a alae 

eee RU sername — a ht al al 
apeiniseret 


2. Sinhalese Historical Documents and the Maurya 
Inscription of Sarnath. 
By H. C. Norman. 
The following may serve the readers of the J.R,A.S.B. a 
pendant to the paper, in Volume III of the Journal for i907, ee 
A. Venis, Esq.: ‘‘Some Notes on the Maurya Inscription at 
Sarnath.” 
It is quite evident to anyone reading over the inscription 
that it is an edict framed to prevent entrance into the Buddhist 
Order of unprivileged persons who raise schisms in it, and also 
to ensure strict attention to the keeping of Uposatha days, the 
sabbaths of the Buddhists. One could also infer from the 
inscription alone that these things are closely connected—that 
people had become remiss in their attention to the Uposatha 
ays, because the Order was becoming itself slack and negligent 
owing to these pestilent schismatics, who had indeed to be 
““unfrocked ” by royal mandate before the evil could be remedied, 
so esa tga had it become. All this harmonises remarkably 
at we know from the Sinhalese records, Let us first of 

vinnam vassasatanam upari 
Prior vasse sabbe  ahauennye satthisahassamatta 
vihinalabhasakkara hutva antamaso ghasacchadanam pialabhanta 
labhasakkaram patthaynindih sayam eva munde katva kisayani 
acchadetva viharesu ce uposathadikammam Pi pavisanti. 
Sasanass’ abbudahi ca — a kan tha kai ca samutthapesum, 
chptcanaramabiinake ahosi. nai one ee 
Asokarame bhikkhusamgham sannipatapesi i, Tasmim sannipatite 
mayam ugganhapesi, Raja afifiatitthiye pucchitva “na ime 
bhikbha aiinatitthiya ime” ti fiatva setavatthani datva uppab- 
bajesi. Tato Raja: Suddham dani bhante saésanam, karotu bhik- 
ears uposathan ti arakkham, datva nagaram eva ar 
uae samgho sannipatitva uposatham akasi. Te’ 
porana 
9. Sambuddhaparinibbana dve ca vass asatani ca 
Atthavisati vassani rajasoko mahipati. 
