Which one of the following statements about Ashoka's inscriptions is correct?

Correct — D, Kalsi in Uttarakhand is a site of Major Rock Edicts. Kalsi stands in Dehradun district near the Yamuna, and the rock there carries the set of Fourteen Major Rock Edicts, engraved in Brahmi script and Prakrit language. It is the northernmost of the Major Rock Edict sites and the only one in the Himalayan foothills, which is part of why it is remembered. The other three statements each fail on a specific, checkable point. There is no Ashokan Major Rock Edict in Kerala at all — the southern edicts are in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh — and in any case Ashoka's inscriptions are in Prakrit, not Sanskrit, apart from the Greek and Aramaic versions at Kandahar. Bihar's Minor Rock Edict is at Sasaram in Rohtas district, not Pataliputra. And Dhauli is precisely the site where the Kalinga War is not mentioned: Rock Edict XIII, the one that describes the war and Ashoka's remorse, is omitted at Dhauli and Jaugada and replaced by the two Separate Kalinga Edicts.

• (a)The Major Rock Edict found in Kerala is in Sanskrit. — Two errors at once. No Ashokan Major Rock Edict has been found in Kerala, and Ashoka's Indian inscriptions are in Prakrit written in Brahmi (Kharoshthi in the north-west), not Sanskrit.
• (b)Minor Rock Edicts in Bihar are found only in Pataliputra. — Bihar's Minor Rock Edict is at Sasaram in Rohtas district. Pataliputra was the imperial capital, but the edict is not there — a reminder that Ashoka inscribed on routes and frontiers, not chiefly at his capital.
• (c)The Dhauli Major Rock Edict makes a mention of the Kalinga War. — The exact reverse of the truth, and the best distractor here. Dhauli is in Kalinga, so mentioning the war seems natural — but Rock Edict XIII, which narrates it, is deliberately left out at Dhauli and Jaugada and the two Separate Kalinga Edicts put in its place.

Ashoka's inscriptions fall into groups: Fourteen Major Rock Edicts, found at sites around the empire's edges; Minor Rock Edicts, generally earlier and more personal; Major and Minor Pillar Edicts on polished sandstone columns; and separate categories such as the two Kalinga Edicts and the cave dedications in the Barabar hills. They are written in Prakrit, in Brahmi across most of the subcontinent and Kharoshthi in the north-west, with Greek and Aramaic used at Kandahar. James Prinsep deciphered Brahmi in 1837, which is what made all of this readable.

The item rewards knowing the map of the edicts rather than their contents. Major Rock Edict sites run round the periphery — Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra in the north-west, Kalsi in the north, Girnar in the west, Sopara on the Konkan coast, Dhauli and Jaugada in Kalinga, Yerragudi in Andhra. Placing Kalsi correctly settles the question. The Dhauli statement is the one worth remembering for its own sake, because the omission is deliberate and revealing: Ashoka does not tell his newly conquered Kalinga subjects the story of how he conquered them and regretted it. Instead they get the two Separate Edicts, which instruct his officers on the just and careful treatment of the people there. It is a piece of political tact visible in the epigraphic record.

• Kalsi, in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand near the Yamuna, carries the Fourteen Major Rock Edicts and is the northernmost such site.
• Ashoka's Indian inscriptions are in Prakrit — Brahmi script generally, Kharoshthi in the north-west — with Greek and Aramaic versions at Kandahar.
• Rock Edict XIII, which describes the Kalinga War and Ashoka's remorse, is omitted at Dhauli and Jaugada; the two Separate Kalinga Edicts appear instead.
• Bihar's Minor Rock Edict is at Sasaram in Rohtas district, not at the capital Pataliputra.
• Maski in Karnataka is the Minor Rock Edict that gave Ashoka's personal name, confirming that 'Devanampiya Piyadasi' of the other edicts was Ashoka.
• James Prinsep deciphered the Brahmi script in 1837, unlocking the whole corpus.

• Assuming an edict in Kalinga must describe the Kalinga War — Dhauli and Jaugada are exactly where that account is suppressed.
• Expecting the most important inscriptions at Pataliputra; the edicts sit on frontiers and trade routes, not at the capital.
• Calling the language Sanskrit. Ashoka's edicts are in Prakrit; the earliest substantial royal Sanskrit inscription is Rudradaman's at Junagadh, centuries later.

Usually as a single-correct-statement item mixing language, site and content claims, as here, or as a straight site-to-edict-type match. Maski and Kalsi are the two site names that recur most.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Ashokan Rock Edict that describes the Kalinga War is omitted at which of the following sites?

  • (a)Girnar and Sopara
  • (b)Dhauli and Jaugada
  • (c)Kalsi and Shahbazgarhi
  • (d)Maski and Brahmagiri

  Answer(b) Dhauli and Jaugada — both lie in Kalinga, and at both Rock Edict XIII is replaced by the two Separate Kalinga Edicts.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The language of Ashoka's inscriptions within the Indian subcontinent is

  • (a)Sanskrit
  • (b)Pali only
  • (c)Prakrit
  • (d)Tamil

  Answer(c) Prakrit — written in Brahmi over most of the empire and in Kharoshthi in the north-west; Greek and Aramaic appear only at Kandahar.