Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra edicts
Topic: The Mauryan Empire · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
These are two sets of Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northwest Pakistan. They are in Prakrit, but they are written in the Kharosthi script, not in Brahmi like most other Ashokan edicts. Kharosthi came from the Aramaic script and is written from right to left. These edicts show that Ashoka adapted the script to suit local readers.
Example
At Shahbazgarhi, in Mardan district, and at Mansehra, in the Hazara region, the same moral messages found elsewhere in the empire are carved in Kharosthi. Scholars first cracked Kharosthi by studying Indo-Greek coins that gave kings' names, such as Apollodotus, in both Greek and Kharosthi.
Don't confuse with
- Kandahar bilingual inscription: an Ashokan edict in Afghanistan written in Greek and Aramaic, not in Kharosthi.
Related concepts
- Ashokan edicts
- Piyadassi
- Kandahar bilingual inscription
- Maski edict
- Girnar rock edict
- R. Shamasastry
- Sohgaura copper plate
- Mahasthan inscription