The Mauryan Polity c11.s3.t5: The Evidence of Archaeology
The Mauryan Polity c11.s3.t5
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The Evidence of Archaeology
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(11) Literary and inscriptional evidence has led us to the conclusion that Aśoka’s faith was not Buddhism as is the current view. This is further supported by the testimony of archæology. As this has been examined fully elsewhere,¹ it is enough to point out here the main lines of argument adduced in support of our theory. Tradition records that Aśoka was a great builder of cities, stūpas and pillars. This is corroborated by the records of the Chinese travellers Fa-hien and Yuan Chwang. While Fa-hien noticed six pillars² of Aśoka, Yuan Chwang saw as many as fifteen.³ But of these only five can be identified with the existing monuments. But pillars which find no mention in these records are now discovered, as for example, the Lauṛiyā-Ararāj pillar with no capital and the Lauṛiyā-Nandangaṛh pillar, its capital being bell shaped “with a circular abacus supporting the statue of a lion facing the north.”⁴ Even among the few identified with those mentioned by the Chinese travellers, there is some discrepancy. For instance, the pillar at Sārnāth measures in height just half of what has been attributed to it by Yuan Chwang.⁵
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¹ See for a full discussion of the subject author's paper in the *Journal of Oriental Research*, Madras, Vol. V, Pt. III, pp. 267-281.
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² Legge's trans., p. 80.
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³ Watters I. 344 and 383, II 5, 6, 28 ch.
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⁴ Ar. Rep. Vol. I, pp. 67-73.
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⁵ See Ar. Sur. Rep. 1904-5, p. 69: Watters, II 50; Beal, *Buddhist Records*, Vol. II, p. 46.
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*Most of the monuments pre-Aśokan*
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It would appear further untenable to assume that Aśoka set up pillars at different places for inscribing his edicts. It would be more reasonable to hold that these monuments stood long before Aśoka, and served convenient material for the emperor to record his inscriptions so as to give an element of permanence to the record of his achievements. This is evident from his own words. He says that he enlarged to twice its size the stūpa of Konākamana.¹ In another place he says that he caused his records to be inscribed wherever pillars of stone existed in his empire.²
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¹ Nigāli Sāgar Pillar, *Corpus*, p. 165.
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² Minor R. Edict (Rūpnāth text) and Pillar Edict VII, *Corpus*, pp. 116-131.
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*Aśoka's monuments*
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In brief, the following monuments are attributed to Aśoka by modern archæological research:—
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(1) The stūpa at Sāñci.
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(2) The stūpa at Bhārhut.
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(3) The enlarging of the stūpa of Konākamana.
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(4) Erecting three sets of caves in the Barābar Hills.
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(5) Four uninscribed pillars—those at Rāmpūrva with bull capital, Saṅkisa with elephant capital, Bakhra (Vaiśāli) with lion capital, and Kośam (Kauśāmbi) with no capital.
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(6) Other so-called Aśokan pillars containing his inscriptions are those discovered at Topra, Meerut, Allahabad, Lauṛiyā-Ararāj, Lauṛiyā-Nandangaṛh, Rāmpūrva, Sānchi, Sārnāth, Rummindeī, and Niglīva.