Re: Asoka pillar

--- In palistudy@..., "Jim Anderson" <jimanderson_on@...> wrote:
> Thanks, Nina. I have added a similar translation below it.
>
> >Rummindei Inscription: < By His Sacred and Gracious Majesty the
King
> >when he had been consecrated twenty years, having come in person
and
> >reverence being done- inasmuch as <<Here was born Buddha, the sage
> >of the Sakyas>>- a stone bearing a horse was caused to be made and
a
> >stone pillar was erected. Inasmuch as <<Here the Holy One was born
>>,
> >the village of Lummini was released from religious cesses and
required to
> >pay (only) one-eighth as land revenue.>
>
> (a) When King Devaanampiya Piyadasi had been anointed twenty years,
he
>       came himself and worshipped (this spot) because the Buddha
Saakyamuni
>       was born here.
> (b) (He) both caused to be made a stone bearing a horse (?) and
caused a
>       stone pillar to be set up (in order to show) that the Blessed
One
>       (Bhagava.m) was born here.
> (c) (He) made the village of Lumminii free of taxes, and (paying)
only an
>       eighth share (of the produce).
>
> --translated by Hultzsch and quoted in S. Dutt's The Buddha and Five
> After-Centuries, p.22.
>
> A footnote says: "In (b), 'a stone bearing a horse' is Hultzsch's
> mistranslation for Silaaviga.dabhiicaa which means literally a
'great
> stone-wall', referring most probably to a stone-railing round the
monolith
> which had disappeared. The 'horse' was suggested by Hsuan Tsang's
> description."
>
> I thought 'laajina' was 'lajjinaa' in Pali but according to Dutt
it's
> 'raajina' (king -instr.) which would be 'ra~n~naa' in Pali or
'raaj~naa in
> Skt. I think the inflections 'e' of 'budhe jaate' may be for the
nominative.
> sing. (see Geiger's discussion on Magadhisms, sect. 80).
>
> Jim
>

Dear Jim and Nina,

Thank you both for this very much, I really appreciate the discussion,
and Jim's great translation, which I would like to ask about;  I would
like know more about the 'stone horse or wall'.  In Thai we use the
word 'ma' - high tone- to indicate not only the animal but something
with generally four 'legs' on which one sits or sets an object.  Is
there any possibility that in Pali this is also the case, say the
'horse' being the pedestal for something?  In which case could it be
the stone dug up under the Maha Maya statue in the temple, which is
said not to be a local stone, and not found within hundreds of miles
around?  The archeologists reported that although the temples built
over one another varied in shape and size, the statue has always been
in the same spot, right over the stone.

Thank you for your kindnesses and anumodana,

Amara