Royal Messages by the Wayside : Historical Geography of the Asokan Edicts
Contents: Preface. List of illustrations. 1. Introduction. 2. The minor rock edicts. 3. The fourteen major rock edicts and the two separate edicts. 4. The edicts from Vidarbha, Bairat (Calcutta-Bairat or Bhabru Edict), Afghanistan and the Northwest, and the Barbar Hills. 5. The Seven Pillar Edicts and various related issues. 6. Summary and Discussion. Bibliography. Index.
This book discusses the geographical implications of the locations of the Asokan edicts and is based on field-studies of many of these locations. The Asokan studies have largely been based, since their inception, on the issues of language, script and grammar, and one hopes that the studies of this kind, which are important ingredients of Asokan scholarship, will continue to be undertaken. However, textual scholarship or grammatical rules do not necessarily lead by themselves to historical or geographical knowledge. By studying in detail the geographical locations of the Asokan edicts, the present book has tried to understand some of the geopolitical factors operative in Mauryan India. It has also tried to identify ancient Tosali and the place where the battle for Kalinga was likely to have taken place. Two more major places which have been identified are Isila and Suvarnagiri. Among other things, it has argued that the Mauryan art, instead of being so-called imperial and courtly, was much more broad-based than is thought and effectively foreshadowed some basic elements of the later Sunga art.
This book discusses the geographical implications of the locations of the Asokan edicts and is based on field-studies of many of these locations. The Asokan studies have largely been based, since their inception, on the issues of language, script and grammar, and one hopes that the studies of this kind, which are important ingredients of Asokan scholarship, will continue to be undertaken. However, textual scholarship or grammatical rules do not necessarily lead by themselves to historical or geographical knowledge. By studying in detail the geographical locations of the Asokan edicts, the present book has tried to understand some of the geopolitical factors operative in Mauryan India. It has also tried to identify ancient Tosali and the place where the battle for Kalinga was likely to have taken place. Two more major places which have been identified are Isila and Suvarnagiri. Among other things, it has argued that the Mauryan art, instead of being so-called imperial and courtly, was much more broad-based than is thought and effectively foreshadowed some basic elements of the later Sunga art.
