The Mauryan Polity c11.s3.t3.49

c11.s3.t3.49

(9) Next we have to consider the term Devānāmpriya, a title assumed by kings other than Aśoka as well. It was the title of Candragupta Maurya. It is contended that ‘Deva’ refers to the Jaina deity, and the title ‘beloved of the Gods’ is taken to be a profession of the Jaina faith. If this were so Aśoka’s faith in Buddhism becomes a myth, for, the term occurs in several of the Rock and Pillar Edicts. It is a title borne by Daśaratha, grandson of Aśoka.³ In fact the R.E. VII (Kālsī and Mānsehrā) shows that Aśoka’s predecessors also bore the same title. In the *Dīpavaṃśa* it is an attribute of Tissa King of Ceylon, a contemporary of Aśoka. A century later Patañjali uses it as a honorific and also in the ironical sense of a fool. But in the *Harṣacarita* Bāṇa uses it as an honorific.⁴ At the best the title does not warrant Aśoka's profession of the Buddhist faith.