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"Nagare, mahārāja, pāṭaliputte asoko dhammarājā sanegamajānapadaamaccabhaṭabalamahāmattehi parivuto gaṅgaṃ nadiṃ [gaṅgānadiṃ (sī.)] navasalilasampuṇṇaṃ samatitthikaṃ sambharitaṃ pañcayojanasatāyāmaṃ yojanaputhulaṃ sandamānaṃ disvā amacce evamāha 'atthi koci, bhaṇe, samattho, yo imaṃ mahāgaṅgaṃ paṭisotaṃ sandāpetu'nti.
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‘When Asoka the righteous ruler, O king, as he stood one day at the city of Pātaliputta in the midst of the townsfolk and the country people, of his officers and his servants, and his ministers of state, beheld the Ganges river as it rolled along filled up by freshets from the hills, full to the brim and overflowing—that mighty stream five hundred leagues in length, and a league in breadth—he said to his officers: “Is there any one, my good friends, who is able to make this great Ganges flow backwards and up stream?”
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Некогда в граде Паталипутре, когда Ашока, царь во дхарме, стоял в окружении горожан, крестьян, советников, телохранителей, вельмож и взирал на переполненный полой водою, вздувшийся вровень с берегами многоводный поток Ганги-реки, простирающейся на пятьсот йоджан в длину и на целую йоджану в ширину, он сказал советникам: «Возьмется ли кто, любезные, повернуть вспять течение великой Ганги?»
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Amaccā āhaṃsu 'dukkaraṃ devā'ti.
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“‘Nay, Sire, impossible,” said they.
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– «Трудно, владыка»,– молвили советники.
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