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The pillars of Ashoka are a series of monolithic pillars dispersed throughout the Indian subcontinent, erected—or at least inscribed with edicts—by the 3rd Mauryan Emperor Ashoka the Great, who reigned from c. 268 to 232 BC.
Learn about the pillars erected by King Ashoka, the first Buddhist emperor of India, to spread his message of compassion and dharma. Explore the symbolism, history, and inscriptions of these monumental structures that mark his kingdom.
- Written on these pillars, intertwined in the message of Buddhist compassion, were the merits of King Ashoka.
- After samsara, the cycle, you would be reunited with Brahman the supreme being in Hinduist religion. Apparently Buddhism adopts some of the teachin...
- Greek contact with ancient India was established when Alexander the Great invaded northwest parts of India, what is now Gandhara in Pakistan. Icono...
- from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vihara In the early decades of Buddhism the wandering monks of the Sangha, dedicated to asceticism and the monas...
- Only the first three Mauryan rulers were powerful. the rest of them were not as powerful as their predecessors. After Ashoka died the empire starte...
Learn about the Lion Capital, the most celebrated of the Ashokan pillars, erected at the site of Buddha's First Sermon. Discover the meaning of the lotus, the animals, the cakras, and the lions on the pillar.
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- A Buddhist king. What happens when a powerful ruler adopts a new religion that contradicts the life into which he was born? What about when this change occurs during the height of his rule when things are pretty much going his way?
- The pillars. Ashokan pillar capital at Vaishali, Bihar, India, c. 250 B.C.E. (photo: mself, CC BY-SA 2.5) One of Ashoka’s first artistic programs was to erect the pillars that are now scattered throughout what was the Mauryan empire.
- Lotus and lion. The physical appearance of the pillars underscores the Buddhist doctrine. Most of the pillars were topped by sculptures of animals. Each pillar is also topped by an inverted lotus flower, which is the most pervasive symbol of Buddhism (a lotus flower rises from the muddy water to bloom unblemished on the surface—thus the lotus became an analogy for the Buddhist practitioner as he or she, living with the challenges of everyday life and the endless cycle of birth and rebirth, was able to achieve Enlightenment, or the knowledge of how to be released from samsara, through following the Four Noble Truths).
- The edicts. Some pillars had edicts (proclamations) inscribed upon them. The edicts were translated in the 1830s. Since the seventeenth century, 150 Ashokan edicts have been found carved into the face of rocks and cave walls as well as the pillars, all of which served to mark his kingdom, which stretched across northern India and south to below the central Deccan plateau and in areas now known as Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
Ashoka, a unique ruler The most famous Mauryan ruler was Ashoka. He was the first ruler who tried to take his message to the people through inscriptions. Most of Ashoka’s inscriptions were in Prakrit and were written in the Brahmi script. Ashoka’s war in Kalinga Kalinga is the ancient name of coastal Orissa (see Map 5, page 76).
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. These inscriptions are dispersed throughout modern-day Pakistan and India, and represent the first tangible evidence of Buddhism.
Learn about the Ashokan Pillar, a stone column erected by Emperor Ashoka in 249 BC at Lumbini, Nepal, where Buddha was born. Discover its history, inscription, and significance for Buddhists and tourists.
