Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor (58 page)

23
James Prinsep, ‘Discovery of the Name of Antiochus the Great, in Two of the Edicts of Asoka, King of India’,
JASB
, Vol. VII, 1838.

24
Ven. S. Dhammika,
The Edicts of King Asoka
, 2009.

25
George Turnour,
JASB
, Vol. VII, 1838.

Chapter 9. Brian Hodgson’s Gift

1
Undated letter from his biographer W. W. Hunter quoted in David Waterhouse, Ed.
The Origins of Himalayan Studies: Brian Houghton Hodgson in Nepal and Darjeeling 1820–1858
, 2004.

2
B. H. Hodgson in a letter to W. W. Hunter, dated 1 November 1867, quoted in David Waterhouse, ed.
The Origins of Himalayan Studies: Brian Houghton Hodgson in Nepal and Darjeeling 1820–1858
, 2004.

3
Except up in India’s north-west borders and beyond where, as James Prinsep had discovered, a local ‘Bactrian’ was spoken and written, better known today as Kharosthi.

4
John S. Strong,
The Legend of King A
oka: a Study and Translation of the A
okavadana
, 1983.

5
V. P. Vasiliev, Introduction to the Russian translation of Taranatha’s
History of Buddhism in India
, 1869.

6
The
Avadana-Kalpalata
and
Magadhai-pandita sa-dban-bzan-po
, the last being the work of a Pandit Ksemendrabhadra of Magadha.

7
Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya,
Taranatha’s History of Buddhism in India
, 1970.

8
There was a dynasty of Candra kings who ruled in Arakan and the eastern fringes of Bengal from about 350 CE to 600 CE. The later Candras were Buddhists with close ties to Lanka, so it is possible that Taranatha heard of them and muddled them up with Ashoka’s family.

9
The full title is
Foé Koué Ki, ou Relations des Royaumes Bouddhiques: voyage dans la Tarsarie, dans l’Afghanistan et dans l’Inde, exécuté, à la fin du IVe siècle, par Chy Fa Hian, traduit du chinois et commenté par Abel Rémusat. Ouvrage Posthume. Revu, complété et augmenté d’éclaircissements nouveaux par MM. Klaproth et Landresse
, 1836.

10
This was afterwards followed by a more complete translation by Julien of Xuanzang’s travels under the title of
Memoires sur les Contrées Occidental, traduits du Sanscrit en Chinois en l’an 648, par Hiouen-tsang
, published in two volumes in 1857 and 1858.

Chapter 10. Records of the Western Regions

1
The full story is told in Sun Shuyun,
Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud
, 2004.

2
James Legge,
A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms; being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his Travels in India and Ceylon (AD 399–414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline
, 1886.

3
For a full account of Ashoka in China see Max Deeg, ‘From the Iron-Wheel to Bodhisattvahood: A
oka in Buddhist Culture and Memory’,
A
oka in History and Historical Memory
, ed. P. Olivelle, 2009; ‘Mapping Common Territory – Mapping Other Territory’,
Acta Orientalia Vilnensia
, Vol. VIII, Issue 1, 2007; and ‘Writing for the Emperor: Xuanzang between Pietry, Religious Propaganda, Intelligence, and Modern Imagination’,
Indica et Tibetica
, Vol. 52, 2009.

4
The vigilant reader will have spotted that I have taken a liberty here. Legge, writing after Ashoka’s identity had become known in the West, speaks of A
oka rather than Wuyou Wang, as do later translators of Xuanzang. But to do so here would be out of context – and it spoils the story!

5
James Legge,
A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of Travels in India and Ceylon (AD 399–414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline
, 1886.

6
Max Deeg, ‘From the Iron-Wheel to Bodhisattvahood: A
oka in Buddhist Culture and Memory’,
A
oka in History and Historical Memory
, ed. P. Olivelle, 2009.

7
Xuanzang,
Datang Xiguo-ji, The Geat Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions
, trans. Li Rongxi, 1996.

8
Again I have taken the liberty of preserving the Chinese original, with apologies to the translator, Li Rongxi.

9
Beginning with
Examen critique de quelques pages de Chinois relative à l’Inde, traduites couple MG Pauthier, accompagné de discussions grammaticales sur certain rules de position qui, a Chinois, jouent le même role que les inflexions dans les autres langues, par M. Stanislas Julien
, 1841.

10
Alexander Cunningham, ‘An Account of the Discovery of the Ruins of the Buddhist City of Samkassa – by Lieut. Alexander Cunningham of the Bengal Engineers, in a letter to Colonel Sykes’,
JRAS
, Vol. VII, 1843.

11
Alexander Cunningham, ‘Proposed Archaeological Excavation’,
JASB
, Vol. XVII, 1848.

12
Markham Kittoe, ‘Note on the Inscription found near Bhabra’,
JRAS
, Vol. IX, 1840.

13
M. E. Burnouf,
Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi
, 1852.

14
It was subsequently published in Calcutta in 1848 under the title of
The Pilgrimage of Fa Hian
.

15
Markham Kittoe in a letter to Cunningham quoted in
The Bhilsa Topes
, 1853.

Chapter 11. Alexander Cunningham the Great

1
Edwin Norris, ‘On the Kapur-di-Giri Rock Inscription’,
JRAS
, Vol. VIII, 1846, and Charles Masson, ‘Narrative of an Excursion from Peshawar to Shah-baz-Ghari’,
JRAS
, Vol. VIII, 1846.

2
Ibid.

3
Edwin Norris, ‘On the Kapur-di-Giri Rock Inscription’,
JRAS
, Vol. VIII, 1846.

4
The story of Lumsden and the Corps of Guides is told in Charles Allen,
Soldier Sahibs: the Men who Made the North-West Frontier
, 2001.

5
Alexander Cunningham,
Inscriptions of A
oka
, 1877.

6
The story of the ‘Hindustani fanatics’ is told in Charles Allen,
God’s Terrorists: the Wahhabi Cult and the Roots of Modern Jihad
, 2004.

7
James Abbott, ‘Gradus ad Aornon’,
JRAS
, Vol. XIX, 1856.