[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) › c21.94 # The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c21.94 The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c21.94 - **Language:** English ### [c21.94](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21.94) The Seven Pillar Edicts, issued in their complete form in or about the year 242 b. c., when Asoka had reigned for some thirty years, and was nearing the close of his career of activity in worldly affairs, must be read along with the Fourteen Rock Edicts, to which they refer, and of which they may be considered an appendix. The principles enunciated in the earlier instructions are reiterated and emphasized in the later; the regulations enforcing the sanctity of animal life are amplified and codified; and the series closes with the most valuable of all the documents, Pillar Edict No. VII, preserved on one monument only, which recounts in orderly fashion the measures to promote 'the growth of piety' adopted by the emperor within his dominions during the course of his long reign.² - [Previous: c21.93](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21.93) - [Next: c21.95](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21.95) - [Up: c21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21.94](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c21.94) · Pramāṇa