KENDRAPARA:AT a time when the 45th foundation day of Dhauli Peace Pagoda, where Emperor Ashoka is believed to have renounced the path of violence, was celebrated on Sunday, BJP leader Biswabhusan Harichandan sparked off a controversy, while addressing visitors at Kalinga Pustaka Mela in Bhubaneswar on Monday. According to reports, Harichandan claimed that Kalinga War is a myth.
However, a noted historian and Assistant Director of National Archives of India, Dr, refuted claim on Tuesday by citing that two rock edicts, now in Pakistan, have vivid descriptions of the war.
“Two rock edicts of in Pakistan unravel the history of the great War in of 261 BC. The inscriptions on the edicts at and provide a vivid description of War. The rock inscriptions have been cut in two large rock boulders, one lying on the slope of the hill at and another in the valley in. The archaeologists have managed to decipher the inscriptions around 150 years back,” added Dr.
“The largest rock of contains the main text of 13 edicts of Ashoka , incised on both faces of this large boulder. The main purpose of the edicts was to establish dharma, the law of justice. An edict is an announcement of a law, often associated with monarchs,” the historian said.Dasmohapatra also claimed that the rock edicts of Ashoka in Dhauli and Jaugard in Odisha don’t contain information on the Kalinga War and its aftermaths.
“It was mentioned in Rock Edict No. 13 in Shahbazgarhi and Manasera that after Ashoka witnessed the slaughter on the battle-field of Kalinga, he regarded conquest by the dharma as best conquest. He also directed his sons and grandsons to regard the conquest through the dharma, the law of justice. The importance of this message lies in the fact that while it is usual to see conquerors press on their victory over the vanquished, here we have Ashoka not only retreating from warfare but also changing the very concept of victory. The exact location of Kalinga War was not inscribed in the rock-edicts of Shahbazgarhi and Manasera. Also, it doesn’t have any information about the name of the defeated Kalinga King,” the researcher added.
“In Shahbazgarhi, Emperor Ashoka , who conquered almost the entire subcontinent and converted it into a Buddhist empire, ordered several rock edicts to be cut in stone. He wanted anyone arriving from the West to understand the laws of his empire. The inscriptions have been written in Kharosthi script and date back to the middle of third century,” Dasmohapatra said.