Rock Edicts

Name for a set of inscriptions commissioned by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka
(r. 269–32 B.C.E.). The inscriptions were
official pronouncements on royal policy,
and advice and instructions to his subjects on a variety of topics, including
religious tolerance. In general, the rock
edicts were carved into large boulders or
rock faces in places that would have
been at the borders of the Mauryan
Empire, thus symbolically defining its
boundaries. The text was fairly consistent throughout the empire, even
though different examples of these
edicts were found in widely separated
places. The other major class of Ashokan
inscriptions, the pillar edicts, were
inscribed on pillars of polished Chunar
sandstone and set up on the major
roads running through the empire,
where they would have been visible to
passersby. See also Maurya dynasty.