1837.] Further elucidation ofldt or Silasthambha inscriptions. 791 



duction p. lxi. In running over the book cursorily I find the follow- 

 ing lines in the sixth Bhdnawdro or ' Section of 250 lines' in reference 

 to Dhamma Asoko : — 



Dwe sattdni wassdni attdrasawassdnicha, sambuddhe" parinibbutte", abhisttto 

 Piyadassino. 



After a few lines descriptive of the ceremonies performed at his 

 inauguration, I find 



Chadaguttassdyan nattdnatta Bindusdrassa, atrajo rajaputto tddd asi Ujjdni- 

 karamolino*. 



Here then we find that Asoka was surnamed Piyadassi ; and if you 

 will turn to the 5th chapter of the Mahdwanso, especially pp. 28, 29, 

 you will see the circumstances under which Buddhistical edifices were 

 simultaneously erected all over India. When I have seen your article 

 in the July No. I hope to be able to examine this Dipowanso carefully, 

 and if I can see any further ground for identifying Piyadassi with 

 Asoko, I will not fail to give you particulars." 



The date, (218th) year of the Buddhist era (leaAes no doubt what- 

 ever of the identity of the party, and the term nattdnatta, rendered by 

 my pandit naptur-napta, great- great- grandson must therefore be 

 wrong. Ratna Paula also assures me that the verse requires the 

 elision of the first two redundant syllables ; leaving simply napta, or 

 nattd, grandson. The Buddhist and Brahmanical texts both concur 

 in the successive relationship of the Magadha princes down to this 

 pointf. 



The line as corrected by Ratna Paula will run thus : 



Chandraguttasa yan natta, Bindusdrassa atrajo, rajaputto tadd dsi, Ujjenikara* 

 molino. 

 and united with the former passage may be translated : 



14 Two hundred and eighteen years after the beatitude of Buddha, was the 



inauguration of Piyadassi who, the grandson of Chandragjupta, and 



own son of Bindusa'ra, was at that time Viceroy at Ujjayani." 



Mr. Turnour has thus most satisfactorily cleared up a difficulty that 

 might long have proved a stumbling block to the learned against the 



* The two passages in Sanskrit will run 



Two hundred years and ^eighteen years after Buddha had attained perfection, 

 (was) the regal anointment of Piyadassi. 



^JTS^IHi *T?p??rr (more correctly g^si^m:) fa^IT;^? ^5T TJ&W* 



This the grandson of the grandson of Chandragupta, and the own royal 

 Bon of Bindusa / ra, was at that time the taker of the revenue of Vjjain. — J. P. 



t See extract from the Bhdgavat Purdna, in a preceding page, 677. 



