Ashoka's edicts

The Mauryan emperor Ashoka had his edicts carved on rocks and pillars across India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan, mostly in Prakrit in the Brahmi script, with one bilingual edict in Greek and Aramaic; one records his conquest of Kalinga, with 150,000 deported and 100,000 killed, and his remorse. The script was forgotten until James Prinsep deciphered it in 1837, and an edict naming Ashoka confirmed who wrote them in 1915.

The mechanism

CUSTODY OF THE WORD

How it was checked

• EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: ADDED 2026-09-19
• Letter eraTHE PROPHETS AND THE ROAD 776 BC to 4 BC
• SourcesRECORD — Britannica, 'Ashoka'; S. Dhammika, The Edicts of King Asoka (translation and introduction), Access to Insight; Britannica, 'James Prinsep' · checked 19 September: Britannica (read in a browser; WebFetch is refused by the site), 'Ashoka'; Rock Edict XIII in E. Hultzsch's translation (Inscriptions of Asoka, 1925), quoted at Wikipedia 'Major Rock Edicts'; Wikipedia, 'Edicts of Ashoka' (Prinsep, Maski 1915, languages); Britannica (read in a browser; WebFetch is refused by the site), 'James Prinsep'