Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/202

 164 ASOKA MAURYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS sion in the extensive provision of relief for the sick. Arrangements for the healing of man and beast were provided, not only throughout all provinces of the em- pire, but also in the friendly independent kingdoms of Southern India and Hellenistic Asia, medicinal herbs and drugs, wherever lacking, being planted, imported, and supplied as needed. The animal hospitals which existed recently, and may still exist, at Bombay and Surat, may be regarded as either survivals or copies of the institutions founded by the Maurya monarch. The following account of the Surat hospital, as it was maintained late in the eighteenth century, would probably have been applica- ble with little change to the prototype at Pataliputra. " The most remarkable institution in Surat is the Banyan Hospital, of which we have no description more recent than 1780. It then consisted of a large piece of ground enclosed by high walls and subdivided into several courts or wards for the accommodation of ani- mals. In sickness they were attended with the greatest care, and here found a peaceful asylum for the infirmi- ties of old age. " When an animal broke a limb, or was otherwise disabled, his owner brought him to the hospital, where he was received without regard to the caste or nation of his master. In 1772, this hospital contained horses, mules, oxen, sheep, goats, monkeys, poultry, pigeons, and a variety of birds; also an aged tortoise, which was known to have been there seventy-five years. The most extraordinary ward was that appropriated for