Royal Messages by the Wayside – Historical Geography of the Asokan Edicts

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This book discusses the geographical implication 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’.

Dilip K. Chakrabarti is Emeritus Professor of South Asian Archaeology at Cambridge University and in fact, the first person to hold and personal chair in the field of ancient Indian history and archaeology at this university. He was awarded Hony. D. Litt by the M.J.P. University, Bareilly and S.C. Chakrabarti medal by the Asiatic Society, Kolkata. He received Gurudev Ranade book prize of the Indian Archaeological Society for his book The Oxford Companion to Indian Archaeology.

This book discusses the geographical implications of the locations of 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 and 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. This has also tried to identify ancient Tosali and the place where the battle for Kalinga was likely to have taken place. Among other things, this 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'.

Dr. RN. Singh of Banaras Hindu University, who was a Smuts Visiting Fellow at Cambridge in 2009-2010, kindly, obtained for me a copy of a paper on Magan Diwana hill near Ahraura. Dr. Rakesh Tewari kindly sent me photographs of the Surya image from Khairadih which still bears traces of being sculpted out of a Mauryan column. Dr. Tewari obtained these photographs from the Lucknow museum which owns their copyrights. He was also kind enough to read some portions of the manuscript.

This book is dedicated to Mr. Kishore Kumar Lahiri and his wife, Professor Nayanjot Lahiri. On two occasions in the 1980s, they financially supported my Union Territory of Delhi and Chhotanagpur exploration works. In the mid-1980s, when I was subjected to unwarranted and vicious attacks by a section of my colleagues in the work-place, they were steadfast in their support for me. When, several years later, I faced a similar situation in a different work-place, Mr. Lahiri, advocate, Supreme Court of India gave me the benefit of his legal assessment. I must also put on record that they have been remarkably hospitable to me and my family during our stays in Delhi since 1990.

Beyond the personal level, this dedication is also in acknowledgement of the significance of Professor Nayanjot Lahiri’s The Archaeology of Indian Trade Routes up to c. 200 Bc: Resource Use, Resource Access arid Lines of Communication (Delhi 1992) in Indian archaeology. A work of dependable and well-assimilated scholarship, the book has built up a full picture of how raw materials of all types were procured and traded throughout the sub-continent and how the lines of their movement conformed to some of the arterial routes of Indian history. Her analysis, although not based on any laboratory work, will stand the test of time.