Madras, which probably is the town Samâpâ mentioned in the local edicts [1].
The Minor Rock Edicts, which are believed for the reasons stated in Chapter I (ante, p. 26) to be the earliest of the Asoka inscriptions, are found, like the Fourteen Rock Edicts, only in the remoter provinces. The second Minor Edict, consisting of a short summary of the Law of Piety, expressed in a style different from that of the other edicts, occurs in Mysore only, where three copies of it exist as a supplement to the first edict. Probably this supplementary document was composed in the office of the Prince of Suvarnagiri and published on his viccregal authority. The Mysore recensions of both the edicts were incised in three localities, all close to one another, in the Chitaldûrg District of northern Mysore, namely, Siddapura (N. lat. 14° 49′, E. long. 76° 47′), Jatinga-Râmesvara, and Brahmagiri, near the site of a large ancient town. Variant recensions of Edict I occur at Sahasram (N. lat. 24° 57′, E. long. 84° 1′) in the Shahabfid District, S. Birât; Rûpnâth in the Jabalpur District, Central Provinces; Maski in the Nizam’s Doininions; and at Bairfit (N. lat. 27° 27′, E. long. 76° 12′) in Râjputâna. That document gives a valuable account of the emperor’s religious history and
- ↑ Cunningham, Inscr. of Asoka, p. 17; Reports, xiii. 112; Sewell, Lists of Antiq., Madras, i. 4; Ind. Ant. i. 219; Sir W. Elliot in Mad. J. Lit. and Science, April-Sept. 1858, p. 75; Prog. Rep. A. S. Madras, 1903-4, 1904-5, 1906-7. The inscription is now protected by a roof and iron railing.
