by Wikipedia
Accessed: 7/1/21
Until about a hundred years ago in India, Ashoka was merely one of the many kings mentioned in the Mauryan dynastic list included in the Puranas. Elsewhere in the Buddhist tradition he was referred to as a chakravartin/ cakkavatti, a universal monarch, but this tradition had become extinct in India after the decline of Buddhism. However, in 1837, James Prinsep deciphered an inscription written in the earliest Indian script since the Harappan, brahmi. There were many inscriptions in which the King referred to himself as Devanampiya Piyadassi (the beloved of the gods, Piyadassi). The name did not tally with any mentioned in the dynastic lists, although it was mentioned in the Buddhist chronicles of Sri Lanka. Slowly the clues were put together but the final confirmation came in 1915, with the discovery of yet another version of the edicts in which the King calls himself Devanampiya Ashoka.
-- The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to A.D. 1300, by Romila Thapar
In a study of the Mauryan period a sudden flood of source material becomes available. Whereas with earlier periods of Indian history there is a frantic search to glean evidence from sources often far removed and scattered, with the Mauryan period there is a comparative abundance of information, from sources either contemporary or written at a later date.
This is particularly the case with the reign of Aśoka Maurya, since, apart from the unintentional evidence of sources such as religious literature, coins, etc., the edicts of the king himself, inscribed on rocks and pillars throughout the country, are available. These consist of fourteen major rock edicts located at Kālsi, Mānsehrā, Shahbāzgarhi, Girnār, Sopārā, Yeṟṟaguḍi, Dhauli, and Jaugaḍa; and a number of minor rock edicts and inscriptions at Bairāṭ, Rūpanāth, Sahasrām, Brahmagiri, Gāvimath, Jaṭiṅga-Rāmeshwar, Maski, Pālkīguṇḍu, Rajūla-Maṇḍagiri, Siddāpura, Yeṟṟaguḍi, Gujarra and Jhansi. Seven pillar edicts exist at Allahabad, Delhi-Toprā, Delhi-Meerut, Lauriyā-Ararāja, Lauriyā-Nandangarh, and Rāmpūrvā. Other inscriptions have been found at the Barābar Caves (three inscriptions), Rummindei, Nigali-Sāgar, Allahabad, Sanchi, Sārnāth, and Bairāṭ. Recently a minor inscription in Greek and Aramaic was found at Kandahar.
The importance of these inscriptions could not be appreciated until it was ascertained to whom the title ‘Piyadassi’ referred, since the edicts generally do not mention the name of any king; an exception to this being the Maski edict, which was not discovered until very much later in 1915. The earliest publication on this subject was by Prinsep, who was responsible for deciphering the edicts. At first Prinsep identified Devanampiya Piyadassi with a king of Ceylon, owing to the references to Buddhism. There were of course certain weaknesses in this identification, as for instance the question of how a king of Ceylon could order the digging of wells and the construction of roads in India, which the author of the edicts claims to have done. Later in the same year, 1837, the Dīpavaṃsa and the Mahāvaṃsa, two of the early chronicles of the history of Ceylon, composed by Buddhist monks, were studied in Ceylon, and Prinsep was informed of the title of Piyadassi given to Aśoka in those works. This provided the link for the new and correct identification of Aśoka as the author of the edicts.
-- Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, by Romila Thapar
Legends about past lives
Buddhist legends mention stories about Ashoka's past lives. According to a Mahavamsa story, Ashoka, Nigrodha and Devnampiya Tissa were brothers in a previous life. In that life, a pratyekabuddha was looking for honey to cure another, sick pratyekabuddha. A woman directed him to a honey shop owned by the three brothers. Ashoka generously donated honey to the pratyekabuddha, and wished to become the sovereign ruler of Jambudvipa for this act of merit. The woman wished to become his queen, and was reborn as Ashoka's wife Asandhamitta. Later Pali texts credit her with an additional act of merit: she gifted the pratyekabuddha a piece of cloth made by her. These texts include the Dasavatthuppakarana, the so-called Cambodian or Extended Mahavamsa (possibly from 9th–10th centuries), and the Trai Bhumi Katha (15th century).
According to an Ashokavadana story, Ashoka was born as Jaya in a prominent family of Rajagriha. When he was a little boy, he gave the Gautama Buddha dirt imagining it to be food. The Buddha approved of the donation, and Jaya declared that he would become a king by this act of merit. The text also state that Jaya's companion Vijaya was reborn as Ashoka's prime-minister Radhagupta. In the later life, the Buddhist monk Upagupta tells Ashoka that his rough skin was caused by the impure gift of dirt in the previous life. Some later texts repeat this story, without mentioning the negative implications of gifting dirt; these texts include Kumaralata's Kalpana-manditika, Aryashura's Jataka-mala, and the Maha-karma-vibhaga. The Chinese writer Pao Ch'eng's Shih chia ju lai ying hua lu asserts that an insignificant act like gifting dirt could not have been meritorious enough to cause Ashoka's future greatness. Instead, the text claims that in another past life, Ashoka commissioned a large number of Buddha statues as a king, and this act of merit caused him to become a great emperor in the next life.
The 14th century Pali-language fairy tale Dasavatthuppakarana (possibly from c. 14th century) combines the stories about the merchant's gift of honey, and the boy's gift of dirt. It narrates a slightly different version of the Mahavamsa story, stating that it took place before the birth of the Gautama Buddha. It then states that the merchant was reborn as the boy who gifted dirt to the Buddha; however, in this case, the Buddha his attendant to Ānanda to create plaster from the dirt, which is used repair cracks in the monastery walls....
Rediscovery
Ashoka had almost been forgotten, but in the 19th century James Prinsep contributed in the revelation of historical sources. After deciphering the Brahmi script, Prinsep had originally identified the "Priyadasi" of the inscriptions he found with the King of Ceylon Devanampiya Tissa. However, in 1837, George Turnour discovered an important Sri Lankan manuscript (Dipavamsa, or "Island Chronicle") associating Piyadasi with Ashoka:"Two hundred and eighteen years after the beatitude of the Buddha, was the inauguration of Piyadassi, .... who, the grandson of Chandragupta, and the son of Bindusara, was at the time Governor of Ujjayani." — Dipavamsa
-- Ashoka, by Wikipedia
[I would like at this point to pay belated acknowledgement to my respected friend and colleague, Karl Khandalawala, which whom I have sometimes expressed differences of interpretation, in this case in opposing his view (which on hindsight appears to be entirely correct) that the Sarnath pillar reveals the influences of foreign (Achaemenid) influence. I hope this eminent art historian will now accept my personal apology and withdrawal. On this particular issue I am ready to admit that he was right, though I reserve my differences on other issues involving Asokan pillars. A further issue reflecting his correctness is embodied in the self-styled title Asoka used as the opening words of many of his inscriptions (Devanampiya Piyadassi), often translated as 'Beloved of the Gods." A century ago, this term was rightly recognised by the brilliant French Indologist Emile Senart, as borrowed from earlier Achaemenid inscriptions in Persia, yet since then ignored by all authorities writing on Asoka in English.]
-- The True Chronology of Aśokan Pillars, by John Irwin
[The Mahavamsa] is very important in dating the consecration of the Maurya Emperor Ashoka…
The Mahavamsa first came to the attention of Western readers around 1809 CE, when Sir Alexander Johnston, Chief Justice of the British colony in Ceylon, sent manuscripts of it and other Sri Lankan chronicles to Europe for publication. Eugène Burnouf produced a Romanized transliteration and translation into Latin in 1826... Working from Johnston's manuscripts, Edward Upham published an English translation in 1833, but it was marked by a number of errors in translation and interpretation, among them suggesting that the Buddha was born in Sri Lanka and built a monastery atop Adam's Peak. The first printed edition and widely read English translation was published in 1837 by George Turnour, an historian and officer of the Ceylon Civil Service…
Historiographical sources are rare in much of South Asia…
Early Western scholars like Otto Franke dismissed the possibility that the Mahavamsa contained reliable historical content…
The Chinese pilgrims Fa Hsien and Hsuan Tsang both recorded myths of the origins of the Sinhala people in their travels that varied significantly from the versions recorded in the Mahavamsa…
[T]he genealogy of the Buddha recorded in the Mahavamsa describes him as being the product of four cross cousin marriages. Cross-cousin marriage is associated historically with the Dravidian people of southern India -- both Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhala practiced cross-cousin marriage historically -- but exogamous marriage was the norm in the regions of northern India associated with the life of the Buddha. No mention of cross-cousin marriage is found in earlier Buddhist sources…
The Mahavamsa is believed to have originated from an earlier chronicle known as the Dipavamsa... The Dipavamsa is much simpler and contains less information than the Mahavamsa.
-- Mahavamsa, by Wikipedia
[The Dipavamsa] was... composed anonymously...
Regarding the Vijaya legend, Dipavamsa has tried to be less super-natural than the later work, Mahavamsa in referring to the husband of the Kalinga-Vanga princess, ancestor of Vijya, as a man named Sinha who was an outlaw that attacked caravans en route. In the meantime, Sinha-bahu and Sinhasivali, as king and queen of the kingdom of Lala (Lata), "gave birth to twin sons, sixteen times." The eldest was Vijaya and the second was Sumitta. As Vijaya was of cruel and unseemly conduct, the enraged people requested the king to kill his son. But the king caused him and his seven hundred followers to leave the kingdom, and they landed in Sri Lanka, at a place called Tamba-panni, on the exact day when the Buddha passed into Maha Parinibbana.
The Dipavamsa is considered "source material" to the Mahavamsa. The latter is more coherently organized...
The Dipavamsa was translated into English by Hermann Oldenberg in 1879.
-- Dipavamsa, by Wikipedia
James Prinsep
James Prinsep in medal cast c.1840 from the National Portrait Gallery
Born: 20 August 1799, England
Died: 22 April 1840 (aged 40), London, England
Academic background / Academic work
Main interests: Numismatics, Philology, Metallurgy and Meteorology
Notable works: Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal
Notable ideas: Deciphering Kharosthi and Brahmi scripts
James Prinsep FRS (20 August 1799 – 22 April 1840) was an English scholar, orientalist and antiquary. He was the founding editor of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and is best remembered for deciphering the Kharosthi and Brahmi scripts of ancient India. He studied, documented and illustrated many aspects of numismatics, metallurgy, meteorology apart from pursuing his career in India as an assay master at the mint in Benares.[1]
Early life
Young James drawn by his sister Emily
James Prinsep was the seventh son and the tenth child of John Prinsep (1746–1830) and his wife, Sophia Elizabeth Auriol (1760–1850). John Prinsep went to India in 1771 with almost no money and became a successful indigo planter. He returned to England in 1787 with a fortune of £40,000 and established himself as an East India merchant. He moved to Clifton in 1809 after incurring losses. His connections helped him find work for all his sons and several members of the Prinsep family rose to high positions in India. John Prinsep later became a Member of Parliament. James initially went to study in a school in Clifton run by a Mr. Bullock but learnt more at home from his older siblings. He showed a talent for detailed drawing and mechanical invention and this made him study architecture under the gifted but eccentric Augustus Pugin. His eyesight however declined due to an infection and he was unable to take up architecture as a profession. His father knew of an opening in the assay department at the mint in India and sent him to train in chemistry at Guy's Hospital and later as an apprentice to Robert Bingley, assay master at the Royal Mint in London (1818–19).[1][2]
Career in India
A Preacher Expounding The Poorans. In The Temple of Unn Poorna, Benares. Lithograph by Prinsep (1835)
Prinsep found a position as an assay master at the Calcutta mint and reached Calcutta along with his brother Henry Thoby on 15 September 1819. Within a year at Calcutta, he was sent by his superior, the eminent orientalist Horace Hayman Wilson, to work as assay master at the Benares mint. He stayed at Benares until the closure of that mint in 1830. He then moved back to Calcutta as deputy assay master, and when Wilson resigned in 1832, he was made assay master (overruling Wilson's nominee for that position, James Atkinson) at the new silver mint designed in Greek revival style by Major W. N. Forbes.
His work as assay master led him to conduct many scientific studies. He worked on means for measuring high temperatures in furnaces accurately. The publication of his technique in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London in 1828 led to his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He suggested the possibility of visual pyrometric measurement using a calibrated series of mica plates as well as using the thermal expansion of platinum but considered that a practical approach was to use calibrated combinations of platinum, gold and silver alloys placed in a cupel or crucible and observe their melting. He also described a pyrometer that measured the expansion of a small amount of air held within a gold bulb.[3] In 1833 he called for reforms to Indian weights and measures and advocated a uniform coinage based on the new silver rupee of the East India Company.[1] He also devised a balance so sensitive as to measure three-thousandth of a grain (≈0.19 mg).[4]
Architecture
Lithograph of Kupuldhara Tulao, Benares by Prinsep (1834)
James Prinsep continued to take an interest in architecture at Benares. Regaining his eyesight, he studied and illustrated temple architecture, designed the new mint building at Benares as well as a church. In 1822 he conducted a survey of Benares and produced an accurate map at the scale of 8 inches to a mile. This map was lithographed in England. He also painted a series of watercolours of monuments and festivities in Benares which were sent to London in 1829 and published between 1830 and 1834 as Benares Illustrated, in a Series of Drawings. He helped design an arched tunnel to drain stagnant lakes and improve the sanitation of the densely populated areas of Benares and built a stone bridge over the Karamansa river. He helped restore the minarets of Aurangzeb which were in a state of collapse. When he moved to Calcutta, he offered to help complete a canal that had been planned by his brother Thomas but left incomplete by the latter's death in 1830. Thomas's canal linked the River Hooghly with branches of the Ganges further to the east.[1]
Asiatic Society of Bengal
Bairat inscription, on which Prinsep worked to decipher Brahmi. On display in the Asiatic Society. See commemorative plate in honour of James Prinsep.
In 1829, Captain James D. Herbert started a serial called Gleanings in Science. Captain Herbert, however, was posted as Astronomer to the King of Oudh in 1830, leaving the journal to the editorship of James Prinsep, who was himself the primary contributor to it. In 1832 he succeeded H. H. Wilson as secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and suggested that the Society should take over Gleanings in Science and produce the Journal of the Asiatic Society. Prinsep became the founding editor of this journal and contributed articles on chemistry, mineralogy, numismatics and on the study of Indian antiquities. He was also very interested in meteorology and the tabulation of observations and the analysis of weather data from across the country. He worked on the calibration of instruments to measure humidity and atmospheric pressure.[5] He continued to edit the journal until his illness in 1838 which led to his leaving India and subsequently his death. Many of the plates in the journal were illustrated by him.[6]
Numismatist
Prinsep used bilingual Indo-Greek coins to decipher Kharoshthi. Obverse and reverse legends in Greek "Basileos Sotēros Menandroy" and Kharosthi "Maharaja Tratasa Menandrasa": "Of The Saviour King Menander".
Coins were Prinsep's first interest. He interpreted coins from Bactria and Kushan as well as Indian series coins, including "punch-marked" ones from the Gupta series. Prinsep suggested that there were three stages; the punch-marked, the die-struck, and the cast coins.[7][8] Prinsep also reported upon the native punch-marked coinage,[9] noting that they were better known in eastern India.[10]
Brahmi script philologist
The last two letters at the end of this inscriptions in Brahmi were guessed to form the word "dǎnam" (donation), which appears at the end of most inscriptions at Sanchi and Bharhut. This hypothesis permitted the complete decipherment of the Brahmi script by James Prinsep in 1837.[11][12][13]
Consonants of the Brahmi script, and their evolution down to modern Devanagari, according to James Prinsep, as published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in March 1838.[14]
Classification of the ancient character, No. 1. Prinsep's chart of the Brahmi characters found on the Allahabad pillar (1834, pl. 5).
-- The World's Writing Systems, edited by Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, 1996, © 1996 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
As a result of Prinsep's work as an editor of the Asiatic Society's journal, coins and copies of inscriptions were transmitted to him from all over India, to be deciphered, translated, and published.[15]
The first successful attempts at deciphering Brahmi were made in 1836 by Norwegian scholar Christian Lassen, who used the bilingual Greek-Brahmi coins of Indo-Greek kings Agathocles and Pantaleon to correctly identify several Brahmi letters.[16] The task was then completed by Prinsep, who was able to identify the rest of the Brahmi characters, with the help of Alexander Cunningham.[16]
In a series of results that he published between 1836–38 Prinsep was able to decipher the inscriptions on rock edicts found around India. The edicts in Brahmi script mentioned a King Devanampriya Piyadasi which Prinsep initially assumed was a Sri Lankan king.[17] He was then able to associate this title with Ashoka on the basis of Pali script from Sri Lanka communicated to him by George Turnour.[18][19] These scripts were found on the pillars at Delhi and Allahabad and on rock inscriptions from both sides of India, and also the Kharosthi script in the coins and inscriptions of the north-west. The idea of Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, a collection of Indian epigraphy, was first suggested by Prinsep and the work was formally begun by Sir Alexander Cunningham in 1877.[20] His studies on inscriptions helped in the establishment of date of Indian dynasties based on references to Antiochus and other Greeks.[1] Prinsep's research and writing were not confined to India. Prinsep also delved into the early history of Afghanistan, producing several works that touched on archaeological finds in that country. Many of the collections were sent by Alexander Burnes.[21] After James Prinsep's death, his brother Henry Thoby Prinsep published in 1844 a volume exploring the numismatist's work on collections made from Afghanistan.[22]
Other pursuits
A talented artist and draftsman, Prinsep made meticulous sketches of ancient monuments, astronomy, instruments, fossils and other subjects. He was also very interested in understanding weather. He designed a modified barometer that automatically compensated for temperature.[23] He maintained meteorological registers, apart from supplying barometers to volunteers and graphically summarising the records of others.[24][25][26] He conducted experiments on practical methods to prevent rusting of iron surfaces.[27]
Personal life
Prinsep married Harriet Sophia Aubert, elder daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Jeremiah Aubert (grandson of Alexander Aubert) of the Bengal army and his wife Hannah, at the cathedral in Calcutta on 25 April 1835. They had a daughter Eliza in 1837 who was to be the only child to survive.[28][29]
He was elected a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1839.[30]
Death and legacy
Prinsep Ghat at Kolkata (Calcutta)
Portrait by Colesworthey Grant (c. 1838)
Prinsep literally worked himself to death. From 1838 he began to suffer from recurrent headaches and sickness. It was initially thought to be related to a liver (bilious) condition and he was forced to get away from his studies and left for England in November 1838 aboard the Herefordshire.[31] He arrived in England in poor condition and did not recover. He died on 22 April 1840 in his sister Sophia Haldimand's home at 31 Belgrave Square of a "softening of the brain".[1] A genus of plant Prinsepia was named after him by the botanist John Forbes Royle in 1839 in appreciation of his work.[32]
News of his death reached India and several memorials were commissioned. A bust at the Asiatic Society was to be made by Francis Chantrey but was finished by Henry Weekes. Prinsep Ghat, a Palladian porch on the bank of the Hooghly River designed by W. Fitzgerald in 1843, was erected in his memory by the citizens of Calcutta.[1][4][33] Part of his original collection of ancient coins and artefacts from the Indian subcontinent is now in the British Museum, London.[34]
See also
• William Jones
• Allahabad Pillar
References
1. Losty, JP (2004). "Prinsep, James (1799–1840)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.(subscription or UK public library membership required)
2. Prinsep, James (1858). Essays On Indian Antiquities, Historic, Numismatic, And Palæographic, Of The Late James Prinsep, F.R.S., Secretary To The Asiatic Society Of Bengal; To Which Are Added His Useful Tables, Illustrative Of Indian History, Chronology, Modern Coinages, Weights, Measures, Etc. Edited, With Notes, And Additional Matter, By Edward Thomas, Late Of The Bengal Civil Service; Member Of The Asiatic Societies Of Calcutta, London, And Paris. In Two Volumes. - Vol. I. London: John Murray.
3. Prinsep, J (1828). "On the Measurement of High Temperatures". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 118: 79–95. doi:10.1098/rstl.1828.0007.
4. Firminger, Walter Kelly (1906). Thacker's Guide to Calcutta. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co. pp. 36–37.
5. Prinsep, J. (1836). "Experimental researches on the depression of the wet-bulb hygrometer". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal: 396–432.
6. Mitra, Rajendralala (1885). Centenary Review of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. From 1784 to 1883. Part 1. History of the Society. Asiatic Society of Bengal. pp. 50–51.
7. Prinsep, J. (1837). "Specimens of Hindu Coins descended from the Parthian type, and of the Ancient Coins of Ceylon". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 6 (1): 288–302.
8. Prinsep, J. (1833). "Bactrian and Indo-Scythic Coins-continued". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 2: 405–416.
9. Prinsep, J. (1832). "On the Ancient Roman Coins in the Cabinet of the Asiatic Society". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 1: 392–408.
10. Bhandarkar, DR (1921). Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics. The Carmichael Lectures. University of Calcutta. pp. 38–42.
11. Salomon, Richard (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press. p. 207. ISBN 9780195356663.
12. Allen, Charles (2012). Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-1-4087-0388-5.
13. Heinz, Carolyn Brown; Murray, Jeremy A. (2018). Asian Cultural Traditions: Second Edition. Waveland Press. ISBN 978-1-4786-3764-6.
14. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Calcutta : Printed at the Baptist Mission Press [etc.] 1838.
15. Prinsep, J (1837). "Account of an Inscription found by Mr. H S Boulderson, in the neighbourhood of Bareilly". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 6 (2): 772–786.
16. Jump up to:a b Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2017). Buddhism and Gandhara: An Archaeology of Museum Collections. Taylor & Francis. p. 181. ISBN 9781351252744.
17. Prinsep, J (1837). "Interpretation of the most ancient of inscriptions on the pillar called lat of Feroz Shah, near Delhi, and of the Allahabad, Radhia and Mattiah pillar, or lat inscriptions which agree therewith". Journal of the Asiatic Society. 6: 566–609.
18. Prinsep, J. (1837). "Further elucidation of the lat or Silasthambha inscriptions from various sources". Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of London: 790–797.
19. Prinsep, J (1837). "Note on the Facsimiles of the various Inscriptions on the ancient column at Allahabad, retaken by Captain Edward Smith, Engineers". Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 6: 963–980.
20. Cunningham, A (1877). Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. Volume 1. Inscritions of Asoka. Calcutta: Government of India.
21. Prinsep, J (1833). "Note on Lieutenant Burnes' Collection of Ancient coins". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal: 310–318.
22. Prinsep, Henry Thoby (1844). Note on the Historical Results deducible from Recent Discoveries in Afghanistan. London: W. H. Allen & Co.
23. Prinsep, J (1833). "Description of a Compensation Barometer, and Observations on Wet Barometers". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 2: 258–262.
24. Prinsep, J (1828). "Abstract of a Meteorological Journal Kept at Benares during the Years 1824, 1825, and 1826". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 118: 251–255. doi:10.1098/rstl.1828.0013. S2CID 186210023.
25. Prinsep, J (1836). "A comparative view of the daily range of the Barometer in different parts of India". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 5: 816–827.
26. Prinsep, J (1832). "Observations of the Transit of Mercury". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 1: 408–411.
27. Prinsep, J. (1834). "Experiments on the Preservation of Sheet Iron from Rust in India". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 3: 191–192.
28. Losty, JP (2004). "Prinsep, James (1799–1840)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.(subscription or UK public library membership required)
29. Prinsep, James (1858). Essays On Indian Antiquities, Historic, Numismatic, And Palæographic, Of The Late James Prinsep, F.R.S., Secretary To The Asiatic Society Of Bengal; To Which Are Added His Useful Tables, Illustrative Of Indian History, Chronology, Modern Coinages, Weights, Measures, Etc. Edited, With Notes, And Additional Matter, By Edward Thomas, Late Of The Bengal Civil Service; Member Of The Asiatic Societies Of Calcutta, London, And Paris. In Two Volumes. - Vol. I. London: John Murray.
30. "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
31. Anonymous (1839). "Preface". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 7 (1): x-xi.
32. Royle, JF (1839). Illustrations of the Botany and other branches of the natural history of the Himalayan Mountains. Volume 1. London: W H Allen and Co.
33. Laurie, W.F.B. (1887). Sketches of some distinguished Anglo-Indians. London: W.H.Allen & Co. pp. 171–174.
34. British Museum Collection
Other sources
• Prinsep, J. (1837). "Interpretation of the Most Ancient of the Inscriptions on the Pillar Called the Lát of Feroz Sháh, near Delhi, and of the Allahabad Rodhia and Mattiah Pillar, or Lát, Inscriptions Which Agree Therewith". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 6: 566–609.
• Kejariwal, O. P. (1993), The Prinseps of India: A Personal Quest. The Indian Archives, 42 (1-2)
• Allbrook, Malcolm (2008), 'Imperial Family': The Prinseps, Empire and Colonial Government in India and Australia, Ph.D. thesis, Griffith University, Australia.
• James Prinsep and O. P. Kejariwal (2009), "Benares Illustrated" and "James Prinsep and Benares" , Pilgrims Publishing, ISBN 81-7769-400-6.
External links
• "James Prinsep" entry in Encyclopædia Britannica
• Thomas, Edward, editor (1858) Essays On Indian Antiquities, Historic, Numismatic, And Palæographic, Of The Late James Prinsep, F.R.S., Secretary To The Asiatic Society Of Bengal; To Which Are Added His Useful Tables, Illustrative Of Indian History, Chronology, Modern Coinages, Weights, Measures, Etc. Volume 1 Volume 2
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Chapter 1. Discovering Ashoka, Excerpt from "Ashoka: The Great and Compassionate King"
by Subhadra Sen Gupta
2009
1. Discovering Ashoka
One of the greatest mysteries of ancient India was solved not by a historian but a scientist. When James Prinsep cracked the puzzle of an ancient script that no one could read, he swept away the curtains of time to reveal one of India's greatest kings -- a magnificent monarch who once again stood centre stage, speaking to us across a span of 2,000 years.
He called himself Devanampiya Piyadasi, or beloved of the gods and handsome in looks. We know him as Ashoka, and call him 'the Great'. Not just because he ruled over one of the largest Indian empires but also because he was an unusually humane and compassionate king. There are only two kings in Indian history who have earned the title 'Great' -- one is the Mughal king Akbar and the other is Ashoka. The historian A.L. Basham calls him, 'The greatest and noblest ruler India has known and indeed one of the greatest kings of the world.' And the surprising fact is that we forgot all about him for 2,000 years.
STRANGE PIN MEN
The story of the discovery of Ashoka begins in the early years of the nineteenth century when a large part of India had been conquered by the English and was ruled by the East India Company. Many young Englishmen came to this country to work and joined the administration, army, police and the trading houses. What was extraordinary about some of these men was their curiosity about the history and culture of the country they had come to rule. They learnt Persian and Sanskrit and began to translate our ancient texts into English. Others collected coins, paintings, sculptures and manuscripts and drew sketches of ancient monuments. They came as colonisers ready to rule, and fell in love with the country instead.
In 1784 Sir William Jones, an Englishman who worked for the East India Company, founded the Asiatic Society and this became the hub of all research around Indian history and culture. One of its most energetic members was an army man named Alexander Cunningham who would one day lay the foundation of the Archaeological Survey of India. It is a sad fact that even today most Indians do not show much respect for our cultural treasures like monuments, sculptures, paintings and manuscripts. We have no regret about breaking up an ancient stupa and using its bricks to build a bazaar, selling sculptures and paintings to smugglers, and letting manuscripts turn to dust. It was Englishmen like Jones and Cunningham who saved and preserved our precious heritage from ruin and wanton destruction.
While travelling around the country on work, many of these English officials had noticed tall, beautifully polished sandstone pillars that were covered in a mysterious script that no one could read. The pillars looked like ancient sentinels guarding the land, but no one knew who had put them up or why. Some of the pillars also had exquisitely carved capitals of lions, bulls and elephants, and were decorated with borders of leaves and flowers. Thinking it may be the script of some primitive form of Sanskrit, they even took the help of Brahmin scholars but no one could decipher the words.
The simple and erect letters were oddly childlike in shape, with curves, circles, straight and squiggly lines and dots. Some letters resembled stick-like human figures and one man described them as 'pin men'. They were very unlike the curving Devanagari script used to write Sanskrit. Some scholars speculated that the writing was in Greek and described the conquests of Alexander, but they were proved wrong. These were in fact the oldest surviving written documents in India.
As a matter of fact, two centuries before, the first European to notice an Ashokan pillar was an eccentric English traveller named Thomas Coryat. He had walked from England to Delhi during the reign of Jahangir. In 1616 he spotted a pillar in Delhi soaring over the ruins of the fortress called Ferozshah Kotla that was built by Firuzshah Tughlak. The sandstone was so finely polished and shone so brightly in the sun that he thought it was made of brass. He was convinced that the inscription was in Greek and so concluded that it was in some way connected to Alexander. He got it all wrong. Alexander never got as far as Delhi and the script was Indian. Fifty years later, John Marshall, who worked in the East India Company, saw a pillar in Bihar with a carved lion on top as its capital and it also had inscriptions carved on it.
Pillars were discovered in places as distant as Delhi, Allahabad, a village in Bihar and in the jungles of Nepal. Many enthusiastic amateur historians made tracings of the inscriptions and sent them to the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. Then the same kind of writing was found carved on large rock faces and these were seen as far west as Gujarat and as far south as Mysore. Captain James Tod, who discovered the rock inscriptions at Girnar in Gujarat, described how the giant rock 'by the aid of an "iron pen" has been converted into a book'. And each letter was nearly two feet high!
The mystery deepened and the excitement grew. These were obviously the messages of a mighty king who had ruled over a huge empire that not only included most of India but stretched into Nepal and Afghanistan. A search began for this mysterious monarch. Ancient Sanskrit texts, like the Puranas, often carry a long list of Hindu kings. Many temples had inscriptions on their walls by rajas describing the length and breadth of their kingdoms, but none of them seemed to fit this nameless king. What was even more baffling was how such a powerful monarch had been so completely forgotten! The only way to get some answers was to decipher those maddeningly cryptic 'pin men' words.
JAMES PRINSEP
Then in 1819 James Prinsep arrived in India to take up the post of Assistant Assay-Master of the Mint in Calcutta. His job was to supervise the manufacture of coins, but he also used his scientific skills to study coins and manuscripts. He liked India immensely and met eminent Indians like Rabindranath Tagore's grandfather Dwarkanath, who was a rich businessman, and his friend Rammohan Roy, who was a scholar and social reformer. Prinsep was a scientific genius who had actually trained as an architect, but was given a job that required the skills of a chemist. His brother wrote that he was 'well grounded in chemistry, mechanics and the useful sciences'. While working in Varanasi he designed a new sewer system for the city and built a new bazaar. He was also a talented artist and his delicately coloured etchings of the ghats and temples of Varanasi are still being printed in books. As a true scientist he was, in fact, curious about everything.
Prinsep was always building complicated machines. Historian Charles Allen writes, 'James installed outside his office an ingenious steam driven device that not only powered a lathe and a series of punkahs or fans hanging from the ceiling but also operated some kind of musical organ -- so that he could at the same time work, keep cool and enjoy music.'
As a member of the Asiatic Society he was, at first, busy studying its collection of coins. But one day the 'pin men' writings caught his eye and he was instantly fascinated. He now got people across the country to make more tracings and, by 1834, tracings of longer inscriptions found on rocks had arrived in Calcutta. The most important were from a rock inscription in Dhauli in Orissa and another from Girnar. (If you want to get a first hand look at the 'pin men', a fascinating facsimile of the Girnar rock and inscription stands in the front lawns of the National Museum in Delhi.)
Prinsep found some really eccentric men to join the search and their adventures in the wilds of the country make for fascinating reading. There was Lieutenant Markham Kittoe who had actually been sent to Orissa to search for coal fields and, in 1837, discovered a carved rock at Dhauli. Prinsep sent him back to get a tracing of the inscription. Let's read about his adventures in Kittoe's own words.
He wrote in a letter to Prinsep:
I instantly left at 6 p.m. for Dhauli, which curious place I reached before daybreak and had to wait till it was light; for the two bear cubs which escaped me there last year, when I killed the old bear, were now full grown and disputing the ground. At daybreak 1 climbed to the (rock) and cutting two large forked boughs of a tree placed them against the rock; on these I stood to affect my object. I had taken the precaution to make a bearer hold the wood steady, but being intent on my interesting task I forgot my ticklish footing; the bearer had also fallen asleep and let go of his hold, so that having over balanced myself the wood slipped and I was pitched head foremost down the rock, but fortunately fell on my hands and received no injury beyond a few bruises and a severe shock; I took a little rest and then completed the job.
You may wonder how these tracings were made, especially when they were on large rocks and the pillars were over forty feet tall. Using tracing paper and a pencil would not really work! And, of course, no one could pull out their digital cameras and take a few quick photos. What they did was smear the pillar or rock face with printer's ink or red colour, then pressed a thin cloth over it, let it dry and then carefully peeled it off. It was quick but not very effective because often the pillars were broken or the rock had developed cracks and worse, these inscriptions had been fading for 2,000 years. You can be sure Prinsep got many smudged and messy specimens of writings but that did not stop him.
At that time scholars were familiar with two scripts that were early forms of Sanskrit. As the historian Jobo Kaey describes them, there was 'a more ornate chunky script (Gupta Brahmi) and the more curved and rounded script (Kutila) from which springs the washing-on-the-line script of Devanagari.' Many Brahmin scholars could read these two scripts, but a close study made it clear that the 'pin men' script was completely unconnected to either Gupta Brahmi or Kutila.
EUREKA!
Prinsep was a busy man, but for four years he worked relentlessly to decipher the script, often toiling through Calcutta's hot and muggy summers when most of the English escaped to the hills. Then, in 1837, a bunch of tracings arrived from Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh. They had been discovered on the railings and gateways of a stupa and a broken pillar lying near it. The people said that a local zamindar had uprooted the pillar and broken it to use as a sugar cane press. Prinsep immediately noticed that these inscriptions were different -- they were shorter, usually with three or four lines of text, and that they all ended with what he thought was the same word of three letters -- a snake like squiggle that looked a bit like an 'S' with a tail, followed by an inverted 'T' and then a dot.
This was when Prinsep got an extraordinary brainwave. He remembered that during his travels he had seen many Sanskrit inscriptions on the walls and pillars of temples that recorded the donations made by devotees. One word that was always used in them was danam or 'gifted by'. So if the last word was indeed danam then he had three alphabets -- D, N and M. Soon the other consonants and vowels fell into place and he could read the script that he called Ashoka Brahmi.
The language was not Sanskrit but Pali, an ancient dialect of Sanskrit. Fortunately the sacred Buddhist texts of Tibet are written in Pali, so there were scholars who could read it. As they pored over the tracings, a new world opened before them. They were reading inscriptions that recorded the donations made to a Buddhist monastery in Sanchi by people who had lived 2,000 years ago! The most interesting among them was one modest line that read, 'Kadasa bhichuno danam' -- the gift of Kada, a poor man.
The Ashoka Brahmi script and how it would read in English. Try writing your name using the ancient alphabet!
LISTEN TO ME ...
Using his new knowledge Prinsep now tackled the longer inscriptions and immediately realized that they all began with the same sentence. It said, 'Devanampiye piyadasi raja hevam aha' and the word 'raja' convinced him that it was the proclamation of a king. Soon he had the full translation. It said, 'The beloved of the gods, Piyadasi Raja declares ...' Prinsep had got it right! This was a king, probably called Piyadasi, making a declaration to his subjects. As he read on, he found something even more intriguing, the subjects of his declarations were very different from the ones he had read so far.
In ancient India, when king's got royal proclamations carved on stone these were always full of impossible boasts and lofty claims. The kings claimed to be god-like creatures, brave as lions, descended from the sun or moon and talked of how they had won wars, vanquished their enemies and ruled huge kingdoms. They were always superhuman beings and given many long-winded titles. However, here was a king who referred to himself modestly, as a mere 'raja', and talked to his people more like a kind and caring father. Even more surprisingly, he confessed publicly to the mistakes he had made. One inscription began, 'Thus spake King Devanampiya Piyadasi. In the twenty-seventh year of my anointment I have caused this religious edict to be published in writing. I acknowledge and confess the faults that have been cherished in my heart...'
The more he read, the more questions bedevilled Prinsep. Who was this King Piyadasi? At times he referred to himself as 'raja magadhe', so he must have ruled the kingdom of Magadha. None of the ancient Sanskrit lists of kings carried such a name. Then he got a lucky break. A scholar named George Turnour, working in Sri Lanka, was translating an ancient text called Mahavamsa and he discovered that there was a Lankan king named Piyadasi. But it was hard to believe that this king, ruling a tiny island south of the Indian subcontinent, could get inscriptions placed as far north as Bihar! The final link was again found in a Lankan text that explained that Piyadasi was a popular royal title and that the Lankan king shared it with another king who ruled at the same time in India. The two kings were allies and the text gave the real name of this Indian king.[NO CITATION!]
I cannot help mentioning a discovery which accident threw in my way, though my proofs must be reserved for an essay which I have destined for the fourth volume of your Transactions. To fix the situation of that Palibothra (for there may have been several of the name) which was visited and described by Megasthenes, had always appeared a very difficult problem, for though it could not have been Prayaga, where no ancient metropolis ever stood, nor Canyacubja, which has no epithet at all resembling the word used by the Greeks; nor Gaur, otherwise called Lacshmanavati, which all know to be a town comparatively modern, yet we could not confidently decide that it was Pataliputra, though names and most circumstances nearly correspond, because that renowned capital extended from the confluence of the Sone and the Ganges to the site of Patna, while Palibothra stood at the junction of the Ganges and Erannoboas, which the accurate M. D'Anville had pronounced to be the Yamuna; but this only difficulty was removed, when I found in a classical Sanscrit book, near 2000 years old, that Hiranyabahu, or golden armed, which the Greeks changed into Erannoboas, or the river with a lovely murmur, was in fact another name for the Sona itself; though Megasthenes, from ignorance or inattention, has named them separately. This discovery led to another of greater moment, for Chandragupta, who, from a military adventurer, became like Sandracottus the sovereign of Upper Hindustan, actually fixed the seat of his empire at Pataliputra, where he received ambassadors from foreign princes; and was no other than that very Sandracottus who concluded a treaty with Seleucus Nicator; so that we have solved another problem, to which we before alluded, and may in round numbers consider the twelve and three hundredth years before Christ, as two certain epochs between Rama, who conquered Silan a few centuries after the flood, and Vicramaditya, who died at Ujjayini fifty-seven years before the beginning of our era.
-- Discourse X. Delivered February 28, 1793, P. 192, Excerpt from "Discourses Delivered Before the Asiatic Society: And Miscellaneous Papers, on The Religion, Poetry, Literature, Etc. of the Nations of India", by Sir William Jones
Ashoka had almost been forgotten, but in the 19th century James Prinsep contributed in the revelation of historical sources. After deciphering the Brahmi script, Prinsep had originally identified the "Priyadasi" of the inscriptions he found with the King of Ceylon Devanampiya Tissa. However, in 1837, George Turnour discovered an important Sri Lankan manuscript (Dipavamsa, or "Island Chronicle") associating Piyadasi with Ashoka:
"Two hundred and eighteen years after the beatitude of the Buddha, was the inauguration of Piyadassi, .... who, the grandson of Chandragupta, and the son of Bindusara, was at the time Governor of Ujjayani." — Dipavamsa.
-- Ashoka, by Wikipedia
A few decades later another inscription was discovered at Maski in Karnataka that confirmed it.
Raja Devanam Piyadasi's name was Ashoka.
[Librarian's Comment: Contrast increased to show how the word "Ashoka" was added to the end of the first line in a rough-uneven area that the original writer was careful to avoid with respect to the entirety of the remaining inscription, that has all been rendered on the flattest-available portions of the rock face. If stones could speak, this one would cry "foul!"]
Maski is a town and an archaeological site in the Raichur district of the state of Karnataka, India. It lies on the bank of the Maski river which is a tributary of the Tungabhadra. Maski derives its name from Mahasangha or Masangi. The site came into prominence with the discovery of a minor rock edict of Emperor Ashoka by C. Beadon in 1915. It was the first edict of Emperor Ashoka that contained the name Ashoka in it instead of the earlier edicts that referred him as Devanampiye piyadasi. This edict was important to conclude that many edicts found earlier in the Indian sub-continent in the name of Devanampiye piyadasi, all belonged to Emperor Ashoka....
The Maski version of Minor Rock Edict No.1 was historically especially important in that it confirmed the association of the title "Devanampriya" ("Beloved-of-the-Gods") with Ashoka:
[A proclamation] of Devanampriya Asoka.
Two and a half years [and somewhat more] (have passed) since I am a Buddha-Sakya.
[A year and] somewhat more (has passed) [since] I have visited the Samgha and have shown zeal.
Those gods who formerly had been unmingled (with men) in Jambudvipa, have how become mingled (with them).
This object can be reached even by a lowly (person) who is devoted to morality.
One must not think thus, — (viz.) that only an exalted (person) may reach this.
Both the lowly and the exalted must be told: "If you act thus, this matter (will be) prosperous and of long duration, and will thus progress to one and a half.
— Maski Minor Rock Edict of Ashoka.
-- Maski, by Wikipedia
Now everything fell into place. Historians knew of the reign of a king named Chandragupta, who had founded the Maurya dynasty in 324 BC and who had an adviser named Chanakya or Kautilya. He had ruled over a huge empire and his capital was a magnificent city named Pataliputra (modern Patna in Bihar). The Hindu list of kings showed that he had a grandson named Ashoka. Until now nothing was known about Ashoka's reign and so historians had never taken any interest in him. Now they were looking at rocks and pillars covered with his proclamations spread across the subcontinent. And this very unusual king was talking about caring for his subjects and spreading the message of virtuous living that he called dhamma. He also mentioned sending royal embassies not just to his friend King Piyadasi, in Sri Lanka, but also to the kings of Burma, Thailand, Egypt, Syria and Macedon!
The discovery of Ashoka is a crucial link in our understanding of the history of ancient India, in the years following the invasion of Alexander. We find nothing about his life in Sanskrit texts but, as he was a Buddhist, he is mentioned in the sacred texts of Sri Lanka and Tibet. So we can roughly guess the important events and dates of his life. Suddenly we are inundated with stories about him, his family and his reign -- fascinating details of his mother Subhadrangi, first wife Mahadevi, son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra who travelled to Sri Lanka to spread the message of the Buddha. Also about how Ashoka ruled and the tale of an evil younger queen called Tissarakshita, who would ruin his old age. As a matter of fact, we know more about Ashoka's life than we do of kings who ruled many centuries later.
Sadly, James Prinsep's story has a very tragic end. For years he had toiled as the secretary of the Asiatic Society and then he became obsessed with cracking the code of the 'pin men' inscriptions. He neglected his health and worked so relentlessly that he fell seriously ill. A mentally and physically exhausted Prinsep was taken back to England by his family and died soon after. He was only forty years old. Today we need another Prinsep to decipher the pictorial script of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa that continues to baffle historians. Calcutta did not forget him and the Prinsep Ghat that still stands on the Ganga River is named after him.
James Prinsep gave us the 'danam' of bringing to life once again one of India's greatest kings, moving back the curtain of darkness that had enveloped ancient India. His work was continued by other enthusiastic Englishmen. For instance, his protege Alexander Cunningham would discover the lion capital at Sarnath and Ashoka' s wheel of dhamma. When India became independent the carving of four roaring lions was chosen as the symbol of the Republic of India. The wheel of the Ashoka chakra was placed at the centre of the saffron, white and green Indian flag. King Ashoka and his dhamma of virtue, peace and non-violence is now a part of our lives.
TRANSPORTING A PILLAR
People had been interested in the Ashokan pillars for ages. In 1356 AD, the Delhi Sultan Firuzshah Tughlak transported two pillars from Meerut and Topra, near Ambala, to Delhi. It must have been a very tough job as the pillars were made of solid sandstone and, at around forty feet tall, they weighed over fifty tons each. Thousands of men and elephants laboured on the job and there is a description of the whole enterprise in the book Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi by Ziauddin Barani.
He writes. 'Directions were issued for bringing parcels of the cotton of the silk-cotton tree. Quantities of this silk-cotton were placed around the column and when the earth at its base was removed, it fell gently over on the bed prepared for it ... The pillar was then encased from top to bottom in reeds and ram skins ... a carriage with forty-two wheels was constructed. and ... after great labour and difficulty the pillar was raised onto the carriage.
'A strong rope was fastened to each wheel and two hundred men pulled at each rope ... The carriage was moved and was brought to the banks of of the Jumna. Here the sultan came to meet it. A number of large boats had been collected, some of which could carry five thousand to seven thousand maunds of grain. The column was very ingeniously transferred to these boats and was then conducted to Firozabad [Delhi] where it was landed and conveyed into the palace with infinite labour and skill.'