3G8 



THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. 



[Part III. 



B.C. 



104. 



Buddhist edicts engraved on various rocks and monu- 

 ments in India, the deciphering of which was the 

 grand achievement of Prinsep and his learned coadju- 

 tors. On the pillars of Delhi, Allahabad, and other 

 places, and on the rocks of Girnar and Dhauh, there 

 exist a number of Pah inscriptions purporting to be 

 edicts of Asoca (the Dharmasoca of the 3Iahawa?iso), 

 King of Magadha, in the third century before the 

 Christian era, who, on his conversion to the religion of 

 Buddha, commissioned Mahindo, his son, to undertake 

 its establishment in Ceylon. In these edicts, which were 

 promulgated in the vernacular dialect, the king endea- 

 voured to impress both upon his subjects and allies, as 

 well as those who, although aliens, were yet " united in 

 the law" of Buddha, the divine precepts of their great 

 teacher ; prominent amongst which are the prohibition 

 against taking animal hfe \ and the injunction that, 

 " everywhere wholesome vegetables, roots, and fruit 

 trees shall be cultivated, and that on the roads wells 

 shall be dug and trees planted for the enjoyment of men 

 and animals." In apparent conformity with these edicts, 

 one of the kings of Ceylon, Add^agaimunu, a.d. 20, is 

 stated in the Mahawaiiso to have " caused to be planted 

 throughout the island every description of fruit-bearing 

 creepers, and interdicted the destruction of animal hfe," ^ 

 and similar acts of pious benevolence, performed by 

 command of various other sovereigns, are adverted to 

 on numerous occasions. 



^ It is curious that one of these 

 edicts of Asoca, who was coteni- 

 porary with Devenipiatissa, is ad- 

 dressed to " all the conquered terri- 

 tories of the raja, even unto the ends 

 of the earth, as in Chola, in Pida, in 

 Keralaputra, and in Ttnnhapamii (or 

 Ceylon)." This license of speech, 

 reminding one of the grandiloquent 

 epistles "from the Flaminian Gate," 

 was no doubt assumed in virtue of the 

 recent establishment of Buddhism, 

 or, as it is called in the 3Iahaw(wsu, 

 "the religion of the Vanquisher," 

 and Asoca, as its propagator, thus 



claims to address the converts as his 

 " subjects." 



* Malmwanso, ch. xxxv. p. 215. 

 The king Upatissa, A.D. 368, in the 

 midst of a solemn ceremonial, " ob- 

 serving ants, and other insects drown- 

 ing in an inundation, halted, and 

 having swept them towards the bank 

 with the featliers of a peacock's tail, 

 and enabled them to save themselves, 

 he continued the procession." — Ma- 

 hdwanso, ch. xxx^di. p. 240; Raja- 

 ratnacari. p. 49, 52 : RnjaDali, p, 

 228. 



