The Mauryan Polity c5.s4.7

c5.s4.7

But what is more important and perhaps valuable is the study of decipherment, in which direction much energy and time have been spent not without profit to the scholarly world. The publication of drawing lithographs, impressions, and full copies of the inscriptions discovered next occupied the attention of Indologists. In 1834 in the *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal* (Vol. III) James Prinsep, the father of the interpretation of these dumb Edicts, essayed to read and understand the Aśokan alphabet by the classification of vowels, consonants, etc. His attempt produced vast and fruitful results. For Prinsep was able to read the Delhi-Topra Pillar Edicts fully and successfully and published it with his translation in the *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal* (Vol. VI). He pursued his studies with that critical and inquiring zeal characteristic of a born researcher. In 1838 he began a comparative study of the two inscriptions at Dhauli and Girnār and he found to his surprise that both of them were identical in every respect, whether it be in script, contents or otherwise. He translated them and had the whole published in the VII Volume of the *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal*.¹ The year 1879 is memorable in the long and interesting story of Aśokan scholarship from a variety of standpoints. Then was published the first volume of the *Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum* by Cunningham on the Inscriptions of Aśoka. The *Corpus* embodied the Rock Edicts, the Pillar Edicts, and the Cave Inscriptions so far discovered. A quick succession of publications with different interpretations followed. Prominent among these early works were Senart's *Les Inscriptions de Piyadasi* (1881) and Bühlers' contributions to the *Z. D. M. G.* and *Epigraphia Indica* (Vols. I and II). The momentous publication of all is the new edition of the *Corpus* by the late Hultzsch in 1925 whose life-work for the cause of Indian History is too well known to need mention here. It is a monumental publication, very valuable to students of India's Ancient History.