Asoka: Roads and Animals

[Jo]

Dear List,

 

Since I’m dying of curiosity, if I may ask, can someone tell me what is the edict’s term for ‘curry’?

 

Anthropologists are also skeptical of such number codes and have published about them-- but sorry, no references come to mind.

 

Thanks

Joanna

 

 

 

" Obliquely, the Ist Rock Edict: "Formerly in the kitchen of king Devanampriya Priyadarśin many hundred thousands of animals (bahūni

prāṇasatasahāsrani) were killed daily for the sake of curry"

[Hultzsch, 1925, p. 2]."

 

Sounds to me that one ought to apply the rule David Henige gives for premodern figures above ten thousand in his Numbers from Nowhere: The American Indian Contact Population Debate: just as a beginning, knock off the last digit.  Henige deals with evidence from a lot of other places besides the Americas, though as best I recall not South Asia.  

 

 

Allen

 

Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.

Asian Division, Library of Congress

Washington, DC 20540-4810

The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress.

 

 

 

  _____  

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1392 / Virus Database: 1520/3840 - Release Date: 08/17/11



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20110817/0a37ec39/attachment.htm>