Publications

The inscriptions of Ashoka have been engraved on pillars, rocks, stone-slabs and walls of caves and have been found from Kandhar to Bihar and from Kalsi (near Dehradun) to Karnataka. They have been broadly classified as Rock Edicts, Minor Rock Edicts, Pillar Edicts, Minor Pillar Edicts and Cave Inscriptions. They have been written in Pali language either in Brahmi script or in Kharoshthi script, in Aramaic language in Aramaic script, and in Greek language in Greek script. The intention of Ashoka was that his message should reach to people speaking different languages and using different scripts, throughout the length and breadth of his empire. The inscriptions of Ashoka have been discovered at intervals. The script of Ashoka was forgotten after a few centuries and Fa-hien, who stayed in India between 400 and 410 AD, could not find anyone who could decipher the script. The contents of the inscriptions remained unknown till 1837 when James Prinsep for the first time found the key for their decipherment. This monograph, entitled A New Ashokan Inscription from Ratanpurwa was prepared within a very short span of time with great effort by the author. It throws valuable light on the newly discovered 18th Minor Rock Edict of the great Mauryan Emperor. This inscription was discovered by Jnana-Pravaha in the Kaimur Range on 12th of January 2009 and this monograph was brought out on the 7th of February 2009 imparting firsthand information on the new discovery. The Archaeological Survey of India declared it as one of the outstanding achievements of last fifty years and has named this inscription as Basaha Minor Rock Edict.