Ashokan edict locations

The inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka (c. 273–232 BCE) constitute the earliest deciphered epigraphic records in the Indian subcontinent. These edicts, carved onto permanent rock faces and monolithic sandstone pillars, provide primary historical data regarding the administrative boundaries, state policies, socio-religious framework (Dhamma), and foreign relations of the Mauryan Empire.

Linguistic and Script Distribution

The Ashokan administration adapted its communication to regional demographics, utilizing four distinct scripts and three languages across the subcontinent.

• Brahmi Script (Prakrit Language): The official administrative standard used across the core Gangetic plains, central India, and the southern peninsula. The regional dialect used was Magadhi Prakrit.
• Kharosthi Script (Prakrit Language): Restricted to the northwestern frontier (Gandhara region). Written from right to left, it evolved from Aramaic characters under Achaemenid influence.
• Aramaic Script and Language: Deployed in the frontier zones of modern Pakistan and Afghanistan to cater to local administrative scribes.
• Greek Script and Language: Utilized in the westernmost satrapies ceded by Seleucus I Nicator to Chandragupta Maurya, translating Dhamma into the Greek philosophical concept of Eusebeia (civic piety).

Major Rock Edicts: Territorial Frontiers

The 14 Major Rock Edicts (MRE) were inscribed on large rock boulders situated at strategic frontier stations, trade route junctions, and provincial capitals, effectively mapping the outer boundary of direct Mauryan administration.

North-Western and Northern Frontier Sites

• Shahbazgarhi (Mardan District, Pakistan): Located along the ancient Uttarapatha highway. Written in the Kharosthi script on a massive undivided rock mass.
• Mansehra (Hazara Division, Pakistan): Situated near the Indus River axis. Utilizes the Kharosthi script across three distinct granite boulders.
• Kalsi (Dehradun District, Uttarakhand): Positioned at the confluence of the Yamuna and Tons rivers, marking the northern boundary of the empire along the Himalayan foothills. Inscribed in Brahmi script.

Western and Coastal Sites

• Girnar (Junagadh, Gujarat): Inscribed on a historic granite boulder that also bears the later inscriptions of Mahakshatrapa Rudradaman I (150 CE) and Skandagupta (c. 455 CE). It documents western administrative consolidation.
• Sopara (Palghar District, Maharashtra): Ancient Shurparaka, a vital western maritime trading port. Only fragments of Major Rock Edicts VIII and IX survive here.

Eastern and Southern Frontier Sites

• Dhauli (Puri District, Odisha): Situated on the banks of the Daya River near Bhubaneswar. This site omits Major Rock Edicts XI, XII, and XIII, replacing them with the Separate Kalinga Edicts addressed to the local judicial magistrates (Mahamatras).
• Jaugada (Ganjam District, Odisha): Located inside a fortified ancient settlement on the Rushikulya River. Like Dhauli, it contains the Separate Kalinga Edicts instead of the standard texts on war and tolerance.
• Erragudi (Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh): Positioned along the southern gold-extraction corridors. This site is unique as its Brahmi characters are written in a boustrophedon style (alternating directions across consecutive lines).

Minor Rock Edicts: Internal Core and Mining Hubs

Inscribed primarily during his 11th and 12th regnal years (c. 258–257 BCE), the Minor Rock Edicts (MRE) mark the earliest phase of Ashoka’s public declarations. They are heavily clustered around the mineral-rich regions of the Deccan and major internal pilgrimage routes.

The Deccan and Southern Mining Cluster

• Maski (Raichur District, Karnataka): A critical site situated near the Krishna River basin. It was the first inscription deciphered that explicitly paired the title Devanamapiya with the personal name Asoka.
• Brahmagiri, Siddapura, and Jatinga-Rameshvara (Chitradurga District, Karnataka): Positioned near the ancient southern viceroyalty capital of Suvarnagiri. The Brahmagiri edict features a signature by a scribe named Chapada written in Kharosthi characters.
• Nittur and Udegolam (Bellary District, Karnataka): Two independent sites that explicitly feature the personal name “Ashoka,” corroborating the Maski discovery.
• Gavimath and Palkigundu (Kopbal District, Karnataka): Located on rocky hills flanking ancient trade routes connecting the Deccan plateau with the western coast.
• Rajula-Mandagiri (Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh): Located near Erragudi, mirroring its textual layout on a smooth granite bed.

Central, Northern, and Eastern Core Sites

• Rupnath (Jabalpur District, Madhya Pradesh): Positioned on a rocky ledge near the Kaimur hills, marking a junction on the trade route to the Deccan.
• Gujarra (Datia District, Madhya Pradesh): Explicitly records the name Asoka alongside his imperial titles, reading “Devanamapiya Asoka Raja”.
• Panguraria (Sehore District, Madhya Pradesh): Located in the Vindhyan range near Budhni, recording an imperial pilgrimage visit by Ashoka as a prince or king.
• Sahasram (Rohtas District, Bihar): The easternmost Minor Rock Edict, located near the Son River axis, referencing Ashoka’s 256 nights of administrative travel.
• Ahraura (Mirzapur District, Uttar Pradesh): Situated near the Chunar sandstone quarries, confirming that this text was engraved during an active phase of state travel.
• Bhabru-Bairat (Jaipur District, Rajasthan): Carved on a granite boulder on the Bijak-ki-Pahari hill. It contains Ashoka’s open address to the Buddhist Sangha, listing seven specific canonical texts recommended for study.
• Bahapur / Srinivaspuri (New Delhi): Discovered on a rock outcrop in modern South Delhi, establishing a Mauryan administrative link to the Yamuna River trade network.

Pillar Edicts: Urban Centers and Trade Axis

The Pillar Edicts represent the peak of Mauryan monolithic sandstone architecture. Engraved during his 26th and 27th regnal years (c. 243–242 BCE), these pillars were quarried from Chunar and transported along river networks to populous urban centers and trade hubs.

Major Pillar Edict Sites (Seven Public Decrees)

• Delhi-Topra Pillar: Originally erected at Topra in the Yamunanagar district of Haryana. Relocated to Delhi in the 14th century by Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq. It is the only column that preserves all Seven Major Pillar Edicts; all others end at Edict VI.
• Delhi-Meerut Pillar: Originally located at Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, and brought to Delhi by Firoz Shah Tughlaq. It was damaged in an 18th-century explosion and later reassembled in 1867.
• Prayagraj (Allahabad-Kosam) Pillar: Originally located at Kosam (ancient Kaushambi). It contains three historical layers: the Ashokan Pillar Edicts, the Prashasti of Samudragupta composed by Harishena in Sanskrit, and a Persian inscription recording the coronation lineage of Mughal Emperor Jahangir.
• Lauriya-Nandangarh (West Champaran, Bihar): Stands in its original location, complete with a single sitting lion capital. The shaft features a clear engraving of the first six pillar edicts.
• Lauriya-Araraj (East Champaran, Bihar): A freestanding column polished with the characteristic mirror-like finish, lacking its animal capital.
• Rampurva (West Champaran, Bihar): Located near the Indo-Nepal border. Excavations revealed two distinct pillars here: one bearing a single lion capital and another topped by a realistic bull sculpture (now preserved at Rashtrapati Bhavan).

Minor Pillar and Commemorative Inscriptions

• Sarnath Pillar (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh): Located at the site of the Buddha’s first sermon. Features the four back-to-back lions capital, which was adopted as the National Emblem of India in 1950. It contains the anti-schism decree warning against divisions in the Sangha.
• Sanchi Pillar (Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh): Erected next to the Great Stupa, featuring a four-lion capital and a duplicate version of the Sarnath anti-schism text.
• Rummindei Pillar (Lumbini, Nepal): A commemorative column marking the exact birth site of Gautama Buddha. It documents the reduction of the land revenue tax (Bhaga) of Lumbini village to one-eighth (Atthabhagiya) and the total waiver of the religious cess (Bali).
• Nigali Sagar Pillar (Kapilavastu, Nepal): Records that in his 14th regnal year, Ashoka enlarged the stupa of the past Buddha Kanakamuni to double its original size, returning in his 20th regnal year to erect this column.

Frontier and Cave Inscriptions

Afghanistan and Pakistan Frontier

• Kandahar Bilingual Inscription (Chil Zena, Afghanistan): A rock-cut inscription written in Greek and Aramaic, discovered in 1958. It translates the core principles of Dhamma for Hellenistic communities.
• Lampaka / Laghman Inscription (Afghanistan): A series of fragmentary Aramaic inscriptions found along the valley of the Kabul River, tracking ancient military and trade trade corridors.
• Taxila Inscription (Pakistan): An Aramaic inscription found in the ruins of Sirkap, detailing administrative appointments in the northwestern viceroyalty of Uttarapatha.

Cave Inscriptions (Religious Toleration)

• Barabar Caves (Jehanabad District, Bihar): Monolithic caves excavated out of granite hills (including the Sudama and Lomas Rishi caves). The inscriptions state that these structures were gifted by Ashoka in his 12th and 19th regnal years to the ascetics of the Ajivika sect, providing epigraphic proof of his policy of religious tolerance.

Synoptic Inventory of Key Inscriptions

Civil Services Prelims Facts and Trivia

Name Identity Across Sites

For nearly a century, the author of the Major Rock Edicts remained anonymous to modern historians, as the texts referred to the ruler solely by the imperial honorifics Devanamapiya (Beloved of the Gods) and Piyadasi (He who looks with affection). The historical link was resolved in 1915 with the discovery of the Maski Minor Rock Edict, which explicitly read “Devanamapiya Asoka”. This cross-referenced and validated the dynastic sequences preserved in the Puranas and Sri Lankan chronicles. Today, only four epigraphic sites in the entire subcontinent record his actual personal name, Ashoka: Maski, Gujarra, Nittur, and Udegolam.

The Junagadh Granite Epigraphic Sequence

The granite rock face at Girnar represents a unique chronological monument in Indian history, preserving three separate inscriptions spanning three distinct dynasties across eight centuries on a single surface:

• The Ashokan Edicts (c. 250 BCE): Written in Prakrit, documenting his ethical and administrative principles.
• The Junagadh Rock Inscription of Rudradaman I (150 CE): Written in classical Sanskrit, documenting the repair of the Sudarshana Lake dam and explicitly tracing its construction history back to Chandragupta Maurya’s provincial governor Pushyagupta and Ashoka’s Greek governor Tushaspha.
• The Junagadh Inscription of Skandagupta (c. 455 CE): Written in Gupta Sanskrit, recording a subsequent breach and successful restoration of the same irrigation infrastructure by his local governor Parnadatta.

Mobile Inscriptions and Relocations

Due to historical interventions, several Ashokan inscriptions are no longer in their original geographic positions. Apart from Firoz Shah Tughlaq moving the Topra and Meerut pillars to Delhi, the Bhabru-Bairat boulder was carefully chiseled away in 1840 by Captain Burt and transported to Kolkata, where it remains on display at the Asiatic Society Museum to protect it from local damage. Similarly, fragments of the maritime Sopara edict are preserved in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai, safeguarding them from urban development.