Vol. Ill, No. 1.] The Maury a TnscripHon at Sarnath, & 



Order — avatake tuphabaTn aliale, etc. But Rupnath has, in ad- 

 dition, the words vyuthena and vivasa, and the indication 256 

 expressed in words and in figures. The points I desire to make 

 are first, that in hoth edicts the formula yields the most satisfac- 

 tory meaning when its verbal forms are dei^ived fz'oni the root vas 

 to shine ; second, that at Rupnath the words vyutha and vivasa 

 may be derived from the same root and furnish good sense as 

 The Illumined One and Illumination respectively ; and. third, 

 that this derivation may help to the better understanding of 

 the number 256. 



As to my first point, let us see wliat meaning can be got out 

 of the formula by deriving its verbal forms from the root vas, to 

 dtvell, and the composite vivas — to depart from home. This is 

 what Mr. Fleet does at p. 22, and after making certain corrections 

 in the Rupnath text he adds — ' the meaning is then plain enough : 

 " And by this same suggestion, intimation, (it is directed that) 

 to whatsoever extent (there may be) an employing, a deputation, 

 of you, (to that extent) you should with active exertion, energeti- 

 cally, depart from home*'; namely, to travel abroad either to 

 engrave the edict in other places also, or, in a general way, to 

 propagate the teaching of it.' Mr. Fleet's rendering of ahale 

 and restoration of samvara do not concern us here. His version 

 ■you should depart from home — gives no plain sense at Saniath. 

 At Rupnath it has to be eked out with an explanatory clause of 

 Mr. Fleet's own making — ' or, in a general way, to propagate the 

 teaclung of the edict/ But this clanse is unnecessary, if the 

 verbal form vivasetaviye be deiived from vas to shine and mean 

 to be made bright , made hiotvn. To supj)ort his derivation of vivas 

 from vas to dicell, Mr. Fleet quotes a passage from the Pali: 

 namassamano vivasemi i^attim — 'worshipping I spend the night' 

 (p. 20). But as Professor Kielhom points out in the same num- 

 ber of the J.R.A.S. (p. 364) the i-oot of the verb is vas to shine, 

 and the literal translation of the sentence is— * worshipping 1 

 cause the night to grow light/ M. Senart is among those who 

 accept the derivation from vas to dicell. And this is his rendering 



at Rupnath r *' And with those instructions set ye forth 



on your mission to all the world." But this again liardly fits into 

 the context of the edict at Sarnath. 



Then, in regard to my second point, it is sufficient for me to 

 accept^ for example, Mr. Fleet's lucid translation of the last 

 w^ords of the Rupnath text (p. 26) making the necessary sub- 

 stitutions ior his wanderer and ri'andering^ thus:— * And this same 

 precept was composed by the Illumined One : of centuries two 

 hundred and fifty and six years have elapsed since his Illumina- 

 tion.' This gives clear and good sense. I am not here bound to 

 deal with the grammatical difficulties presented in the text. But 

 the explanation I now propose does, of course, commit me to the 

 view that Asoka refers to Buddha and his great Illuraination. 

 And noAV I have to face the obvious objection that, so far as our 

 knowledge goes, Indian sects always date from the death of their 

 founders, and that this was the case with Buddhists in India and 



