UPSC Prelims 2016 · Question 64 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2016 question on James Prinsep Ashoka Edicts
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2016
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectAncient History
- TopicMauryan Age
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
Who of the following had first deciphered the edicts of Emperor Ashoka?
Show answer
Answer: B. James Prinsep
Verdict
The answer is James Prinsep. He first deciphered the edicts of Ashoka.
Analysis
James Prinsep, an official of the East India Company's mint in Bengal, succeeded in 1837 in deciphering the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts of ancient inscriptions, including an edict on a large stone pillar in Delhi. The reading revealed a king called Piyadassi, later identified with Ashoka. William Jones founded the Asiatic Society and pioneered comparative philology but did not decipher these scripts. Max Muller was a Sanskritist and translator of the Vedas, and Georg Buhler was an epigraphist who worked after Prinsep.
Source
NCERT Class XII, Themes in Indian History, page 28.
How to crack it
All four names are genuine European orientalists, so the question is decided by matching each to his specific contribution rather than by recognising the name. Build a short table: Jones for the Asiatic Society and Indo-European kinship, Prinsep for Brahmi decipherment, Muller for Vedic translation, Cunningham for the Archaeological Survey. Note also the second order fact often asked alongside, that the edicts name Piyadassi rather than Ashoka, which is why identification took further work.