1 838 . ] at Dhauli in Cu ttack* 45 1 



The nearest approach to the original text will be found to lie between 

 these two readings, taking the first half of the former and the last of the 

 latter ; this is the reading I have accordingly adopted in the transla- 

 tion, while I nevertheless think it incumbent on me to conceal no 

 variorum interpretations which may help to a right understanding of 

 a passage whereon so much depends. 



In token of the inflexible nature of this monarch's orders, the pro- 

 clamation then announces, that a certain chaitya or tope is to be called 

 the i commandment tope ;' anusathi or anushdsti tuphe, The word tuphe, 

 /^ (j is evidently the original of the modern expression * tope :' in the 

 regular Pali of books it is written thupa, which is again directly deriv- 

 ed from the Sanskrit original ^rq: stupah, an artificial mound of earth, 

 (or of building material ?), hence doubtless applied (though the diction- 

 aries do not give this meaning), to the pyramidal monuments of the 

 Buddhists. Am tuphe I suppose to be a corruption of ayam tuphe 

 * this tope' in the nominative case. 



The sentence next following seems an injunction or invitation to all 

 loving subjects to flock thither and receive instruction from the holy 

 men there located. A similar expression fbahdsu pdnasahasesu, fyc.J 

 occurs on the western tablet of the Feroz lat inscription, but there, 

 instead of a chaitya, the object of attraction is the aswatha or holy 

 fig tree, if indeed the sense has been rightly apprehended ; but from the 

 occurrence of words similar to aswatha in the present edicts, — aswdsevu, 

 swasanam, swasatam, I am inclined to deduce them all from the root 

 "55^, breathe, — thus aswatha abhitd (around the holy fig tree) will be- 

 come dswasitd abhitd for "WI^fafT^WtrJT: i breathing fearless' or < living 

 in security.' The initial a in this case should however be long, whereas 

 the facsimiles just received from Captain Burt, prove it to be short, so 

 far confirming the original reading ; but on the other hand Mr. Tur- 

 nour, our best authority, gives the latter sense,- — aswatha abhitd ham- 

 mdni pawatayevun, ' should follow a line of conduct tending to allay 

 alarm.' 



Having adverted rather out of place, to the term swasatam I may 

 further observe that the title of Mahdmdtd-aswasatam-ndma is ap- 

 parently given to one of the chaityas, or perhaps to the platform of 

 the elephant situated just above the inscription, and that it means 

 the ' place of breathing, or of quiet repose for the priests.' This name 

 we may conclude to be preserved in the modern appellation of the rock 

 ' the aswastama,' for which indeed it would be difficult to find a better 

 derivation. The Hindus of the place declare it to be name of the stone 

 3 L 



