[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924) › c21.59 # The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c21.59 The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c21.59 - **Language:** English ### [c21.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21.59) ¹ The Mysore versions of Minor Rock Edict I convey the commands of Asoka to the officials of a town named Isila, probably represented by an ancient site near the places where the inscriptions exist, through the Prince and officials of Suvarnagiri—that is to say, the commands received from Asoka were issued from Suvarnagiri by the Prince and high officers residing there. I understand that Suvarnagiri was somewhere in the south, and that the Prince was Asoka’s Viceroy of the Deccan. Fleet guesses that Suvarnagiri should be identified with Sōngir at Old Rājgir in Magadha, and on that basis elaborates a theory that Asoka was living in retirement at that place (\*J. R. A. S.\*, 1909, pp. 981–1016). I cannot find any evidence that Asoka abdicated, and I prefer to believe that Suvarnagiri (‘Golden Hill’) was situated somewhere in one of the ancient goldfields. Maski, where the Asoka inscription was discovered in 1915, is situated in a country which ‘abounds in numerous ancient gold workings’ (\*Hyderabad Archaeol. Series\*, No. 1, 1915), and was an important settlement even in the late neolithic period (\*Foote Coll. Indian Prehistoric\*, vol. of notes, pp. 31, 125, 126). - [Previous: c21.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21.58) - [Next: c21.60](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21.60) - [Up: c21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21) ## Linked texts (1) - [Minor Rock Edicts](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.asoka.mre) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21.59) · Pramāṇa