Review - Select Asokan Epigraphs
Summary
This review considers Prof. Sachchidananda Bhattacharya’s book on selected Asokan edicts. The royal edicts of Emperor Ashoka are among the earliest Indian inscriptions and provide rare insights into his personal philosophy and administration. Bhattacharya translates and annotates edicts that record specific events in Ashoka’s reign and arranges them chronologically. The reviewer explains that the translations follow the authoritative text published in the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum but that the author has sometimes rejected Hultzsch’s interpretations in favour of more plausible readings. The book is described as a compilation rather than a critical edition; it is intended for undergraduate students and the general public. Despite its popular tone, the reviewer finds value in the volume’s notes and in the analysis of different scholarly views on the edicts. He notes that Ashoka’s edicts, whether engraved on rocks or pillars, convey the emperor’s concern for the moral welfare of his subjects and that the selected translations allow readers to hear Ashoka in his own words.
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Conclusion
Bhattacharya’s selection and translation of Ashokan edicts provide an accessible introduction to the emperor’s inscriptions. Although not a critical edition, the volume highlights key events in Ashoka’s reign and offers readers a glimpse of his ethical and political ideals through his own proclamations.