Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/219

217 one who causes dissension or does violent acts, or who is inimically disposed towards the guild (śrenî), association (pûga), or the king shall be instantly expelled from the town or the assembly of the corporation.'

Asoka takes upon himself as Head of the Church to eliminate schismatics and maintain ecclesiastical unity among both monks and nuns. No deﬁnite indication of the date of this edict can be discerned, but it is certainly la.ter than the Pillar Edicts, as is proved by the Kauśâmbi replica. I am inclined to associate its issue with the traditional Council of Pâṭaliputra, which is not mentioned in the review of pious acts recorded in P.E. VII. I assume, therefore, that the Council, which was assembled to correct the evils caused by schism, took place at some time in the last nine or ten years of Asoka's life. The syllables Pâṭa-, surviving at the beginning of line 3, can mean nothing but Pâṭaliputra and suggest that the orders must have been in the first instance directed to the High Officers of the imperial capital.

The edict, it will be observed, comprises two sections or distinct documents, each introduced by the customary formula, 'Thus saith,' &c.

The ﬂrst section prescribes the penalty for schism. The schismatic was to be ‘unfrocked’ by being deprived of the monastic yellow robe and compelled to assume white garments like the laity. His expulsion from the holy society was further to be marked by his exclusion from the monastic precincts and his enforced dwelling in a 'non-residence' (anâvâsa), which I translate as 'an external residence.' 'Mislead' (or 'deflect') renders bhokhati, now recognized rightly as the true reading. The root is bhuj, in the sense of 'bending.'

The meaning of the ﬁrst section, so far as it is extant, may be regarded as clear and ﬁnally settled.

The second section, dealing with the publication and enforcement of the imperial decree, has excited much difference of opinion, and the interpretation is not yet unanimously accepted.

The saṁsaraṇa certainly meant a place, a building of some sort, but whether it should be translated 'office’ or 'cloister,'