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.

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