Priyadasi
Priyadasi, also Piyadasi or Priyadarshi, was the name of a ruler in ancient India, namely Ashoka Maurya ; literally an honorific epithet which means "He who regards others with kindness", "Humane", "He who glances amiably".
The title "Priyadasi" appears repeatedly in the ancient inscriptions of Ashoka known as the Major Rock Edicts or the Major Pillar Edicts, where it is generally used in conjunction with the title "Devanampriya" in the formula "Devanampriya Priyadasi". Some of the inscriptions rather use the title "Rajan Priyadasi". It also appears in Greek in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription, when naming the author of the proclamation as βασιεὺς Πιοδασσης, and in Aramaic in the same inscription as "our lord, king Priyadasin".
Prinsep, who deciphered the Brahmi script had originally identified Priyadasi with the King of Ceylon Devanampiya Tissa. However, in 1837, George Turnour discovered a Siamese version of the Sri Lankan manuscript Dipavamsa, or "Island Chronicle", associating Piyadasi with the early Maurya dynasty:
It was then supposed that this Priyadasi, being a Mauryan, was probably the Ashoka of Buddhist accounts. Because of the association in the Dipavamsa, the title "Priyadasi" is thought to have been used by the Indian Emperor Ashoka in his inscriptions.
File:Devanampriyasa Asoka.jpg|thumb|300px|"Devānaṃpiyasa Asoka", honorific Devanampiya and name of Ashoka, in Brahmi script, in the Maski Edict of Ashoka
File:Gujarra Devanampiyasa Piyadasino Asokaraja.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The full title Devanampiyasa Piyadasino Asokaraja in the Gujarra inscription.
In inscriptions, the title "Priyadarsin" is often associated with the title "Devanampriya". Separately, the title also appears in "Devanampriya" in conjunction with the name "Ashoka" as in the Minor Rock Edict inscription discovered in Maski, associating Ashoka with Devanampriya:
More recently this interpretation has been questioned by Christopher Beckwith — whose theories are not accepted by mainstream scholarship. He argues that "Priyadasi" could simply be the proper name of an early Indian king, not necessarily Ashoka, who was the author of the Major Rock Edicts or the Major Pillar Edicts inscriptions but not the rest, and who can be identified as probably the son of Chandragupta Maurya However, this interpretation has been questioned on methodological grounds by several other historians, who have criticized many of Beckwith's interpretations concerning early Buddhism, inscriptions, and archaeological sites. According to Patrick Olivelle, Beckwith's theory is "an outlier and no mainstream Ashokan scholar would subscribe to that view."