The word "Bramhana" in Ashoka Girnar Edict - Part 1

 

The word "Brahman" in Ashoka Girnar Edict


I am going to be as detailed as possible to avoid any confusion

 

There are 14 major rock edicts occupying the north east part of the rock in two columns separated by a line.


In these edicts we can find different ways in which Brahmana is written 

1. Bamhana 2. Bramhana 3. Bambhan 4. Hoti-Bamhana etc


I have tried to show this from multiple sources/ways.


Source 1

From the book "Inscriptions of Asoka"

Book from the Archaeological Survey of India
Central Archaeological Library, New Delhi

Book Number: 42413
Book Title: Inscriptions of Asoka
Book Author: Sircar, D.C.
Book Language: English
Number of Pages: 88
Publisher: ; 1956
Subject: Inscriptions, India; Ancient history, India; India, History; Asoka, Inscriptions, India
Source URL: http://asi.nic.in/asi_books/42413.pdf

[ref 2]

page 40

please see the highlighted text it says Brahmana this is the 4th Rock Edict of Girnar

~~~~~~~

Source 2

Inscriptions of Asoka. New Edition by E. Hultzsch

Publication date 1925

Language - Sanskrit; Prakrit

E. Hultzsch, Inscriptions of Asoka. New Edition. In: Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum vol. I. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925.

Full catalogue record from Worldcat: http://www.worldcat.org/title/inscriptions-of-asoka/oclc/4431934/

Digitized by Artur Karp, South Asian Studies Deptt, University of Warsaw, Poland. 



Hultzsch translations of Ashokas edicts is considered the best translation available.

[ref 3]


First let us see the 3rd rock edict of Girnar(below)

Item 4 the highlighted text shows "bamhana"


Now let us take a look at the 4th rock edict of Girnar(below)


Item 6, the highlighted text shows "bramhana"


By looking at edict 3 and 4 it is clear that the author has not blindly translated everything to "bramhana", in edict 3 it is "bamhana" and in edict 4 it is "bramhana", same can be found in edict 8 as below


we find "hoti-bamhana"

11th edict also has "bamhana"


"bamhana" can be found in 3rd, 8th, 9th, 11th Girnar edicts

"bramhana" can be found in 4th Girnar edict

"bambhan" can be found in 3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th rock edict of Kalsi, 3rd rock edict of Dhauli, 3rd rock edict of Jaugada

~~~~~~~

Source 3


Even this had the same pattern 4th edict has "bramhana"

~~~~~~~

Source4

Lets take a look at the Brahmi version of the edict itself



This is the 3rd and 4rd rock edict of Girnar, the line underlined in red is "Bramhana-Shramanam"




This is how "Bamhana-Samanam" is written


There is a better image of this 

[ref 4] 

This image is available at 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ashoka_Major_Rock_Edict,_Girnar

the image on the 5th row, 1st column

This image has 3rd, 4th, and the 5th edict together.

 

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editti_di_A%C5%9Boka 



Now let us translate the Brahmi script



https://aksharamukha.appspot.com/describe/Brahmi

Has all the vowels and consonants of Brahmi script




Lets start with these 5 words

 
 
 




 
 
 
 
hence we get 


this is exactly the same in Ashokas 4th rock edict of Girnar


I think this makes it amply clear that Ashokas edict indeed has the word "bramhana"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Why is this script called "Brahmi" script


Brahmi was the daughter of Adinath thirthankar, it’s said that this script was first taught to Brahmi by Adinath himself. Hence the name of the script “Brahmi”. she evolved the art of writing and developed the Brahmi script in which most of the scriptures were written, her sister, Sunadri evolved with exceptional talent in mathematics.


Carvings of Adinath Tirthankar with his daughters Brahmi & Sundari

 







Source

[ref 1] - https://www.livehistoryindia.com/story/monuments/girnar-rock-inscriptions

[ref 2] https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.42413/page/n41/mode/2up

[ref 3] https://archive.org/details/InscriptionsOfAsoka.NewEditionByE.Hultzsch/mode/2up

[ref 4] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ashoka_Major_Rock_Edict,_Girnar


Thanks to

Sanathan Samiksha youtube channel  https://www.youtube.com/@sanatansamiksha

Chaitanya  @Param_Chaitanya https://twitter.com/Param_Chaitanya

Pratham Dhobisatva  @peshwaspeaks https://twitter.com/peshwaspeaks

Gaurav Jain Vegan youtube channel 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daKoRMnyITQ (This is where I could learn a bit of Brahmi script)

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