UPSC CORE · NCERT GEOGRAPHY · ANCIENT INDIA — MAURYAN INSCRIPTIONS
Ashokan Edicts (Major Rock / Minor Rock / Pillar / Cave) 🪨
NCERT-aligned UPSC Core Geography topic from NCERT Class 11/12 + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar). Every item is anchored to a real location on India's map — built for boards (CBSE, ICSE, state) and UPSC aspirants.
📚 NCERT TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT
Class UPSC Geography — NCERT Class 11/12 + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar) — Chapter: Ancient India — Mauryan inscriptions.
36LOCATIONS
191QUESTIONS
UPSC CORENCERT LEVEL
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Key locations covered (36)
- Kandahar — Bilingual Rock Edict (Greek + Aramaic) — Afghanistan (Kandahar) · westernmost Ashokan inscription · only bilingual
- Shahbazgarhi — Major Rock Edict (Kharoshthi) — Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan (Mardan dist.) · only in Kharoshthi script (with Mansehra)
- Mansehra — Major Rock Edict (Kharoshthi) — Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan (Hazara) · Kharoshthi script
- Kalsi — Major Rock Edict (Brahmi) — Uttarakhand (Dehradun · Yamuna-Tons confluence)
- Girnar (Junagadh) — Major Rock Edict — Gujarat (Junagadh · base of Girnar hill)
- Sopara (Shurparaka) — Major Rock Edict fragment — Maharashtra (Palghar · ancient port near Mumbai)
- Yerragudi — Major + Minor Rock Edicts — Andhra Pradesh (Kurnool dist.) · only site with both Major and Minor Rock Edicts
- Dhauli (Kalinga) — Separate Major Rock Edicts — Odisha (Bhubaneswar · banks of Daya river)
- Jaugada — Separate Major Rock Edicts — Odisha (Ganjam dist. · banks of Rishikulya)
- Sannati (Kanaganahalli) — Major Rock + Separate Edicts — Karnataka (Kalaburagi dist. · banks of Bhima river)
- Maski — Minor Rock Edict — Karnataka (Raichur) · first edict naming 'Ashoka' (Devanampiya Asoka)
- Gujarra — Minor Rock Edict — Madhya Pradesh (Datia) · 2nd site to explicitly name Ashoka
- Nittur — Minor Rock Edict — Karnataka (Ballari) · 3rd site naming Ashoka
- Udegolam — Minor Rock Edict — Karnataka (Ballari) · 4th site naming Ashoka
- Brahmagiri — Minor Rock Edict — Karnataka (Chitradurga) · Suvarnagiri provincial cluster
- Siddapura — Minor Rock Edict — Karnataka (Chitradurga) · Mysore trio
- Jatinga-Rameshvara — Minor Rock Edict — Karnataka (Chitradurga) · Mysore trio
- Rupnath — Minor Rock Edict — Madhya Pradesh (Jabalpur) · Kaimur range
- Sahasram — Minor Rock Edict — Bihar (Rohtas dist.) · Kaimur foothills near Pataliputra route
- Bairat (Bhabru) — Minor Rock Edict + Bhabru Edict — Rajasthan (Jaipur dist.) · ancient Viratanagara
- Bahapur (Delhi) — Minor Rock Edict — Delhi (Srinivaspuri / near Kalkaji) · only edict inside Delhi NCT
- Palkigundu — Minor Rock Edict — Karnataka (Raichur) · paired with Gavimath
- Gavimath — Minor Rock Edict — Karnataka (Koppal) · paired with Palkigundu
- Rajula-Mandagiri — Minor Rock Edict — Andhra Pradesh (Kurnool) · near Yerragudi
- Topra (Delhi-Topra Pillar) — 7 Pillar Edicts — Originally Topra Kalan (Haryana, Yamunanagar); moved 1356 CE by Firoz Shah Tughlaq to Delhi (Feroz Shah Kotla)
- Delhi-Meerut Pillar — 6 Pillar Edicts — Originally Meerut (Uttar Pradesh); moved 1356 CE to Delhi Ridge by Firoz Shah Tughlaq
- Lauriya-Nandangarh — Pillar Edicts — Bihar (West Champaran) · lion-capital pillar
- Lauriya-Araraj — Pillar Edicts — Bihar (East Champaran) · companion to Lauriya-Nandangarh
- Allahabad-Kosam (Prayagraj) Pillar — Originally Kausambi (UP); moved to Allahabad/Prayagraj fort by Akbar's era
- Rampurva — Twin Pillars (Lion + Bull capitals) — Bihar (West Champaran) · capitals now in Rashtrapati Bhavan & Indian Museum
- Sankissa (Sankasya) — Elephant Capital Pillar — Uttar Pradesh (Farrukhabad) · Buddhist site of the descent from Tushita
- Sarnath — Lion Capital (Indian National Emblem) — Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi) · Buddha's first sermon · Schism Edict
- Rummindei (Lumbini) — Pillar marking Buddha's Birthplace — Nepal (Lumbini, Rupandehi) · UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Nigali Sagar (Nigliva) — Pillar of Buddha Konakamana — Nepal (Kapilavastu) · records Ashoka's enlargement of a previous Buddha's stupa
- Barabar Caves — Cave Edicts (Ajivika dedications) — Bihar (Jehanabad) · oldest rock-cut caves in India
- Nagarjuni Caves — Cave Edicts of Dasaratha — Bihar (Jehanabad) · neighbour of Barabar
Sample questions (12 of 191)
Which Ashokan edict is bilingual and what scripts/languages does it use?
The Kandahar Bilingual Rock Edict, inscribed in Greek and Aramaic — addressed to the Hellenistic and Iranian populations of the empire's western frontier.
Why is the Kandahar Edict the westernmost Ashokan inscription?
It lies in modern Afghanistan, the far western edge of Ashoka's empire bordering the Seleucid/Hellenistic Greek world.
What does the Kandahar Bilingual Edict proclaim?
A summary of Ashoka's Dhamma — abstention from killing living beings, obedience to parents and elders, and the Emperor's moral reform after Kalinga.
Which language script of the Kandahar edict is also linked to the Aramaic origin theory of Brahmi/Kharoshthi?
Aramaic — the Imperial Aramaic script of the Achaemenids is the proposed parent of Kharoshthi, the script used in the NW Indian edicts.
Who discovered the Kandahar Bilingual Edict and when?
It was discovered in 1958 at Chilzina/Old Kandahar by Italian and French archaeologists led by D. Schlumberger.
What does the Kandahar Edict suggest about Ashoka's diplomatic reach?
It indicates direct contact and treaty relations with the Yavana (Hellenistic Greek) successor states of Alexander, including Antiochus II Theos of Syria.
What makes Shahbazgarhi unique among Ashoka's 14 Major Rock Edicts?
It is engraved in Kharoshthi script (right-to-left), used only here and at Mansehra; all other Major Rock Edicts are in Brahmi.
Why was Kharoshthi used at Shahbazgarhi?
It was the script of the NW frontier (Gandhara), influenced by Aramaic — the local literate population read Kharoshthi, not Brahmi.
Which all 14 Major Rock Edicts are present at Shahbazgarhi?
All 14, including the famous Kalinga remorse edict (Edict XIII) and the Dhamma summary.
In which modern country and province is Shahbazgarhi?
Pakistan, in Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
When was Shahbazgarhi edict first reported to European scholarship?
First noted by Court in 1836 and deciphered with James Prinsep's 1837 Brahmi/Kharoshthi breakthrough.
Which Ashokan Edict at Shahbazgarhi expresses remorse for the Kalinga war?
Major Rock Edict XIII — the longest and most personal, declaring 'Dhammavijaya' (conquest by Dharma) superior to military conquest.
All 191 questions are available in the interactive map quiz.
About this topic
This topic is part of the NCERT UPSC Core Geography syllabus, specifically the textbook NCERT Class 11/12 + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar), drawn from the chapter Ancient India — Mauryan inscriptions. Content is cross-referenced against the latest NCERT textbook editions + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra for history; G.C. Leong, Savindra Singh for geography; the UPSC Civil Services prelims + mains syllabus).
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