Editing Ashoka (section)

== Archaeological remains ==

=== Architecture ===
Besides the various stupas attributed to Ashoka, the [[pillars of Ashoka|pillars erected by him]] survive at various places in the Indian subcontinent.

Ashoka is often credited with the beginning of stone architecture in India, dedicated to Buddhism, possibly following the introduction of stone-building techniques by the [[Greco-Bactrian|Greeks after Alexander the Great]].<ref name="Stone">[https://books.google.com/books?id=fpfTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT21 Introduction to Indian Architecture Bindia Thapar, Tuttle Publishing, 2012, p.21] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229200601/https://books.google.com/books?id=fpfTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT21 |date=29 December 2019 }} "Ashoka used the knowledge of stone craft to begin the tradition of stone architecture in India, dedicated to Buddhism."</ref> Before Ashoka's time, buildings were probably built in non-permanent material, such as wood, [[bamboo]] or [[thatch]].<!-- We ignore the IVC here? JJ, 12 jan 2025 --><ref name="Stone"/><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TlVeuxIgjwQC&pg=PA14| title = Gardner's Art through the Ages: Non-Western Perspectives, Fred S. Kleiner, Cengage Learning, 2009, p14| isbn = 9780495573678| last1 = Kleiner| first1 = Fred S.| date = 5 January 2009| publisher = Cengage Learning| access-date = 17 June 2017| archive-date = 26 December 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191226115443/https://books.google.com/books?id=TlVeuxIgjwQC&pg=PA14| url-status = live}}</ref> Ashoka may have rebuilt his palace in [[Pataliputra]] by replacing wooden material by stone,{{sfn|Mookerji|1995|p=96}} and may also have used the help of foreign craftmen.<ref>"Ashoka was known to be a great builder who may have even imported craftsmen from abroad to build royal monuments." Monuments, Power and Poverty in India: From Ashoka to the Raj, A. S. Bhalla, I.B.Tauris, 2015 p.18 [https://books.google.com/books?id=emATBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226160624/https://books.google.com/books?id=emATBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18|date=26 December 2019}}</ref> Ashoka also innovated by using the permanent qualities of stone for his written [[Edicts of Ashoka|edicts]], as well as his pillars with Buddhist symbolism.

<gallery>
Ashok Sthamba.jpg | The Ashokan pillar at [[Lumbini]], [[Nepal]], Buddha's birthplace
Diamond throne discovery.jpg | The [[Diamond throne]] at the [[Mahabodhi Temple]], attributed to Ashoka
Vajrasana front frieze design.jpg | Front frieze of the Diamond throne
MauryanRingstone.JPG |  Mauryan [[ringstone]], with standing goddess. Northwest Pakistan. 3rd century BCE. [[British Museum]]
Rampurva bull capital detail.jpg |[[Rampurva|Rampurva bull capital]], detail of the [[abacus (architecture)|abacus]], with two [[palmette|"flame palmettes"]] framing a lotus surrounded by small rosette flowers.
</gallery>

=== Symbols ===

{{multiple image
| perrow=2
| align    = right
| direction =horizontal
| header=Symbols of Ashoka
| total_width=300
| image1   = Sarnath capital.jpg
| caption1 = [[Lion Capital of Ashoka|Ashoka's pillar]] capital of [[Sarnath]]. This sculpture has been adopted as the [[State Emblem of India]].
| image2   = Ashoka_Chakra.svg
| caption2 = [[Ashoka Chakra]], ''"the wheel of Righteousness" (Dharma in [[Sanskrit]] or Dhamma in [[Pali]])"'', has been adopted in the [[National Flag of India]].
}}

Ashokan capitals were highly realistic and used a characteristic polished finish, [[Mauryan polish]], giving a shiny appearance to the stone surface.<ref name="Irwin 1973 706–720">{{Cite journal |last=Irwin |first=John |date=1973 |title='Aśokan' Pillars: A Reassessment of the Evidence |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/877526 |journal=The Burlington Magazine |volume=115 |issue=848 |pages=706–720 |jstor=877526 }}</ref> [[Lion Capital of Ashoka]], the capital of one of the pillars erected by Ashoka features a carving of a spoked wheel, known as the [[Ashoka Chakra]]. This wheel represents the wheel of Dhamma set in motion by the Gautama Buddha, and appears on the flag of modern India. This capital also features sculptures of lions, which appear on the seal of India.{{sfn|Gombrich|1995|p=1}}

=== Inscriptions and rock-edicts===
[[File:AiKhanoumAndIndia.jpg|thumb|Distribution of the [[Edicts of Ashoka]], and location of the contemporary Greek city of [[Ai-Khanoum]].<ref>Reference: "India: The Ancient Past" p.113, Burjor Avari, [[Routledge]], {{ISBN|0-415-35615-6}}</ref>]]
[[File:AsokaKandahar.jpg|thumb|The [[Kandahar Edict of Ashoka]], a bilingual inscription (in Greek and [[Aramaic]]) by King Ashoka, discovered at [[Kandahar]] ({{small|[[National Museum of Afghanistan]]}}).]]
The edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the [[Pillars of Ashoka]], as well as boulders and cave walls, issued during his reign.<ref name="Irwin 1973 706–720"/> These inscriptions are dispersed throughout modern-day Pakistan and India, and represent the first tangible evidence of Buddhism. The edicts describe in detail the first wide expansion of Buddhism through the sponsorship of one of the most powerful kings of Indian history, offering more information about Ashoka's proselytism, moral precepts, religious precepts, and his notions of social and animal welfare.{{sfn|Singh|2012}}

Before Ashoka, the royal communications appear to have been written on perishable materials such as palm leaves, birch barks, cotton cloth, and possibly wooden boards. While Ashoka's administration would have continued to use these materials, Ashoka also had his messages inscribed on rock edicts.{{sfn|Lahiri|2015|pp=120–121}} Ashoka probably got the idea of putting up these inscriptions from the neighbouring [[Achaemenid empire]].{{sfn|Gombrich|1995|p=3}} It is likely that Ashoka's messages were also inscribed on more perishable materials, such as wood, and sent to various parts of the empire. None of these records survive now.{{sfn|Thapar|1961|p=7}}

Scholars are still attempting to analyse both the expressed and implied political ideas of the Edicts (particularly in regard to imperial vision), and make inferences pertaining to how that vision was grappling with problems and political realities of a "virtually subcontinental, and culturally and economically highly variegated, 3rd century BCE Indian empire.{{sfn|Singh|2012|p=132}} Nonetheless, it remains clear that Ashoka's Inscriptions represent the earliest corpus of royal inscriptions in the Indian subcontinent, and therefore prove to be a very important innovation in royal practices."{{sfn|Singh|2012}}

Most of Ashoka's inscriptions are written in a mixture of various [[Prakrit]] dialects, in the [[Brahmi]] script.{{sfn|Lahiri|2015|p=126}}

Several of Ashoka's inscriptions appear to have been set up near towns, on important routes, and at places of religious significance.{{sfn|Thapar|1961|p=6}} Many of the inscriptions have been discovered in hills, rock shelters, and places of local significance.{{sfn|Lahiri|2015|p=143}} Various theories have been put forward about why Ashoka or his officials chose such places, including that they were centres of megalithic cultures,{{sfn|Thapar|1995|p=23}} were regarded as sacred spots in Ashoka's time, or that their physical grandeur may be symbolic of spiritual dominance.{{sfn|Lahiri|2015|pp=143–157}} Ashoka's inscriptions have not been found at major cities of the Maurya empire, such as Pataliputra, Vidisha, Ujjayini, and Taxila.
{{sfn|Lahiri|2015|p=143}} It is possible that many of these inscriptions are lost; the 7th century Chinese pilgrim [[Xuanzang]] refers to some of Ashoka's pillar edicts, which have not been discovered by modern researchers.{{sfn|Thapar|1961|p=6}}

It appears that Ashoka dispatched every message to his provincial governors, who in turn, relayed it to various officials in their territory.{{sfn|Lahiri|2015|p=127}} For example, the [[Minor Rock Edicts#Full texts of the Minor Rock Edicts|Minor Rock Edict 1]] appears in several versions at multiple places: all the versions state that Ashoka issued the proclamation while on a tour, having spent 256 days on tour. The number 256 indicates that the message was dispatched simultaneously to various places.{{sfn|Lahiri|2015|p=133}} Three versions of a message, found at edicts in the neighbouring places in Karnataka (Brahmagiri, Siddapura, and Jatinga-Rameshwara), were sent from the southern province's capital Suvarnagiri to various places. All three versions contain the same message, preceded by an initial greeting from the ''arya-putra'' (presumably Ashoka's son and the provincial governor) and the ''mahamatras'' (officials) in Suvarnagiri.{{sfn|Lahiri|2015|p=127}}

=== Coinage ===

The [[caduceus]] appears as a symbol of the [[punch-marked coins]] of the [[Maurya Empire]] in India, in the 3rd–2nd century BCE. Numismatic research suggests that this symbol was the symbol of Emperor Ashoka, his personal "[[Mudra]]".<ref>Indian Numismatics, Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, Orient Blackswan, 1981, p.73 [https://books.google.com/books?id=favxZII9WtwC&pg=PA73] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215201423/https://books.google.com/books?id=favxZII9WtwC&pg=PA73|date=15 December 2019}}</ref> This symbol was not used on the pre-Mauryan punch-marked coins, but only on coins of the Maurya period, together with the [[arched-hill symbol|three arched-hill symbol]], the "peacock on the hill", the [[triskelis]] and the [[Taxila]] mark.<ref>Malwa Through the Ages, from the Earliest Times to 1305 A.D, Kailash Chand Jain, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1972, p.134 [https://books.google.com/books?id=_3O7q7cU7k0C&pg=PA134] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224053358/https://books.google.com/books?id=_3O7q7cU7k0C&pg=PA134|date=24 December 2019}}</ref>

<gallery widths="180px" heights="180px">
Caduceus on Mauryan coin.jpg | Caduceus symbol on a Maurya-era [[punch-marked coin]]
India Mauryan emperor Ashoka Punch-marked Coin.jpg | A punch-marked coin attributed to Ashoka<ref>{{cite book |last=Mitchiner |first=Michael |date=1978 |title=Oriental Coins & Their Values: The Ancient and Classical World 600 B.C. - A.D. 650 |publisher=Hawkins Publications |page=544 |isbn=978-0-9041731-6-1}}</ref>
I15 1karshapana Maurya Ashoka MACW4229 1ar (8486624862).jpg | A Maurya-era silver coin of 1 [[karshapana]], possibly from Ashoka's period, workshop of Mathura. ''Obverse:'' Symbols including a sun and an animal ''Reverse:'' Symbol ''Dimensions:'' 13.92 x 11.75&nbsp;mm ''Weight:'' 3.4 g.
</gallery>