Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/162

160 of Mbh. to show that King Rantideva used to have 2,000 cattle and 2,000 kine slain daily in his kitchen (mahânasa, the word used by Asoka) in order to provide doles of meat for his people. by which liberality he gained incomparable fame. Asoka evidently had done the same in his unregenerate days. Asoka at ﬁrst restricted the killing to the small quantity required for the royal table, and then abolished it altogether.

The precise dates of his action cannot be fixed, as this ‘parti- cular edict is not expressly dated.

Antelope (mrmgo or murgo, Sh.; mrige, M.; mago, G.; and mige, K.) is the Sanskrit mṛiga, which may be rendered either 'deer' or 'antelope.' If the 'black buck' (Antilope bezoartica or cervicapra) is meant, as seems probable, 'antelope' is the more accurate. The popular term ‘deer’ includes many animals, none of which is so widely diifused and commonly eaten as the 'black buck.'

The meaning of this edict has now been satisfactorily cleared up in all its expressions.

EDICT II PROVISION OF COMFORTS FOR MEN AND ANIMALS (G. Text.)

'Everywhere in the dominions of His Sacred and Gracious Majesty the King, as well as among his frontagers, the Choḷas, Pâṇdyas, the Satiyaputra, the Ketalaputra [KeraḶa-, Sh.], as far as the Tâmbaparṇi, Antiochos the Greek king, or even the kings the neighbours of that Antiochos—everywhere have been made the healing arrangements of His Sacred and Gracious Majesty the King in two kinds, [namely], healin arrangements for men and healing arrangements or beasts. Medicinal herbs also, both medicinal herbs for men and medicinal herbs for beasts, wheresoever lacking, have been everywhere both imported and planted. Roots also and fruits, wheresoever lacking, have been everywhere imported and planted.