā in line 1, have all been printed as [ ], but a careful examination of the photographs of the rock and of the estampage enables most ambiguities arising from this error to be eliminated.There are several points in the Bahapur version which merit attention, (a) By a faulty word-division the editors have printed amha maye in line 3, presumably understanding amha as an ablative form. It is clear from the other versions of the edict that we must have am here, cf. yam in line 2. If we adopt the word-division am hamaye, we obtain a hitherto unattested form of the instrumental of the first person pronoun. In line 2 of the Calcutta-Bairat2 inscription we find hamā as the equivalent of mamā (= genitive), which is found in lines 13 and 16 of RE3 V at Kalsi, lines 5 and 12 of SepE I and line 6 of SepE II at Dhauli, and line 12 of PE IV at Delhi-Topra; in line 3 of the Calcutta-Bairat inscription we find hamiyāye as the equivalent of mamiyāye (= instrumental), which is found in line 6 of SepE II at Jaugada; we now have hamaye as the equivalent of mamaye (= instrumental), which is found in line 4 of SepE II at Dhauli.

Satiyaputra in the Second Rock Edict of Asoka

1918 ◽  
Vol 50 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 541-542
Author(s):  
S. V. Venkateswara
Keyword(s):  
Rock Edict

Pali Phāsu- and Dātta-

1973 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 424-428
Author(s):  
R. L. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Original Form ◽  
Exact Form ◽  
Rock Edict

Madame C. Caillat in a magistral article in Journal Asiatique, CCXLVIII, 1, 1960, 41–64, followed by a note in JA, CCXLIX, 4, 1961, 497–502, has in establishing the meaning of Pa.1 phāsu- confirmed its connexion with sprś. I question Mme. Caillat's exposition on one point only, namely the exact form of the original derivative of sprś lying behind Pa. phāsu-. Like the previous scholars whom she quotes—Kern, Hoernle, Pischel, and Schwarzwald—she assumes the original form to have been *sparśu-, the resultant *phassu- becoming phāsu-, although recognizing that examples of such a change in Pali are rare; and for most of these an alternative explanation will be offered below. Nevertheless in Prakrit and, according to Pischel (Gr. Pk., § 62), with special frequency in Ardhamāgadhi the first geminate to be shortened with lengthening of a previous vowel was -ss- (Turner, BSOAS, XXXIII, 1,1970,171). The Jaina texts in Ardhamāgadhī have both phāsaī ∽ Pa. phassati < *sparśati and phāsuya- ∽ Pa. phāsu(ka)-; and it is tempting to see the saffle origin for ā in both Ardhamāgadhī words phāsai and phāsuya-. But the existence of Pa. phāsu(ka)- invites the assumption of another origin than spass- both for it and Pk.amg. phāsuya-, for according to Mme. Caillat (JA, 1960,47) the antiquity of Pa. phāsu- is assured by the occurrence of aphāsu- in the Pātimokkha as well as by phāsu- in the Aśokan Calcutta-Bairāt Minor Rock Edict.

Aśoka and the Buddhist Samgha: a study of Aśoka's Schism Edict and Minor Rock Edict I

2000 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herman Tieken
Keyword(s):  
Growth And Development ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Rock Edict ◽  
The Individual

In the legendary accounts of the Buddhist canon concerning the growth and development of Theravaāa Buddhism (Norman, 1987) Aśoka plays an important role. In support of these legends modern scholars have quoted Aśoka's own so-called Schism Edict from Allahabad (Kauśāmbī), Sanchi and Sarnath, in which the emperor would claim to have acted against schisms in the Buddhist Church (e.g. Alsdorf, 1959). However, Bechert has convincingly shown that in this edict Aśoka is not concerned with schisms in the Buddhist Church but with divisions within local, individual saṃghas (Bechert, 1961; 1982). It should immediately be added that this does not imply a denigration of Aśoka's importance for Buddhism but merely brings his role into line with contemporary realities. At the time the level of organization in Buddhism did not go beyond that of the individual saṃgha. It is all the more important to identify exactly the details of Aśoka's interference in the saṃgha. However, it is precisely here that problems start, as several passages in the text of the Schism Edict, an important source on this topic, are still unclear. By way of example I refer to posathāye in the Sarnath version, which has been variously interpreted as a dative of direction and a dative of time. The difference would be whether Aśoka's official should go to the uposatha ceremony or should go to the saṃgha on the uposatha day.

Notes on the Greek Version of Aśoka's Twelfth and Thirteenth Rock Edicts

1972 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. R. Norman
Keyword(s):  
Greek Version ◽  
Rock Edict

1. A block of stone inscribed with a Greek ( = Gk.) version of the latter part of Aśsoka's Rock Edict ( = RE) XII and the beginning of RE XIII was discovered at Kandahar in Afghanistan in 1963. The text was published in 1964 by D. Schlumbergerand again in the same year by É. Benveniste ( = B.) in Journal Asiatique (=JA). A condensed version of these two articles, in English, was published in Epigraphia Indica (= Ep. Ind.) in 1968.

Regional Developments

2020 ◽  
pp. 101-116
Author(s):  
M. R. Raghava Varier
Keyword(s):  
Medical Sciences ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Rural Villages ◽  
Village Community ◽  
Medical Institutions ◽  
New Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
Rock Edict ◽  
The Village ◽  
Practicing Physicians

The Major Rock Edict II of Asoka makes a categorical statement showing that he made arrangements for two kinds of treatments, that is, treatment for humans and for animals in the territories of the yavana king Antiokhia, in the areas of the Cōḻās, the Pāndyas, and the Keralaputras, and beyond these, upto the river, that is, Sri Lanka. A distinctive stage in the history of Āyurveda is discernible in Tamilakam during the medieval period. The source material for understanding this new development is in the form of inscriptions engraved in archaic characters, generally found in temples, mostly situated in rural villages. These were centres of learning meant for medical education. Epigraphic documents of medieval period refer to medical institutions in Thiruvaduthurai. Among the persons to be fed in the maṭha of that place were students of medicine and grammar and as well as those who studied medicine. Śaiva and Vaisnava maṭhas were engaged in imparting education in the medical sciences. Medicines were prepared, stored, and distributed in some villages. The Velan medicine-men as functionaries in the village community of Kerala were practicing physicians with a knowledge of indigenous medicine. Their womenfolk as rural midwives used some instruments and small blades in their profession.

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