Re: [INDOLOGY] Aśokan formula problem?

[Dipak Bhattacharya]

Dear Colleague,
If I correctly understood your statements, the coronation should be annual.
In that case the number of years that elapsed since the first coronation
should not differ from the number of coronations r4ehearsed since then. Am
I correct?
Best
DB


On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 4:48 PM, Artur Karp <karp at uw.edu.pl> wrote:

> Dear List,
>
>
>
> Recently, I came upon a claim (not published so far) that the Aśokan
> formula *(X-number)var**ṣā**bhi**ṣ**iktena* [like in RE I, Girnar,
> *dbādasavās**ābhisitena*] does not convey the information on the number
> of years since the king's anointment, but, rather, the information on the
> successive number of *abhishekas* the king would perform on every
> anniversary of his rule's inauguration.
>
>
>
> So - not "the year X since my inauguration", but, against the standard
> renderings: "the year of my Xth *abhisheka*".
>
>
>
> Is there any linguistic reason for this kind of the formula's
> reinterpretation? The compound's structure?
>
>
>
> While looking through materials I have on hand, I came across the
> following statement in Jan Gonda's 1957 paper on Indian kingship (*Ancient
> Indian kingship from the religious point of view*, Numen, Vol. 4, Fasc.
> 2, p. 135):
>
>
>
> <<As  the  Asvamedha  is  the  king  of  sacrifices  701),  and  as  on
>  the  other hand the  sacrificer,  i.e.  the  king,  is  identical with
>  the  asvamedha,  certain  peculiarities  of  this  ritual  are  stated  to
>  correspond  to  certain  qualities  of  the  king.  Thus  he  is  disposed
>  to  be  "strong  in  arms",  because  the  front  legs  of  two  goats
>  sacrificed  during  the  asvamedha  are tied - "he  thereby lays  strength
>  into  the  front  legs" 702)  and  strong  in  thighs,  for  similar
>  reasons.  Before  we  leave  this  point  we  should  call attention  to
>  an  important  statement  made in  the  Visnudharmottara-purana  703).  *On
>  every  anniversary  of  the  first  'coronation' * *the  king  should
>  repeat  the  rites*;  this  leads  to  welfare,  to  increase  of  the
>  country,  to  the  destruction  of  the  enemies  and  so  on.  *Then
>  the  'inauguration'  has  become  cyclic*,  annually  carrying  the
>  ruler  and  his  realm  beyond  a  difficult  stage,  and  recreating  the
>  beneficial  power  inherent  in  kingship [boldfaces mine, A. K.]>>
>
>
>
> Is there - apart from the Vishnudharmottara-purana fragment quoted by
> Gonda - any evidence for such an annual royal ritual to be found anywhere
> in the corpus of Śastric/Buddhist literature?
>
>
>
> Any comment would be much appreciated.
>
>
> Best,
>
> Artur Karp
>
> Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit and Pali (ret.)
> South Asian Studies Deptt
> Oriental Faculty
> University of Warsaw
> Poland
>
>
>
>
>
>
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