Ashokan Rock Edicts: Odisha’s Pride

By Meera

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Thousands of battles have been fought in this country the last 5000 years and one gets to read and know about them in various forms. However, one of the largest and deadliest battles, the Kalinga War in 262-261 BCE is etched in History as it took a horrendous human toll (about 2 lakh people were killed & maimed).

The rock edicts

The erstwhile Magadha empire led by Emperor Ashoka was responsible for this gore and bloodshed. Ashoka repented his actions and became a Buddhist and this is recorded through his rock edicts. Braving the vagaries of weather and human conflicts and attacks, these rock edicts have stood the test of time for more than 2283 years.

View of the Asokan edict 

Peace Pagoda

Although it was a family vacation to Odisha, my innate interest in historical heritage led me to visit the rock edicts at Dhauli in Bhubaneswar recently. These edicts are right at the site of the epic Kalinga battle between Emperor Ashoka and the Kalinga King Raja Ananta Padmanabha. As we climb onto the nearby Shanthi Stupa or the Peace Pagoda – one gets to see a panoramic view of the Kalinga battle site located on Dhaulagiri, on the left side of the Daya River.

Kalinga War site and Daya river

The Kalinga War was the turning point in Ashok’s life as he gave up his ambition of being a Digvijay and converted himself from a Chandasoka into a Dharmasoka. A repentant King, it is said, Ashoka went on to follow a path of non-violence, morality and peace and so, therefore left such proclamations in the form of rock edicts across India. To spread awareness about the ideologies of Buddhism far and wide, he began by selecting a single rock close to the Kalinga battleground and commissioned inscriptions of his orders.

Buddha at the Pagoda

Long shot of the edict

Many Indians are hardly aware of the existence of such edicts across the country in the states of Odisha, Bihar, UP, AP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, etc. We at Spotted Owlets are making a maiden attempt to bring to our readers the first in the series of writings on Ashokan Rock Edicts.

View of river and war site from pagoda

The rock inscriptions are maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and are located at the foothills of the Dhaulagiri. The site is enclosed by a compound wall within a garden, and the rock edict is protected in a glass-cum-metallic shelter. One must climb a few rocky steps to get a clear picture of an elephant carving at the top.

Inscription enclosed in a metallic shelter

In fact, the rock edicts are located at the base of this rock cut Elephant (a bit crude) which are unlike other carvings of the Mauryan era. The unique elephant carving symbolizes Ashoka’s transition or Lord Buddha himself. In fact, the forepart of the elephant is labeled as “Gajottama” (best of elephants) symbolizing the concept of Buddhism.

The elephant carving atop the inscription

Now what do these inscriptions contain? These rock inscriptions which were lost to the world till the 19th century are basically about teachings of Buddha. Out of the 14 edicts of Ashoka, XI, XII and XIII are missing and have been replaced by Kalinga edict-I & II known as the Special Edicts, as per ASI records. These special edicts are conciliatory in nature and speak about treating all subjects as his children which was to pacify the conquered people of Kalinga.

Inscription through the window

The other edicts from I to X and XIV speak about prohibition of killing of animals, arrangement of medicines for humans and animals, plantation of medicinal herbs in various kingdoms, planting of trees on both sides of the road, propagation of moral codes, attainment of self-control and purity of mind, practice of morality and a host of other rules and codes.

A view of the early Brahmi Script used

The language of the inscription is “Magadi Prakrita” while the script is “early Brahmi.” Looking at the Brahmi script, I could make out many alphabets which are found in Kannada, Telugu, and other Indian language scripts. The omission of the 13th edict is deliberate as it describes Ashoka’s conquest in Kalinga that involved great carnage, captivity, and misery of the people. Indeed, it was an exciting and knowledge gaining experience, and so, Spotted Owlets decided to explore more rock edicts of Ashoka, starting from Karnataka.

How To Reach There?

It is located just about 8 kilometers from Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha. Preserved by the ASI, entry to the site is free. It remains open from 9 am to 5 pm on all the 7 days.

Location map: