Historical geography of the Asokan edicts : royal messages by the wayside
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Historical geography of the Asokan edicts : royal messages by the wayside
Aryan Books International, 2011
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Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The Asokan studies have largely been based, since their inception, on the issues of language, script and grammar, and one hopes that the studies of this kind, which are important ingredients of Asokan scholarship, will continue to be undertaken. However, textual scholarship or grammatical rules do not necessarily lead by themselves to historical or geographical knowledge. By studying in detail the geographical locations of the Asokan edicts, the present book has tried to understand some of the geopolitical factors operative in Mauryan India. It has also tried to identify ancient Tosali and the place where the battle for Kalinga was likely to have taken place. Two more major places which have been identified are Isila and Suvarnagiri. Among other things, it has argued that the Mauryan art, instead of being so-called 'imperial' and 'courtly', was much more broad-based than is thought and effectively foreshadowed some basic elements of the later 'Sunga art'.
Table of Contents
Preface vii List of Illustrations xiii 1. INTRODUCTION 1 I. The Purpose of the Present Volume 1 II. Aspects of Asokan Studies 2 III. The Scope of the Present Volume 9 2. THE MINOR ROCK EDICTS 12 I. The Sasaram-Ghurhupur/Basaha-Ahraura Sector 12 I.1. Sasaram 14 I.2. Ghurhupur/Basaha 19 I.3. Ahraura 24 II. Rupnath 25 III. Panguraria 26 IV. Gujarra 30 V. Bahapur/Srinivaspuri, Delhi 30 VI. Bairat 31 VII. The Southern Minor Rock Edicts 32 VII.1. Nittur, Udegolam, Maski 32 VII.2. Brahmagiri, Siddapur, Jatinga Ramesvar 34 VII.3. Yerragudi and Rajula Mandagiri 36 VII.4. Observations on the Locations of the Southern MREs 37 VIII. Manema desa, Suvarnagiri and Isila 39 3. THE FOURTEEN MAJOR ROCK EDICTS AND 42 THE TWO SEPARATE EDICTS I. The Contents of the Fourteen Edicts 42 II. The Findspots of the Major Rock Edicts and the 48 Significance of their Locations II.1. Shahbazgarhi 48 II.2. Mansehra 50 II.3. The Historical-Geographical Significance of the 51 Locations of Shabazgarhi and Mansehra Rock Edict Sites II.4. Girnar 53 II.5. Kalsi 57 II.6. Sopara 59 II.7. Sannati 62 II.8. Yerragudi/Erragudi 66 II.9. Dhauli 66 II.10. Jaugada 67 II.11. The Identification of Tosali 67 II.12. The Significance of the Locations of Dhauli 71 and Jaugada III. The Separate Edicts 72 IV. The Related Historical and Geographical Issues 73 V. Where Did the Battle of Kalinga Take Place? 74 V.1. The Epigraphic Context 74 V.2. The Location of Kalinga 75 V.3. Possible Place of the Kalinga Battle 81 4. THE EDICTS FROM VIDARBHA, BAIRAT (CALCUTTA- 83 BAIRAT OR BHABRU EDICT), AFGHANISTAN AND THE NORTHWEST, AND THE BARABAR HILLS I. Vidarbha 83 I.1. The Inscription from Deotek in the Chandrapur 83 District I.2. The Untraceable Edict, Possibly from Ghugus, 85 in the Chandrapur District I.3. Comments on the Vidarbha Finds 85 II. Calcutta-Bairat 86 III. Afghanistan 89 III.1. Shahr-i-Kuna or Old Kandahar 89 III.1.1. Kandahar Graeco-Aramaic Bilingual 89 Inscription III.1.2. Kandahar Greek Inscription 90 III.1.3. Kandahar Aramaic Inscription 91 III.2. Lamghan/Pul-i-Darunta 93 III.2.1. Lamghan Sultan Baba Ridge Inscription 93 III.2.2. Lamghan Sam Baba Ridge Inscription 94 III.2.3. The Third Asokan Inscription (in Aramaic) 94 from Laghman IV. The Taxila Pillar Inscription in Aramaic 95 V. The Buner/Takht-i-Bahi Stone Slab Inscribed in 96 Asokan Brahmi VI. Barabar Hills 97 5. THE SEVEN PILLAR EDICTS AND VARIOUS 98 RELATED ISSUES I. The Contents of the Seven Pillar Edicts 100 (after Hultzsch 1925) I.1. Pillar Edicts I-V 100 I.1.1. Notes on the Birds, Fishes and Animals 101 Mentioned in PE V I.2. Pillar Edicts VI-VII 104 II. The Locations of Asokan Pillars in the Accounts of 106 Fa-Xian and Xuang-Xang (Hiuen-Tsang) II.1. The Testimony of Fa-Xian 106 II.2. The Testimony of Xuang-Xang 106 III. Asokan Pillars and Bell-Capitals 108 III.1. Pataliputra 109 III.2. Kolhua 109 III.3. Lauriya Araraj 110 III.4. Lauriya Nandangarh 110 III.5. Rampurva 111 III.6. The Historical-Geographical Significance of the 113 Locations of the Kolhua, Lauriya Araraj, Lauriya Nandangarh and Rampurva Pillars IV. The Pataliputra-Mahasthangarh Alignment and 116 Sikligarh Pillar V. Rummindei, Nigliva and Gotihawa 117 V.1. Rummindei or Lumbini 117 V.2. Nigliva/Nigali Sagar 121 V.3. Gotihawa/Gutiva 122 V.4. Observations on the Archaeological Contexts of 123 Rummindei, Nigliva and Gotihawa VI. The Bell-capital of Bansi and the Pillar of Bhagalpur 126 VII. Ayodhya 127 VIII. Varanasi: Lat Bhairo 128 IX. Sarnath 129 IX.1. A Second Pillar at Sarnath(?) 131 X. Prahladpur 132 XI. Belkhara (Ahraura) 133 XII. Bakraur 134 XIII. Bhuvanesvara: Bhaskaresvara and Ramesvara Temples 135 XIV. Allahabad 135 XIV.1. The Queen's Edict (after Hultzsch 1925, pp. 158-59) 137 XIV.2. The Kausambi Edict (after Hultzsch 1925, 138 pp. 159-160) XV. Kausambi Pillar 138 XVI. Deur Kothar 139 XVII. Sanchi 140 XVIII. Udayagiri (Gwalior Museum) 142 XIX. Bhopal(?) 142 XX. Sodanga (Ujjayini) 142 XXI. Amaravati 143 XXII. Sankisa 144 XXIII. Delhi-Topra and Delhi-Meerat 145 XXIV. Hissar and Fatehabad 146 6. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION 148 I. Minor Rock Edicts 151 II. Major Rock Edicts and Separate Edicts 155 III. Miscellaneous Edicts from Vidarbha, Bairat, Afghanistan 160 and the Northwest, and the Barabar Hills IV. Pillar Edicts 162 V. Historical-Geographical World of Mauryan India 165 Bibliography 167 Index 177
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