Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/199

197 be subjected to torture,' of which eighteen appalling kinds are enumerated. The victim might be compelled to endure any or all of those kinds. When- Asoka. refers to 'torture without due cause' he seems to mean arbitrary torture applied without regard to the law. The irregularities of officials such as those denounced in general terms by Asoka. are dealt with specifically in chapter 9, which enacts among other things that the superintendent of a jail who subjects a prisoner to unjust torture shall be ﬁned 48 (silver) paṇas, probably nearly equivalent to either shillings or francs. If such an officer shall have beaten a prisoner to death, the ﬁne was 1,000 paṇas. Execution was often accompanied by deliberate legal torment, as explained in chapter 11. It is clear that Asoka. maintained the ferocious criminal code of the Arthaśâstra and of his grandfather. He merely tried to remedy abuses in administration by admonition and supervision, but no man can now tell how far he succeeded or failed.

For the meaning of anusaṁyâna' see comment on R. E. III.

'Regardful of the sanctity of life.' The word used, as Bühler points out, represents the curious Sanskrit compound ślakshṇârambhaḥ, which means 'sparing in sacrificial slaughter.'

Both Taxila and Ujjain were the capitals of princely Viceroys, ordinarily sons of the sovereigns by principal queens. Literary tradition represents Asoka as having served his father at both cities before his accession. We cannot explain with certainty why it was thought necessary to transfer the ofﬁcials in the outlying provinces every three years. 'Similar body [of officials];’ the word used represents the Sanskrit varga.

I think it may be said both that this document is now completely intelligible, and that the translation offered is entitled to acceptation as being correct.