A Kutchi Summer: Day 5- Ashoka's edicts at Junagadh

Continued from the Uperkot fort.
This was one piece of antiquity that I wanted to see. Actually touch. I did. All those years ago, sitting in my history class (almost nodding off) as the teacher droned on (yes she did) about Ashoka, his edicts and his golden rule. And here I was, some three decades on actually seeing it!

After the Uparkot fort, we drove through some regular Indian town lanes and arrived in front of this white building. This would be the foothills of the Girnar mountain, the spot in the old days that pilgrims would have to pass on their way to the temples up in the hill.

Like a well-placed advertising hoarding of today, it must have gained much viewership because of its location!

The new "edict" in stone courtesy ASI gives the details of the antiquity of the rock. I got a few of the ten to stand in the doorway and block out the glare, so that it was readable!

I was seeing stuff from the second century BC, then! It had vanished into obscurity, as Junagadh itself languished. One of the reasons proffered is the flooding by rivers coming down the hills and the damage to the dam across the sudarshana lake. These are mentioned in the inscriptions of Rudraman and C Maurya. The edicts were then "re-discovered" by Lt Col James Tod, in 1822, after the British took over the area. The John Keay book on India quotes Tod as saying about the rock - "converted by the aid of the iron pen...into a book."
I could not be sure which was the earlier brahmi of Ashoka and which was the later script of Skandagupta Maurya from the fourth century AD, and there were no boards or "map" of the stone, to educate us either.

Pali? I think so. Those three dots are a prefix for a proper noun, if I am not mistaken. So, these would be the later inscriptions of Rudraman? describing the state of the riverways, the problems with the dams, etc.

As my son pointed out, as only a teenager can, the ancient stone was in good shape compared to the new boards on the wall. Take a look.
The translation of the Rudraman inscriptions.
Translation of the first to fourth edicts of Ashoka

The first edict (on morality) prohibits the slaughter of animals. Basically the king had become a vegetarian! The second one decrees that medical treatment centres for men and cattle should be set up, as also wells dug and trees planted. (I have to say, this is what I used to write for every king who was "a good king", in my various history exams!!)
Fifth and sixth. Also on morality. It was interesting to read about how the king was to ensure justice for all men, mechanisms for grievance redressals, in the context of the DMK losing elections in TN and Kanimozhi being arrested.
Twelfth and thirteenth. The twelfth talks about sectarian harmony and the thirteenth about the path of non-voilence in the aftermaths of the kalinga war.

Skandagupta Maurya's edict transcription
Is this Brahmi? I think so.
Brahmi again?

I found these two sites:

The Brahmi alphabet

Pali

Is it too much to wish for just a little eye to aesthetics, atmosphere and child-friendly and educative displays from the ASI? These were my thoughts as we moved on from here to the Makbara.