Pillar-Edicts of the Great Ashoka

History is one of the important subjects for exams like SSC, Banking, RBI etc. In this article candidates will read about   the topic  “Description of Pillar-Edicts of the Great Ashoka”. In every exam of the Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level, questions are asked from this topic. So it is necessary to be aware about the facts .

Brief Description Of Pillar-Edicts of the Great Ashoka-

• One of the main means of knowing the history of Emperor Ashoka is his inscriptions. 
  
• The language, of all these inscriptions, is Prakrit. While their script is Brahmi, Kharosthi, Aramaic and Unani. 
  
• The scripts of the miniature inscriptions, long pillar inscriptions, miniature pillar inscriptions and cave inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka are only Brahmi. 
  
• All the inscriptions containing Brahmi scripts have been found in India only.
  
• The inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka are divided into two parts-

           1. Long inscription
           2. Short inscription

• The Long Edicts of Emperor Ashoka are a group of 14 inscriptions. 
  
• These 14 inscriptions of Ashoka have been received from 8 places. 
  
• On these 14 long inscriptions of Ashoka, there is a mention of things related to the administration and its Dhamma.
  
• Next, we are presenting a table related to the long inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka.

Pillar Edicts	Important Facts
Prayag Pillar Inscription	Initially, this pillar inscription was located in Kaushambi. During the reign of Emperor Akbar, Jahangir got it established in the fort of Allahabad.  Samudragupta is also engraved on this pillar.
Delhi-Meerut Pillar Inscription	Initially, this pillar inscription was located in Meerut.  Later it was brought to Delhi during the reign of Firoz Shah Tughlaq.  This pillar inscription was first discovered by Tiefenthaler in 1750 AD
Delhi-Topra Pillar Inscription	Initially, this pillar inscription was located in Topra village of Ambala district of Haryana.  It was brought to Delhi during the reign of Firoz Shah Tughlaq.  This is the only pillar inscription on which the seven pillar edicts of Emperor Ashoka is engraved.  Whereas only 6 inscriptions are found on the remaining pillar inscriptions
Rampurwa pillar Inscription	This pillar inscription is located in a village named Rampurwa in the Champaran district of Bihar.  It was discovered by Mr Karlay in 1872 AD.
Lauria Areraj Pillar Lekh	It is located in the Champaran district of Bihar
Lauria-Nandangarh Pillar Lekh	It is located in the Champaran district of Bihar
Sarnath Pillar Inscription	It is located in the Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh. In this pillar inscription, Emperor Ashoka orders his Dharmamahamatra officials to stop the union. In this, Emperor Ashoka has been called Dharmashok.  Four animals are inscribed on this pillar, namely lion, horse, elephant and bull respectively
Sanchi Pillar inscription	It is located in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh.  In this pillar inscription, Emperor Ashoka orders his Dharmamahamatra officials to stop the union.
Kaushambi Pillar inscription	It is located near Allahabad.  In the pillar inscriptions of Kaushambi and Prayag, there is a mention of a donation by Queen Karuvaki of Emperor Ashoka.  His son Trevar is also described in this column.  This pillar inscription is also called Rani’s inscription
Rummindei Stambhlekh	It is located in the Terai of Nepal.  It was discovered by Faire in 1896 AD.  This pillar inscription shows that Ashoka visited here in the 20th year of his coronation and waived the religious tax “Bali” and reduced the land tax to 1/8 part.  This inscription is considered to be the shortest inscription of Emperor Ashoka
Nigali Sagar Pillar inscription	It is located in the Terai of Nepal.  This pillar inscription shows that Ashoka came here in the 12th year of his coronation and had the stupa of Kanakamuni enriched here.