How Ashoka was "Found"

It was a British coin tester who found out that the emperor Ashoka even existed! His name was James Princep, writes Devansh Malik. Before 1837, sure, there were references to Ashoka in some Buddhist texts, but were they historical fact? Or just stories?

“There was no historical proof, no documented history, nothing.”

 

Princep was born to rich parents and seemingly destined to be an architect in Britain. Then, at age 20, a severe eye infection struck damaging his eyes so badly that architecture was no longer an option. His father used his wealth and connections to get James the job of testing coins in Calcutta. It was at the Calcutta mint that Princep met Horace Wilson, a Sanskrit scholar who had translated the Rig Veda.

“Through Wilson, James developed a deep fascination with Indian history and culture.”

 

When he moved to the mint in Varanasi, Princep began to notice something about the older coins of India. First came the punch-marked coins (any odd shape, but stamped with symbols), next the die-struck coins (more uniform, more sophisticated), and finally cast coins (advanced metallurgy). This led to a game changing conclusion:

“Each phase represented technological, social and political development.”

He was extracting history from objects.

 

In 1833, officials across India started finding strange inscriptions on rocks and ancient pillars. From Delhi to Allahabad to Bihar, the texts were identical on many of them. But nobody could read them. Princep launched a massive project, putting out an appeal to send any related artifacts people had/could find. The response was voluminous, and from many, many parts of the country.

“James was now living a double life. Days were spent fulfilling his official mint duties, but evenings belonged figuring out what the inscriptions meant.”

 

Then in 1837 he got a copy of inscriptions from the Sanchi stupa. These were short inscriptions on stone. Many of the shorter inscriptions ended with the same sequence of characters.

“He had been studying Sanskrit for years and figured out that the repeating word was ‘danam’, sanskrit for ‘donation’ or ‘gift’. If he was right, he now knew how to write d-a-n-a-m in this ancient script. And if he knew these four letters, he could start working out other words.”

He had begun to crack what would be called the Brahmi code.

 

He found these were edicts from a king who was called “Devanampiya Piyadasi” or “Beloved of the Gods, Piyadasi.”

“But who was this mysterious ruler whose words were carved from Afghanistan to Karnataka?”

In 1838, he got a letter from George Turnour, a historian in Ceylon (Sri Lanka):

“George had been studying Buddhist texts written in Pali, and he had found that “Piyadasi” was the title for Emperor Ashoka - the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan Empire.”

Putting two and two together, Princep now knew the identity of the emperor.

 

As Princep continued to translate more and more texts, he realized Ashoka controlled an empire larger than Rome. The edicts spoke of dhamma (righteous conduct) and remorse over Kalinga. There were several references to Greek kings (which helped triangulate dates).

“James had discovered one of history’s great empires and one of its most fascinating rulers.”