Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts
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Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts
The Major Rock Edicts of Indian Emperor Ashoka refer to 14 separate major Edicts of Ashoka which are significantly detailed and represent some of the earliest dated rock inscriptions of any Indian monarch. These edicts are preceded chronologically by the Minor Rock Edicts. History Ashoka was the third monarch of the Maurya Empire in India, reigning from around 269 BCE. Ashoka famously converted to Buddhism and renounced violence soon after being victorious in a gruesome Kalinga War, yet filled with deep remorse for the bloodshed of the war. Although he was a major historical figure, little definitive information was known as there were few records of his reign until the 19th century when a large number of his edicts, inscribed on rocks and pillars, were found in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In India, Places where rock edicts were found are – Kalsi, Uttarakhand; Sopara, Maharashtra; Mount Girnar, Gujarat; Yerragudi, Andhra Pradesh; Dhauli, Odisha; Jaugada, Odisha. T ...
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Ashoka Rock Edict At Junagadh
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to present-day Bangladesh in the east, with its capital at Pataliputra. A patron of Buddhism, he is credited with playing an important role in the spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia. Much of the information about Ashoka comes from his Brahmi edicts, which are among the earliest long inscriptions of ancient India, and the Buddhist legends written centuries after his death. Ashoka was son of Bindusara, and a grandson of the dynasty's founder Chandragupta. During his father's reign, he served as the governor of Ujjain in central India. According to some Buddhist legends, he also suppressed a revolt in Takshashila as a prince, and after his father's death, killed his brothers to ...
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Minor Rock Edicts
The Minor Rock Edicts of Ashoka (r.269-233 BCE) are rock inscriptions which form the earliest part of the Edicts of Ashoka, and predate Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts. These are the first edicts in the Indian language of Emperor Ashoka, written in the Brahmi script in the 11th year of his reign. They follow chronologically the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription, in Greek and in Aramaic, written in the 10th year of his reign (260 BCE),India: An Archaeological History: Palaeolithic Beginnings to Early ... by Dilip K. Chakrabart/ref> which is the first known inscription of Ashoka. There are several slight variations in the content of these edicts, depending on location, but a common designation is usually used, with Minor Rock Edict N°1 (MRE1) and a Minor Rock Edict N°2 (MRE2), which does not appear alone but always in combination with Edict N°1), the different versions being generally aggregated in most translations. There is also a minor edict No.3, discovered in Bairat, for the Bu ...
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Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription
The Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription, also known as the Kandahar Edict of Ashoka and less commonly as the Chehel Zina Edict, is an inscription in the Greek and Aramaic languages that dates back to 260 BCE and was carved by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka () at Chehel Zina, a mountainous outcrop near Kandahar, Afghanistan. It is the among the earliest-known edicts of Ashoka, having been inscribed around the 8th year of his reign (), and precedes all of his other inscriptions, including the Minor Rock Edicts and Barabar Caves in India and the Major Rock Edicts.Valeri P. Yailenk''Les maximes delphiques d'Aï Khanoum et la formation de la doctrine du dharma d'Asoka''Dialogues d'histoire ancienne vol.16 n°1, 1990, pp.243 This early inscription was written exclusively in the Greek and Aramaic languages. It was discovered below a layer of rubble in 1958 during an excavation project around Kandahar, and is designated as KAI 279. It is sometimes considered to be a part of Ashoka's ...
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Priyadasi
Priyadasi, also Piyadasi or Priyadarshi (Brahmi: 𑀧𑀺𑀬𑀤𑀲𑀺 ''piyadasi'', Kharosthi: 𐡐𐡓𐡉𐡃𐡓𐡔 ''Prydrš''), was the name of a ruler in ancient India, or simply an honorific epithet which means "He who regards others with kindness", "Humane", "He would glances amiably". The title "Priyadasi" appears repeatedly in the ancient inscriptions known as the Major Rock Edicts or the Major Pillar Edicts, where it is generally used in conjunction with the title ''"Devanampriya"'' ("Beloved of the Gods") in the formula "Devanampriya Priyadasi". Some of the inscriptions rather use the title "Rajan Priyadasi" ("King Priyadarsi"). It also appears in Greek in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription (c. 260 BCE), when naming the author of the proclamation as βασι ὺς Πιοδασσης ("Basileus Piodassēs"), and in Aramaic in the same inscription as "our lord, king Priyadasin" (Kharosthi: 𐡐𐡓𐡉𐡃𐡓𐡔, Modern Hebrew: ''pryd’rš''). According ...
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Devanampriya
Devanampriya, also Devanampiya ( Devanagiri देवनामप्रिय ) (Brahmi script: 𑀤𑁂𑀯𑀸𑀦𑀁𑀧𑀺𑀬, ''Devānaṃpiya''), was a Pali honorific epithet used by a few Indian monarchs, but most particularly the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (r.269-233 BCE) in his inscriptions (the Edicts of Ashoka). "Devanampriya" means "Beloved of the Gods". It is often used by Ashoka in conjunction with the title ''Priyadasi'', which means "He who regards others with kindness", "Humane" However, this title was used by a number of Ceylonese kings from Uttiya to Yasalalakatissa from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century CE. The Kalsi version of the Major Rock Edict No.8 also uses the title "Devampriyas" to describe previous kings (whereas the other versions use the term "Kings"), suggesting that the title "Denampriya" had a rather wide usage and might just have meant "King". Prinsep in his study and decipherment of the Edicts of Ashoka had originally identified ...
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Major Pillar Edicts
The Major Pillar Edicts of Indian Emperor Ashoka refer to seven separate major Edicts of Ashoka inscribed on columns, the Pillars of Ashoka, which are significantly detailed and are among the earliest dated inscriptions of any Indian monarch. An English translation of the Edicts was published by Romila Thapar. These edicts are preceded chronologically by the Minor Rock Edicts and the Major Rock Edicts, and constitute the most technically elegant of the inscriptions made by Ashoka. They were made at the end of the reign of Ashoka (reigned 262-233 BCE), from the years 26 and 27 of his reign, that is, from 237-236 BCE. Chronologically they follow the fall of Seleucid power in Central Asia and the related rise of the Parthian Empire and the independent Greco-Bactrian Kingdom circa 250 BCE, and Hellenistic rulers are not mentioned anymore in these last edicts. Edict No.7, the last Major Pillar Edict, appears exclusively on the Delhi-Topra pillar, and is testamental in nature, making a s ...
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Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Scheduled Tribes in India. It neighbours the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal to the north, Chhattisgarh to the west, and Andhra Pradesh to the south. Odisha has a coastline of along the Bay of Bengal in Indian Ocean. The region is also known as Utkala and is also mentioned in India's national anthem, " Jana Gana Mana". The language of Odisha is Odia, which is one of the Classical Languages of India. The ancient kingdom of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (which was again won back from them by King Kharavela) in 261 BCE resulting in the Kalinga War, coincides with the borders of modern-day Odisha. The modern boundaries of Odisha were demarcated by the British Indian government when Orissa Province wa ...
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Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the north-west, Chhattisgarh to the north, Odisha to the north-east, Tamil Nadu to the south, Karnataka to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east. It has the second longest coastline in India after Gujarat, of about . Andhra State was the first state to be formed on a linguistic basis in India on 1 October 1953. On 1 November 1956, Andhra State was merged with the Telugu-speaking areas (ten districts) of the Hyderabad State to form United Andhra Pradesh. ln 2014 these merged areas of Hyderabad State are bifurcated from United Andhra Pradesh to form new state Telangana . Present form of Andhra similar to Andhra state.but some mandalas like Bhadrachalam still with Telangana. Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Kurnool is People Capital of And ...
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Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth-most populous state, with a population of 60.4 million. It is bordered by Rajasthan to the northeast, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the south, Maharashtra to the southeast, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and the Arabian Sea and the Pakistani province of Sindh to the west. Gujarat's capital city is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. The Gujaratis are indigenous to the state and their language, Gujarati, is the state's official language. The state encompasses 23 sites of the ancient Indus Valley civilisation (more than any other state). The most important sites are Lothal (the world's first dry dock), Dholavira (the fifth largest site), and Gola Dhoro (where 5 uncommon seals were found). Lothal i ...
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Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union territories of India by population, second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdivision globally. It was formed on 1 May 1960 by splitting the bilingual Bombay State, which had existed since 1956, into majority Marathi language, Marathi-speaking Maharashtra and Gujarati language, Gujarati-speaking Gujarat. Maharashtra is home to the Marathi people, the predominant ethno-linguistic group, who speak the Marathi language, Marathi language, the official language of the state. The state is divided into 6 Divisions of Maharashtra, divisions and 36 List of districts of Maharashtra, districts, with the state capital being Mumbai, the List of million-plus urban agglomerations in India, most populous urban area in India ...
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Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and numerous Hindu temples and pilgrimage centres found throughout the state. Uttarakhand is known for the natural environment of the Himalayas, the Bhabar and the Terai regions. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north; the Sudurpashchim Province of Nepal to the east; the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh to the south and Himachal Pradesh to the west and north-west. The state is divided into two divisions, Garhwal and Kumaon, with a total of 13 districts. The winter capital of Uttarakhand is Dehradun, the largest city of the state, which is a rail head. Bhararisain, a town in Chamoli district, is the summer capital of Uttarakhand. The High Court of the state is located in Nainital. Archaeological evidence supports the e ...
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