Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/163

Rh On the roads, too, wells have been dug and trees planted for the enjoyment of man and beast.'

Comment

The fullest form of the text (G), which is well preserved, has been translated. The edict, like No. XIII, is of special interest for its bearing upon political history. 'Frontagers,' prachaṁteshu of G.=Sanskrit prâty-anteshu. Choļa. is written Choḍâ in text, the ḍ being certain. The letters ḍ and ḷ are interchangeable, and in many cases ḷ has been misread as ḍ (Lüders, J. R. A. S., 1911, p. 1037). Pâṇḍya is written Pâḍâ, and in Sh. Paṁdiya. The kingdom of the Choḷas was on the SE. or Madras side of the peninsula, the Coromandel (Choḷamaṇḍala) coast. The ancient capital was at Uṛaiyûr (variously spelt), near Trichinopoly. The kingdom of the Pâṇḍyas corresponded roughly with the modern Madura and Tinnevelly Districts, but sometimes extended further to the west. The early capital, Korkai, at the mouth of the Tâmraparṇi river, was replaced by Madura. It is not certain which place was the capital in Asoka's time. The Satiyaputra people, kingdom, or country is not mentioned elsewhere. In all probability it is represented by the Satyamangalam Tâlûk or sub-division of the Coimbatore District, lying along the Western Ghâts, and bordering on Mysore, Malabar, Coimbatore, and Coorg. The town of the same name commands the Gazalhatti Pass from Mysore, which used to be of strategical importance. Beryls and gold formerly were mined in the region, which still yields some corundum. The Coimbatore District. is full of megalithic structures and prehistoric remains The ancient kingdom may have extended beyond the limits of the present Tâlûk, which has an area of 1,177 square miles. The Satyamangalam country was included in the territory colonized by the Great Migration (Bṛihadcharaṇain), possibly that led by Bhadrabâhu in the days of Chandragupta Maurya. See I. G. (1908) s.v.; ''Ind. Ant.'', vol. xli (1912), p. 231; ibid., vol. xlv (1916), p. 200; ibid., vol. xlvi, I917, pp. 22-67. The Keralaputra kingdom, country, or people, equivalent to Chera, is Malabar, now partly in the Bombay, and partly in the Madras, Presidency.