JOURNAL 



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OF THK 



ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL 



JVew Series. 



Vol. III.— 1907. 



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I. Some notes on the Maurya Inscription at Sarnath 



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By Arthur Venis. 



This inscription is carefully discussed by Mr. J. Ph. Vogel 

 in a recent issue of the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. viii., pp. 166 — -71, 

 I have to make a few remarks on points which seem open to 

 farther inquiry. Consideration of the last lines of the Sarnath 

 text and of the context at Rupnath, where these recur though 

 slightly modified, leads me to re-open that much debated question 

 as to the significance of the numerical expression, 256, which is 

 found at Rupnath, Sahasram and Brahmagiri. And the sugges- 

 tion I make is — and it is no more than a suggestion — that this 256 

 is a date, namely, the year of Asoka's Coronation reckoned from 

 the year of Buddha*s Illumination, 



V 



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TEXT. 



1 Deva 



2 Ela 



a Pata 

 e chum kho 



+ 



n pi samghe bhetare 



4 Bhikhtt va bhikhuni va samgliam bhikhati se odatani 

 dusani samnamdhapayiya anavasasi 



5 Avasayiye hevam iyam sasane bhikhusamghasi ca bhi- 

 khunisamghasi ca vimnapayitaviye 



6 Hevam devanampiye aha hedisa ca ika lipi tuphakamti- 

 kam huva ti samsalanasi nikhita 



7 Ikam ca lipim hedisameva upasakanamtikam nikhipatha 

 tepi ca Tipasaka anuposatham yavu 



8 Etameva sasanam visvamsayitave anuposatliam ca 

 dhuvaye ikike mahamate posathaje 



