Ashok Shila Lekh

I am  fast forwarding from   2500 BC to  300  BC.   From Lothal to Ashok's Shila Lekh.


History lovers can visit the Ashok Shilalekh or the rock edicts of Emperor Ashoka.  They may see  a jackpot in this  rock. It gives  an unique  connection to India's Past. If you are  an Indian or know tid-bits of the Indian history, then you must know "Chakravarti Samraat Ashok"  from Maurya dynasty and his writings on stones known as "Ashoka Stambh". Indian  national symbol have been taken from it



About 2 km east of Junagadh and 3 km from the foot of Girnar Hill, between the two places, is an edict of Emperor Ashoka inscribed on a rock dating from the 3rd century BC. The Ashokan edicts impart moral instructions on dharma, harmony, tolerance, and peace. An uneven rock, with a circumference of seven meters and a height of ten meters, bears inscriptions in Brāhmī script etched with an iron pen.It is interesting to note that Ashoka traveled all the way from Kalinga (present day Orissa) to this far away place in the west.


The inscriptions in Ashoka's 14 rock edicts on a large boulder are all done in Brahmi script. In the same rock, you can also find inscriptions in Sanskrit by the Saka (Scythian) ruler of Malwa, which have been added to it, around 150 C.E. by Mahakshatrap Rudradaman.


Ashoka was the third monarch of the Mauryan dynasty in India, anointed as emperor in 274 BCE, and is regarded as one of the most admirable rulers in world history..Although he is a major historical figure, little definitive information was known as there were no available 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

The script was deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, an archaeologist, philologist, and official of the British East India Company. These scripts were found on the pillars at Delhi and Allahabad and on rock inscriptions from both sides of India, and also the Kharosthi script in the coins and inscriptions of the north-west.  The history of deciphering of the  script   by  James Prisep is also  very  impressive.



References

1. Ashoks Major Rock Eddicts 
2. Eddicts of Ashok 
3. Brahmi script   introduction  and  Brahmi lanaguage books  
4. Brahmi scripts ( wikepedia)  
5. James  Prinsep    archaeologist  who deciphered Brahmi 
6. Ashoka: The Search for India’s Lost Emperor by charles Allen