Major Pillar Edict

Delhi-Meerut

Major Pillar Edict IV (Delhi -Mirath Version)

Major Pillar Edict IV (Delhi -Mirath Version)

Location
Ashokan inscription site — Delhi-Meerut., Uttar Pradesh, India
Date
c. 260–250 BCE
Script
Brahmi
Language
Prakrit
Type
Major Pillar Edict
Coordinates
28.6333° N, 77.2000° E

Overview

Major Pillar Edict IV (Delhi -Mirath Version)

Delhi-Meerut site view
Delhi-Meerut

Location

The Inscription

Original Text

1 . . . . . . . . . .
2 . . . . . . . . . . [ka] caghaṁti [ā]lādha[y]i[tave]
3 . . . . . . . . . . tu asvathe [ho]ti
4 vi[ya] . . . . . . . . . . [l]i[ha]tave hev[aṁ mam]ā
5 [la]jūk[a] . . . . . . . . . . ye (J) yen[a] ete a[bh]itā
6 asvatha saṁ . . . . . . . . . . [pa]vataye[v]ā ti [e]te[na] me
7 [laj]ū[kā]n[aṁ] . . . . . . . . . . ata-patiye kaṭ[e]
8 (K) ichitavi . . . . . . . . . . [h]āla-samatā c[a] siyā
9 daṁḍa-sa[ma] . . . . . . . . . . [me] āvuti [ba]ṁdhana-[badh]ānaṁ
10 munisā[naṁ] . . . . . . . . . . vadhānaṁ tiṁni di[va]sāni [m]e
11 y[o]te diṁne (M) . . . . . . . . . . payisa[ṁ]ti j[i]v[i]tāye tāna[ṁ]
12 nāsaṁtaṁ [v]ā ni . . . . . . . . . . ti pālatikaṁ
13 u[pa]vāsaṁ vā k[a] . . . . . . . . . . hevaṁ niludhasi pi [k]ālasi
14 pā[la]taṁ ālādhay[e] . . . . . . . . . . vaḍhati vividhe dhamma-cal[a]ne
15 saṁyame dā[na] . . . . . . . . . .
Translation
(H) And these (agents) will also exhort those (people), in order that the Lajūkas may be able to please me.
(I) For, as one feels confident after having entrusted (his) child to an intelligent nurse, (thinking):‘The intelligent nurse will be able to keep my child well’, so the Lajūkas were appointed by me for the welfare and happiness of the country-people.
(J) In order that they should perform (their) duties, being fearless, confident, (and) unperturbed, for this (purpose) I have ordered that either rewards or punishments are left to the discretion of the Lajūkas.
(K) For the following is to be desired, (viz.) that there should be both impartiality in judicial proceedings and impartiality in punishments.
(L) And my order (reaches) even so far (that) a respite of three days is granted by me to persons lying in prison on whom punishment has been passed, (and) who have been condemned to death.
(M) (In this way) either (their) relatives will persuade  those (Lajūkas) to (grant) their life, or, if there is none who persuades (them), they will bestow gifts or will undergo fasts in order to (attain happiness) in the other (world).
(N) For my desire is this, that, even when the time (of respite) has expired, they should attain (happiness) in the other (world).
(O) And various moral practices, self-control, (and) the distribution of gifts are (thus) promoted among the people.