The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c12.145

c12.145

¹ The Dîpavaṃśa (XI, 14, 19, 20, 25) calls the Ceylonese ruler Tissa Devânâmpriya. A Ceylonese inscription applies the designation to other kings. For the Nâgârjunî Hill Cave Inscription, Ind. Ant., XX, 364 et seq. Bhaṭṭojî Dīkṣita in his Siddhânta Kaumudî and Hemacandra in his Abhidhânacintâmaṇi take Devânâmpriya to signify a ‘fool’ or ‘dunce,’ but that meaning was obviously unknown in the time of Aśoka. See D. R. Bhandarkar, Aśoka, pp. 5–7; J. R. A. S., 1908, pp. 482-83. The name of Aśoka occurs only in the edict recently discovered at Maski in the Raichur district of Hyderabad-Deccan (Hyderabad Archaeological Series, No. 1, 1915).