8 Eajendralala Mitra — On, tlie Early Life of Asoka. [Jan. 



The whole of the beds hitherto described have been disturbed and up- 

 heaved, shewing that great changes in the surface of the country, and in all 

 probability in the distribution of land and water, have taken place since 

 the close of the Tertiary period in Sind, as in the Himalayas. 



Mr. Ltdekker remarked that the investigation of the Sind Sivalik 

 rocks was gradually bringing to light the remains of a very interesting 

 mammalian fauna which once inhabited that area. The most interesting 

 among these mammals, were a number of Pig-like animals, — some with 

 complex and others with simple teeth, — which mostly belonged to a group 

 which had now completely disappeared from the earth. Some of these 

 animals belonged to genera which had been previously known from the 

 eocene and miocene of Europe and America, while others belonged to 

 new genera, which would subsequently be described by the speaker in the 

 *' Palseontologia Indica." 



Dr. Eajeistdealala Mitea submitted the following remarks on the 

 early life of Asoka. He said — Of all the ancient Indian monarchs 

 whose monuments have come down to us, the Emperor Asoka was the 

 greatest. His sway extended from Kapurdegiri in the Eusafzai country 

 to Dhauli in Cuttack, and from north Tirhut to the Peninsula of Guzerat. 

 His anxiety for the good of his subjects was great, and his edicts show the 

 intelligent interest he took in their welfare. He was, however, the least 

 known by the people in the present day. As a renegade from the religion 

 of his ancestors he was detested by the Hindus, and nowhere noticed in 

 their ancient records ; and the Buddhists, whose ranks he joined, having been 

 expelled the country, could not keep his name alive in India. To the Hon'ble 

 Mr. Tumour of Ceylon belongs the credit of first bringing his name to the 

 notice of European Orientalists ; and the identification by our James Prin- 

 sep of the name with the Piyadasi of the Lat inscriptions, laid the ground- 

 work of the historical chronology of ancient India. Next to the identifi- 

 cation, made by the founder of this Society, of Chandragupta with the 

 Sandrocottus of the Greeks, it was of the highest importance. The next 

 important event in connexion with the history of Asoka was the discovery 

 of the Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal. For it too are European scho- 

 lars indebted to one of our most distinguished associates — distinguished 

 alike for his literary and scientific researches — who first unlocked the store- 

 house of Nepalese Buddhism. Mr. B. H. Hodgson, to whom the speaker 

 referred, collected three sets of MSS. of this literature, one of which he 

 presented to this Society, another to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great 

 Britain, and the third to the Asiatic Society of Paris. The first of these 

 remains yet untouched ; the second has the benefit of only a nominal 

 catalogue ; but the third fell into the hands of that profound scholar, 



