264 Inscription in old character n the [March, 



or ' the law' is held forth as the great rule of conduct, and future happi- 

 ness or punishment are inculcated as the motives, but neither Buddha, 

 nor any member of the Hindu pantheon is introduced by name or 

 allusion. I dare not imagine that by the expression — raja asti pitu, it 

 is intended that the raja was a deified object, to whom alone reverence 

 (ekarcha) was to be paid. 



On turning to the infallible tika upon our inscriptions afforded by 

 Mr. Turnour's admirable Mahawanso, we find a circumstance recorded 

 which may help us materially to understand the obscure passage relat- 

 ing to the •mahdnaso or kitchen. It seems that Asoka followed for 

 three years the example of his father in bestowing food daily on sixty 

 thousand brahmans. On the change of his faith the .brahmans were 

 discharged, but an equal number of Buddhist priests were maintained in 

 their stead, and their food doubtless was of a more simple and harmless 

 nature. 



Tato rdjd pasanno so digunena dine dine 

 Bhikkhu satthi sahassini anupnbbenupatthahi. 

 Titthiybnan sahassdnan nikkaddhiwdna satthi so, 

 Satthi bhikku sahassdni ghare nicchamabhojayi. 

 1 Thereafter this king increasing the number from day to day gave alms to 

 sixty thousand Buddhist priests as formerly (to the brahmans). Having dis- 

 missed the sixty thousand heretics, he constantly maintained in his palace sixty 

 thousand Buddhist priests.* 



[For remarks on the second tablet see the February number.] 



Remarks on the Third Tablet. 

 Nothing in this edict calls for particular notice. The term vijite 

 conquered country is, as in the second edict, applied to Surdshtra — not 

 to CuttacJc. Tbe appointment of an anusayanam or feast of repentance, 

 every five years, is unknown I believe to the religionists of either deno- 

 mination nowadays ; though its efficacy in removing sin is acknowledged 

 by Manu. 



1 By confession, by penitence, by fasting, by reading the sacred texts, the 

 sinner is absolved from his sins, also by almsgiving, and by restraint of the 

 passions.' 



Did not the two texts agree, it would be preferable to read anusdsa- 

 nam, a public promulgation of the sacred maxims every five years, 

 otherwise it does not well appear why their specification should here be 

 introduced. Of the maxims themselves it is also worthy of notice that 

 they are not comformable to any particular creed — they comprehend 

 neither the eight mdrgas (ways) ; not the four satyas (truths) of the 





