Major Pillar Edicts

The Major Pillar Edicts of Indian Emperor Ashoka refer to 7 separate major Edicts of Ashoka inscribed on columns (the Pillars of Ashoka), which are significantly detailed and are among the earliest dated inscriptions of any Indian monarch. An English translation of the Edicts was published by Romila Thapar.
These edicts are preceded chronologically by the Minor Rock Edicts (11th year of his reign), Major Rock Edicts (12th year of his reign), and Minor pillar edicts (12th year of his reign) and constitute the most technically elegant of the inscriptions made by Ashoka. They were made at the end of the reign of Ashoka (during the 26th and 27th years of his reign), that is, from 237 to 236 BCE. Chronologically they follow the fall of Seleucid power in Central Asia and the related rise of the Parthian Empire and the independent Greco-Bactrian Kingdom c. 250 BCE, and Hellenistic rulers are not mentioned anymore in these last edicts.
Edict No.7, the last Major Pillar Edict, appears exclusively on the Delhi-Topra pillar, and is testamental in nature, making a summary of the accomplishments of Ashoka during his life.
Ashoka was the third monarch of the Maurya Empire in the Indian subcontinent, reigning from around 269 BCE. Ashoka famously converted to Buddhism and renounced violence soon after being victorious in a gruesome Kalinga War, yet filled with deep remorse for the bloodshed of the war. Although he was a major historical figure, little definitive information was known as there were few records of his reign until the 19th century when a large number of his edicts, inscribed on rocks and pillars, were found in modern-day India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. These many edicts were concerned with practical instructions in running a kingdom such as the design of irrigation systems and descriptions of Ashoka's beliefs in peaceful moral behavior. They contain little personal detail about his life.
The Major Pillar Edicts of Ashoka were exclusively inscribed on the Pillars of Ashoka or fragments thereof, at Kausambi (now Allahabad pillar), Topra Kalan, Meerut, Lauriya-Araraj, Lauria Nandangarh, Rampurva (Champaran), and fragments of these in Aramaic (Kandahar, Edict No.7 and Pul-i-Darunteh, Edict No.5 or No.7 in Afghanistan) However many pillars, such as the bull pillar of Rampurva, or the pillar of Vaishali do not have inscriptions.
These pillar edicts include:
Major Pillar Edict I Asoka's principle of protection of the people
Major Pillar Edict II Defines dhamma as a minimum of sins, many virtues, compassion, liberality, truthfulness and purity
Major Pillar Edict III Preach to avoid practices of harshness, cruelty, anger, pride and other sins among the subjects
Major Pillar Edict IV Prescribe duties and responsibilities of Rajukas, who would go every five years to different parts of empire to spread Dhamma
Major Pillar Edict V A list of animals and birds which should not be killed on certain days, and another list of animals which have not to be killed at all occasions. Describes the release of 25 prisoners by Ashoka.
Major Pillar Edict VI Dhamma Policy
Major Pillar Edict VII Works done by Asoka for Dhamma Policy. He says that all sects desire both self-control and purity of mind. This edict only appears on the Delhi-Topra pillar.
Only one language was used on the pillars: Prakrit in the Brahmi script. A few derived inscriptions were made on rock in Aramaic, in areas of Afghanistan. The edicts are composed in non-standardized and archaic forms Prakrit.
The Major Pillar Edicts are generally attributed to Ashoka. Strictly speaking though, the inscriptions of the Major Pillar Edicts, just as those of the Major Rock Edicts, are not inscribed in the name of "Ashoka", but in the name of "Devanampriya" ("Beloved of the God", thought to be a general regnal title like "Our Lord"), "Devanampriya Priyadasi" ("Our Lord Priyadasi", or literally "Our Lord who glances amicably") or "Devanampriya Priyadasi Raja" ("Our Lord the King Priyadasi"). This title also appears in Greek in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription, when naming the author of the proclamation as βασιλεὺς Πιοδασσης ("King Piyodasses"), and in Aramaic in the same inscription as "our lord, king Priyadasin".
The association of the Major inscriptions with "Ashoka" is only a reconstruction based on the 3rd-4th century CE Dipavamsa which associates the name "Ashoka" with the name "Priyadarsi", and an extrapolation based on the fact that the name "Ashoka" appears with the title "Devanampriya" ("Beloved of the Gods") in a few of the Minor Rock Edicts. Christopher Beckwith — whose theories are not accepted by mainstream scholarship — has suggested that "Priyadarsi" was a king in his own right, probably the son of Chandragupta Maurya known to the Greeks as Amitrochates, and Ashoka was either a Buddhist legend or a much later king who authored the Buddhist Minor Rock Edicts around the 1st century CE.
Conversely, the Major Pillar Edicts in the name of King Priyadasi do not have a clear Buddhist character, being mainly codes of conduct gathered under the name of "Dharma" (translated as Eusebeia ("Piety") in Greek and "Truth" in Aramaic in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription), and never mentioning Buddhism, the Buddha or the Samgha (except for Edict no 7 which mentions the Samgha, but the authenticity of which has been doubted by Christopher Beckwith).
However, many of Beckwith's methodologies and interpretations concerning early Buddhism, inscriptions, and archaeological sites have been criticized by other scholars, such as Johannes Bronkhorst and Osmund Bopearachchi. According to Patrick Olivelle, Beckwith's theory is "an outlier and no mainstream Ashokan scholar would subscribe to that view."
The Major Pillar Edicts of Ashoka are exclusively inscribed on the Pillars of Ashoka or fragments thereof, although many pillars, such as the bull pillar of Rampurva, or the pillar of Vaishali do not have inscriptions. A few other pillars (the pillars of Sanchi, Sarnath, Rummindei and Nigali Sagar) only have very short inscriptions (the "Schism Edicts", the "Queen's Edict", the "Rummindei Edict" and the "Nigali Sagar Edict"), forming the Minor Pillar Edicts.
The Major Pillar Edicts (excluding the two fragments of translations found in modern Afghanistan) are all located in the Gangetic Plain, in contrast with the Major Rock Edicts, which appear exclusively at the borders of the Maurya Empire.
Asoka's principle of protection of the people.
Defines dhamma as a minimum of sins, many virtues, compassion, liberality, truthfulness and purity.
Abolishes sins of harshness, cruelty, anger, pride etc.
Deals with duties of Rajukas.
A list of animals and birds which should not be killed on some days, and another list of animals which have not to be killed at all occasions. Describes the release of 25 prisoners by Asoka.
Dhamma Policy.
Works done by Asoka for Dhamma Policy. He says that all sects desire both self-control and purity of mind. This edict only appears on the Delhi-Topra pillar, at the fortress of Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi.
The authenticity of the 7th Edict is generally not disputed, but Christopher Beckwith — whose theories are not accepted by mainstream scholarship — has challenged it, and he suggests it is a later inscription, possibly made as late as the 5th century CE, when the old Brahmi script had not yet evolved much, and was still readable for any literate person. He gives numerous reasons for his doubts:
However, Beckwith's theories are not accepted by mainstream scholarship: many of his methodologies and interpretations concerning early Buddhism, inscriptions, and archaeological sites have been criticized by other scholars, such as Johannes Bronkhorst and Osmund Bopearachchi. According to Patrick Olivelle, Beckwith's theory is "an outlier and no mainstream Ashokan scholar would subscribe to that view."
There are several inscriptions in Aramaic, which seem to be translations or interpretations of passages of the Major Pillar Edicts in the Aramaic language. They were not written on pillars, but on stone blocks. The extent of their similarity with the Major Pillar Edicts is disputed.