The G. reading Ketala- is quite clear and certain. The phonetic change is curious. The most ancient capital was Vanji, Vanehi, or Tiru-Karûr, about 28 miles ENE. of Cochin. See The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago, Madras, 1904, p. 15. The list of 'frontagers' indicates the extent of Asoka's empire. Tâmraparṇi (Tambapaṁni) here seems to mean the river in Tinnevelly. The ports (Korkai, and later Kâyal) at its mouth had an ancient and lucrative trade in pearls, gems, and conch shells. G. alone reads â Tambapaṁni 'as far as [the] Tâmbaparṇi,' a phrase which indicates that the river is meant, not Ceylon. I now apply the same interpretation to Edict XIII. The reference in the Arthaśâstra to pearls from Tâmraparṇi certainly is to the river. The pearls from it are distinguished from the Kanleya pearls of Ceylon. See my article in Ind. Ant, vol. xlvii (1918), p. 48, and I. G. (1908), s. v. Tâmbraparni. Yona in Yonanrâja (Yavana) is to be interpreted here as 'Greek'. Antiochos is A. Theos, king of Syria or Western Asia (261-246 b. c.), grandson of Seleulms Nikator, the contemporary of Asoka's grandfather, Chandragupta Maurya. The identity of the 'neighbours' is uncertain. They are not necessarily the same as the foreign kings named in R. E. XIII. Samîpaṁ, 'neighbourhood,' of G. is a collective neuter noun (Michelson), equivalent to sûmaṁtâ of K.
Chikîchka is a general term, not meaning in itself 'hospitals,'as Bühler renders, but inclusive of them. The wording of the passage about healing arrangements, medicinal herbs, roots, fruits, trees, and wells varies in the different texts. It is most detailed in G. and K. See P. E. VIII, sec. 5. Asoka's system of state medicine was based on the institutions of his predecessors. Hospitals are mentioned in the Arthaśâtra', Bk. ii, chap. 4, as part of the equipment of a fortified town. A physician was called chikitsika. The interpretation of the edict as a whole may be regarded as finally settled.
