Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/181

Rh Instead of the passage from 'This I will perform' to the end, G., Dh., and J. have:—

'And it has been said—"Excellent is liberality." But there is no such liberality or favour as the liberality of piety, the favour of piety. Therefore should a friend, lover, relative, or comrade exhort, saying, "This is to be done, this is excellent, by this it is possible for you to win heaven." And what is better worth doing than the winning of heaven?'

Comment

The variations between the texts in both substance and language are larger than usual. Bühler translated the Sh. text, but his readings and version require some correction.

Maṁgalgaṁ includes all rites and ceremonies performed for lnck or to avert possible calamity. Sometimes such rites include animal sacriﬁces, which Asoka abhorred. Buddha's condemnation of all omen—taking or other superstitious practices is expressed in the Maṅgala-Jâtaka (No. 87, Cambridge transl., vol. i, p. 215). Abakajani, which I have rendered 'womankind,' is expressed by the more or less equivalent terms, balika jmzika in M., mahiḍâya in G., and by striyaka in Sh. The last two terms certainly mean 'womankind.' The phrase in K. might be rendered 'mothers and wives.' 'Nurses,' too, has been suggested for the first element. Âbâdha, which I have translated 'sickness,' following Senart, is rendered 'misfortunes' by Bühler, and 'troubles' by Thomas, perhaps more accurately. For the Maurya law concerning slaves and hired servants see Arthaśâstra, Bk. iii, chap. 13. 'Teachers' (guru); but the word may be rendered 'elders,' so as to agree with other similar passages. Either translation is verbally correct. The correct reading of the passage 'This I will do' is due to Hultzsch (J. R. A. S., 1913, p. 654). Sh. inserts the words 'even after it is actually attained' (nirutaspi va puna); M. has the like. Bühler's and other early readings and renderings are wrong. 'The desired end' (taṁ athaṁ); the idiom occurs in the Arthaśâstra and elsewhere.