Devanampiye and Piyadasi (meaning ‘Devanampriya’ and ‘Priyadarshi’ in Sanskrit and ‘beloved of the gods’ and ‘one with a benevolent gaze’ in English) were the two names that were widely referred to, either separately or together, in the ancient inscriptions and Buddhist literature found across South Asia. Since nobody could authentically ascertain the identity of the person, different historians came up with different opinions. In the course of lengthy debate, some even attributed them to an imaginary personality and a great mythological figure.
The reading of a minor rock edict found at Maski town in Raichur district in 1915, however, solved the puzzle and unmasked the mysterious personality once and for all. The eight-line Pali inscription etched in Brahmi script on a mid-size rock lying at a cave in the middle of an Inselberg convincingly declared that Devanampiye was none other than Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. The inscription that starts with Devanampiye Asoka, is the first discovered edict of Emperor Ashoka to have his name as Asoka in contrast to all other inscriptions discovered earlier that had either Devanampiye or Piyadasi or both to refer to him.
