Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/183

 BIETHPLACE OF BUDDHA 149 gives the unexpected and interesting information that Asoka's devotion was not confined to Gautama Buddha, but included in its catholic embrace his predecessors, the " former Buddhas." The Seven Pillar Edicts, issued in their complete form in the year 242 B. c., when Asoka had reigned for thirty years and was nearing the close of his career of activity in worldly affairs, must be read along with the Fourteen Rock Edicts, to which they refer, and of which they may be considered an appendix. The principles enunciated in the earlier instructions are re-iterated and emphasized in the later; the regulations enforcing the sanctity of animal life are amplified and codified; and the series closes with the most valuable of ah 1 the documents, Pillar Edict No. 7, preserved on one monu- ment only, which recounts in orderly fashion the meas- ures adopted by the emperor in the course of his long reiga to promote " the growth of piety." The Supplementary Pillar Edicts are brief dedica- tory records, more curious than important. The Minor Eock Edicts, on the other hand, although of small bulk, are in some respects the most interesting of the inscriptions, and until recently presented a puzz- ling enigma, or series of enigmas. It now seems to be fairly well established that these Minor Rock Edicts were published thirty-eight complete years after Asoka's coronation, or about forty-one years after his accession, and that they must therefore be referred either to the year 232 or 231 B. c., the last year of the aged emperor's life. They are dated expressly 256 years