Indian Epigraphy c17.15

c17.15

Chakladar regarded the Kapileśvara inscription as a genuine copy of the Rummindei epigraph. Unfortunately, he did not notice that the nature of the Rummindei inscription precludes the possibility of its having other versions. It records that Aśoka visited Lumbinī-grāma, sanctified by the birth of the Buddha, on a pilgrimage and that he not only raised a pillar and platform on the holy site but exempted the village from the payment of bali (land tax payable in cash) and made it aṣṭa-bhāgika, i.e. entitled to pay the royal share of the produce at the rate of 1/8 instead of the normal rate which was much higher. It will be seen that such a record had no place outside Lumbinī-grāma (Rummindei) and that therefore no genuine copy of it required to have been displayed by the emperor in distant Orissa. We have little doubt that the Kapileśvara copy of the Rummindei inscription is a recent forgery.