Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c44.44

c44.44

As the inscription referred to is one of the most important documents of the constitutional history of Hindu India I propose to give it here in extenso, omitting the last lines which are not relevant. It has remained a puzzle and an object of whimsical treatment to the translators of Aśoka's inscriptions, who never thought for once that there could be anything else but religious matter in the 'Edicts' of Aśoka. If no violence is done to the natural sense of the words the meaning is clear. Early interpreters (to whom India must be thankful for the first interpretations of Aśoka's proclamations) have grasped the letter, not the spirit, of the Proclamation¹ under discussion, *viz.*, that Aśoka made the officers called Rājūkas 'independent.' But the circumstances under which the independence in question was granted, and its nature, have been missed. The text is as follows: