BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to encourage spiritual tourism at Buddhist sites across the country, Niti Aayog has pitched for creating an integrated tourism circuit showcasing Ashokan rock and pillar edicts including two major ones in Odisha.
The Central government’s policy think tank in its recent report ‘Promoting Spiritual Tourism in the Land of Buddha’ has suggested the Ministry of Tourism to include State’s Dhauli and Ganjam’s Jaugada rock edicts in a dedicated Ashokan edicts circuit to help Buddhist tourists explore various aspects of emperor Ashoka’s reign and his contributions to Buddhism and the Mauryan empire. Both Dhauli and Jaugada rock edicts are protected by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The Niti Aayog has named Girnar (Gujarat), Sopara (Maharashtra), Sannati (Karnataka), Yerragudi (Andhra Pradesh) and Dhauli, Jaugada (Odisha) for rock edicts and Delhi, Meerut, Topra, Vaishali, Rampurva and Lauriya-Nandangarh in Bihar for pillar edicts.
The fort of Jaugada is rectangular and Ashoka’s inscription is on the rock face around 30 feet long and 15 feet high. The rock edict inscriptions, engraved in Prakrit language in Brahmi script, have information on better administrative policies based on Ashoka’s humanitarian consideration.
Similarly, the Dhauli rock edict speaks about the transformative event in Ashoka’s life after the devastating Kalinga war. The edict, known as the ‘Dhauli Major Rock Edict’, describes Ashoka’s remorse for the violence of the past and his resolve to promote peace and moral conduct.
Buddhist tourism in the country has primarily been limited to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The ministry is setting up Buddhist circuits under the Swadesh Darshan scheme in these five states. Although the state government had been demanding inclusion of its Buddhist sites in the country’s Buddhist circuit, which hasn’t been the case so far, said Tourism Minister Ashwini Patra.