Regional Developments

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.

Towards Scientific Foundations of Healing

Historians have observed that the thread of social protest winding through these heterodox teachings was indicative of a perception of change. Central to this awareness of change is the law of causality and it was around this that much of Buddhist doctrine revolves, claiming to derive from rational arguments and examples. The whole problem of causes of diseases was propounded by Gauthama Buddha. The concept of the peccant humors which is central to the Āyurvedic aetiology, which was most probably formulated in Buddhist monasteries. Keen observation of the decomposing bodies combined with the knowledge of anatomy of animals gathered from the butcher-house helped the early Buddhist monk-physicians develop an understanding of the internal and external structures of the human body. The earliest codification of medical knowledge in India is perhaps in the Buddhist canonical works. Buddhist monasteries and their medicinal services were probably instrumental in spreading the knowledge and practice of medicine to regions outside of the sub-continent. We hear for the first time about this cultural expansion from Mauryan sources. The major Rock Edict II of the Mauryan emperor Asoka speaks about this historical event. Monks including those with knowledge of medicine must have been visiting in these institutions for various purposes.

The Early History of Delhi

Delhi’s past begins in the stone age; this is evident from the stone tools found as surface finds at many places and the excavated site of Anangpur. Remains of the protohistoric period have been unearthed at Bhorgarh and Mandoli. Ashoka’s Minor Rock Edict I indicates that Maurya influence extended into this area. Sites such as the Purana Qila reveal a cultural sequence extending from the early historic to the medieval period. The medieval remains of the Qutb complex include a Gupta-period pillar, many aspects of which remain enigmatic. Remains of the Rajput and early Sultanate phase have been found at Lal Kot. Although the details provided by the textual, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic evidence are sparse, they help outline the history of rural and urban settlements in the Delhi area long before it became an important political center.

Aśoka's 256-night campaign

The two recent discussions of the chronology of Aśoka's early missionary activities, as described in his first Minor Rock Edict, came to different conclusions. For the idea of a 256-day pilgrimage, which stems ultimately from mistranslation, Falk had sought to substitute a calculation involving 256 non-consecutive Uposatha nights. Without detailed refutation of Falk's arguments, Norman rejected this result and retained the assumption of a date counted in days from the beginning of a regnal year. Falk's Vedic and Arthaśāstra material points, however, in the right direction. A description of Aśoka as 256-rātra-vyuṣṭo “having spent a 256-day season” would date his proclamation to the close of an eight-month campaigning season, corresponding closely with varṣā-rātra-uṣita Rāma (R 4.19.1), literally ‘having spent the rains season’, but dating the activity in question to the first day of autumn. Late Vedic and epic use of vyuṣṭa and instances of calculation by binary, apparently solar, weeks of 8 days and months of 32 days (of which eight would yield 256), suggest that Aśoka was seeking to give his proselytizing campaign the status of a religious observance defined in Kṣatriya terms. Arthaśāstra includes the proposition that a 32-day military month was used for administrative purposes in the field.Just as in rock edicts the phrase [devānaṃpiyena] … abhisitena lekhite dates events to a regnal year, so [devānaṃpiyena] … vivuṭhena sāvane dates Aśoka's MRE proclamation, but with reference to his years of religious seniority. The additive chronology, more than two years plus more than one year, suggested by Norman and upheld by Falk, is supported by the syntax of the passage. It would tend to associate the MRE with Aśoka's 13th regnal year. Aśoka's epigraphs imply that, inspired perhaps by early residence in Ujjain, he was at first drawing on late Vedic and epic calendrical motifs, before starting to display a knowledge of Vinaya calendrical material in the pillar edicts.

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

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 Ahraurā version of Aśoka's first minor rock edict

I 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.