The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-12


mnemonic verses In Pail. In the third CEN
fury Of our era some one collected such
OF these Pail verses as referred to tho LIS
tory Of Ceylon, pi1cing them together
with other verses to make a consecutive
narrative The poem thus constructed
was called the Dipavansa, or Island
Chronicle. Az this work was eventually
supplanted in Ceylon by much better
written book called the MahavaHsa. or
Great Chronicle. IL was completely lost
in that island. The present text has been
derived from single copy preserved, az
we have said, In Burmah. Shortly after
the Island Chronicle was composer, the
celebrated BuddhaGhosa, a Brahmin from
Behar. came over to Ceylon and wwrote
In Pail the old Sinhalese commentaries.
His work supplanted the latter. which
are now lo.t, and furnishes the only s1-
tant evidence vi the nature OF the ancient
tradition. From the old Sinhalese COM
mentary. Buddagllosa quote5 number
of mremonic verses, also quoted in this
Island Chronicle, and gives in Pail the
substance OF the Sinhale Va prose with which
originally they had hsen accompan led
"A SiAs'RaLon hfbCl WdAup NAhtiuha wAotC
his great work. the Mahavanlsa. He was
no historian, and had, besides the material
used by his two predecessors, only popular
legends TO work on. He was q literary
artist, however, and We are told by Prof.
Davtls that his book IL an epic poem Of
remarkable m ,rt. The hero Of the poem
IL the Snhale,e national idol, Dushta
Camini, the oonqueror of invading hosts
Of the Tamiis. What he says Of other
Indian kings, and of .Asoka among them.
Is only by way OF Introduction, or OF
epilogue to the main story.
From these sources Of information Prof
Davids has CLEANED the few trustworthy
and important facts concerning Asoka
which are now procurable. According to
tradition Of Indian origin preserved in
Nepaul, the mother Of Asoka was daughter
OF a Brahmin living in Champa. a city on
the south bank of the Ganges. east Of
Pataliputta. OF his youth or early train
ing nothing Ia known. The Ceylon books
all say, however, that, at the time Of his
fathers death, he was holding the position
Of Viceroy at Ujieni, and that he had there
married local lady residing at vedisa
afterward the site Of the celebrated build
ing now known as the Sanchi Tope. They
had two children, but, as this was really
q mesalliance, the lady being only Of a
merchants family. she was left behind
when Asoka left trijeni to go TO Pataii-
putta and there secure the succession
All the accounts agree that this was no
easy task. His elder brother. the Viceroy
at Takks-sila (Taxila), in the Puniab, OPP
posed him, and 1t was only after severe
struggle, In the course Of which his brother
was killed, that Asoka made his way 20
the throne The Chronicles say that Asoka
was not formally anointed king till be-
tween tho fourth and Hfth years after Bindu-
sara's death. and the language Of Asoka's
edicts. which are dated. when dated at
all. from the formal AMOUNTING. confirms
this statement.
Concerning the events OF the FIRST few
years after Asoka's assumption OF the
throne we have no information. In the
ninth year a war broke out between Ma
gadha and Kallnga. the latter being then
apparently the most powerful kingdom
in India, still independent OF the empire
uivN VVOt Ny h5Ohd. AAI we hIloW vi
this war is an incidental reference in the
Thirteenth Edict, published by Asoka
Ave years afterward. In that inscription
the King states that 1t was the remorse
and pity aroused in his mind by the hor-
rors OF the oonquest-the slaughter, the
deaths caused by disease and by the Yorcible
transportation to which non-combatants,
and even peaceable Brahmins and re-
cluses, were subjected-that resulted in
his conversion. He does not say to what
he was converted. That. apparently, was
to be quite clear to any one.
1t seemed to Asoka sufficient to say that
he had come to the conclusion that the
only true conquest was conquest by
religion, j. g., by the Dhamia In another
inscription the King himself distinguishes
three stages in his conversion. The Rup-
nath Edict 10 OF date perhaps little
earlier than that OF the last mentioned
edict. or. say, the thirteenth year after
the Kings formal amounting. that Ia, the
year after he became King
de jure In this inscription he relates
that for two and half years he had been
a lay disciple ian tpasakd,) but had not
developed much ZEAL but one year before
the date OF the edict he had entered the
Order and begun to show greater earnest
mesa, In the Eighth Rock Ediot he de-
clares that in the thirteenth year after
his coronation he had set out for the San
bedhi--that 10 to say. along the Aryan
Eight-fo1 Path, toward the attainment.
if not in his present life, then in some future
birth az a man, Of the state OF mind called
Arahatship. That is his own account Of
the matter, and he gives no ore else any
credit for his progress. The chroniclers,
on the other hand, profess 10 know the
name Of the teacher who was instrumental
in his conversion. Whichever may be the
correct story, it 10 strange enough to find
a King, whether in India or In Europe.
devoting himself strenuously TO the higher
life, II is doubly strange that in doing
30 he should select a system Of belief ac-
cording to which salvation, INDEPENDENTLY
Of any belief In soul, lay in sels-corquest.
Henceforward, Asoka devoted his great
energy and the powerful resources OF his
wide empire to the realization Of his new
ideals. To that end all his edicts were
published, and all the changes he made
In the administration Of his empire were
directed, while enormous sums were lavshed
in the erection Of costly buildings in aid Of
the now faith. 1t is pronounced charao-
'eristic that of these buildings he says
not word To Asoka's mind, apparently.
he teaching was 80 much the most i'm
thing that no other consideration
was worth mention, The unanimous testi-
mony, however. OF all the later traditions,
confirmed nR Il Is by the remaina discovered,