Indian Epigraphy c12.2

c12.2

Different versions of Minor Rock Edict I of Aśoka contain the Prakrit words corresponding to Sanskrit *upagata*, *upayāta* and *upeta* (derived respectively from *upa-gam*, *upa-yā* and *upa-i*) in the same sense which has been variously understood.¹ Elsewhere² we have suggested that *upagata* = *upayāta* = *upeta* in the said context means *saṅgata*, ‘intimately associated’. In our opinion, the passages in question indicate Aśoka’s intimate association with the Buddhist Saṅgha. The lexicons, however, do no bear out this meaning quite clearly. In this connection, a study of similar words, often used in copper-plate grants to indicate the relation of the subordinates and officers of a king with the gift land or the district in which it was situated, may be of interest. These words are generally understood in the sense of ‘assembled’,³ though really some of them appear to support the above interpretation.