Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/269

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This earth, of hills the everlasting throne,

This earth, of all creation mother fair,

I give to the Assembly.

The blessing which attends such gift be mine;

Not Indra’s halls nor Brahma’s courts I crave,

Nor yet the splendours which round monarchs shine,

And pass away, like rushing Gangâs wave,

Abiding not a moment.

With faith unchangeable, which nought can shake,

This gift of Earth's immeasurable sphere

I to the Saints' Assembly freely make;

And self-control I crave, of boons most dear,

A good which changeth never.

King Asoka, having thus spoken, sealed the deed of gift, and presently fulfilled the law of mortality.

The forty millions of gold pieces which yet remained to complete King Asokafs vow for the gift of a thousand