Five years ago, the mother of three and sarpanch of Topra Kalan village, 15 km from Yamunanagar in Haryana, decided to revive the historical honour of her village by creating an Ashoka edicts park. Ramkali’s motive was to rekindle the glorified image of Akhand Bharat. The park will have replicas of all major Ashoka pillars, seven rock edicts, three monasteries, a cave and a museum.
A sapling from the Mahabodhi tree in Sri Lanka will also be planted in the park. Legend has it that the southern branch of the Bodhi tree in Bihar’s Bodh Gaya under which the Buddha attained enlightment was taken to Sri Lanka in 288 BC by Princess Sanghamitra, the daughter of Emperor Ashoka.
Ramkali’s efforts paid off when Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar sanctioned Rs 50 crore for the 27-acre park last month. The park will boost the rural economy of the region as it will attract a large number of spiritual and religious visitors from India and abroad.
“The pillar that was uprooted from here was the only one in India with seven edicts issued by Ashoka, whereas all the other pillars had only six edicts. These edicts were written in Brahmi script and were about Haryana, which was confirmed by British expert James Prinsep in 1837,” says the 66-year-old.
It all started in 2010 when Ramkali became sarpanch. She studied till Class VIII and read about Ashoka in school books, in which the pillar and the name of her village was mentioned.
“The pillar was erected here 2,300 years ago by Ashoka. It was made of chunar rocks mined near Varanasi. Some 800 years ago, Muhammad bin Tughlaq took it to Delhi. It was 50 feet high and was ferried from Topra via the Yamuna river to Delhi. It was wrapped in cotton and put on a 40-wheel chariot pushed by 8,300 men,’’ she says.
The village panchayat has donated land for the park.
“We wanted our original pillar back but the government says that anything that has been taken away more than 500 years ago cannot be brought back,” she says. “So we decided to construct this park as we can’t get the original pillar.”
Sidhartha Gauri, documentary film-maker and author involved with the project, says, “To propagate peace and universal ethical values in the world, an Annual Ashoka International Peace and Cultural Festival will be organised in which participants from abroad will showcase their cultural heritage.”
Among the invitees will be international Buddhist groups from Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, South Korea, Mongolia and other south Asian and western countries.
Rock from the past
● 3rd century BC: During Emperor Ashoka’s reign, Topra Kalan was a flourishing trade centre and a junction of major routes connecting the north to the south (Taxila to Nalanda) and east to west (Sindh to Kalsi-Badrinath). Ashoka erected his most significant pillar edict here as part of his campaign for spreading Dharma, which led to the golden period of Bharat.
● 14th century AD: The pillar was uprooted by Firoz Shah Tughlaq and taken to Delhi. It was placed at Firoz Shah Kotla, where it stands today.
