1863. | Note on the Taxila Inscription. 159 
century after, Christ; that this “may be guessed from the familiar 
names of men and places which are certainly for the most part any 
thing but Pali or Hindee ;” and “ that the language of their common 
use must be primd facie.expected to partake of a similar character.” 
This argument has led him to the inference that the language of 
As/oka’s edicts is a “quasi religious” or “sacred dialect” and not the 
current vernacular of his dominions. The first of these two positions 
may be readily admitted as possible or even probable, but the latter 
does not seem to be at all connected or dependent upon the other. 
What we have to deal with is the dialect as we have it before us, 
and not what it should be. Now a careful examination of the 
-language of the As/oka edicts, clearly shews that it is a stage 
in the progress or growth of the Sanskrita in its onward course 
from the Vedic period to the vernaculars of our day, produced 
by a natural process of phonetic decay and dialectic regeneration, 
which can never be possible except in the case of a spoken dialect. 
Professor Max Miiller, adverting to these changes, justly says, they 
“take place gradually but surely, and what is more important, 
they are completely beyond the reach or controul of the free will 
of man.” No more could As/oka and his monks devise them for 
religious purposes, than change the direction of the monsoons or 
retard the progress of the tides. It is said that Marcellus, the 
grammarian, once addressed the emperor Tiberius when he had made 
a mistake, saying, “ Cesar, thou canst give the Roman citizenship to 
man, but not to words ;’* and mutatis mutandis the remark applies 
with just as much force to As/oka as to Tiberius. There can be no 
doubt that As’oka was one of the mightiest sovereigns of India. His 
sway extended from Dhauli on the sea board of Orissa to Kapur di 
Giri in Afghanistan, and from Bakra in the north-east to Junagar 
in Guzerat. His clergy and missionaries numbered by millions ; they 
had penetrated the farthest limits of Hindustan proper, and had 
most probably gone as far as Bamian on the borders of the Persian 
empire. Religious enthusiasm was at its height in his days, and he 
was the greatest enthusiast in the cause of the religion of his adop- 
tion. He devised his edicts to promote that religion, had them written 
in the same words for all parts of his kingdom, and used exactly the 
same form every where; but with all his imperial power and influence 
he could not touch a single syllable of the grammar which prevailed 
* Apud Max Miiller, Science of Langnage, p. 37. _ 
