Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c8.287

c8.287

With reference to Keith's remarks regarding the difference between the characters of the Epic and Upanishadic Kṛṣṇas, it may be said that in the *Aśokavadāna*, the Ceylonese Chronicles and the *Si-yu-ki* Aśoka appears in his actions and his practical advice in a very different aspect from the Aśoka of the Fifth and Thirteenth Rock Edicts. Are we to conclude from this that the Aśoka of the inscriptions is not identical with the Aśoka of the Chronicles? Again, Keith ignores the fact that the telling of truth is inculcated by the Epic Kṛṣṇa in the *Gītā*, xvi, 2, and in several other passages of the *Mahābhārata*, *e.g.*,