Aramaic inscription of Laghman

TheAramaic inscription of Laghman, also called theLaghman I inscriptionto differentiate from theLaghman II inscriptiondiscovered later, is an inscription on a slab of natural rock in the area ofLaghmân,Afghanistan, written inAramaicby the Indian emperorAshokaabout 260 BCE, and often categorized as one of theMinor Rock Edictsof Ashoka.This inscription was published in 1970 byAndré Dupont-Sommer. Since Aramaic was an official language of theAchaemenid Empire, and reverted to being just itsvernaculartongue in 320 BCE with the conquests ofAlexander the Great, it seems that this inscription was addressed directly to the populations of this ancient empire still present in this area, or to border populations for whom Aramaic remained the language used in everyday life.
The chance discovery by two Belgian anthropologists of this inscription in 1969 is one of a set of similar inscriptions in Aramaic or Greek (or both together), written by Asoka. In 1915, Sir John Marshall had discovered theAramaic Inscription of Taxila, followed in 1932 by thePul-i-Darunteh Aramaic inscription. In 1958 the famousBilingual Kandahar Inscription, written in Greek and Aramaic was discovered, and in 1963 theGreek Edicts of Ashoka, again inKandahar.  In the same year 1963 and again in Kandahar, an inscription in "Indo-Aramaic" known as theKandahar Aramaic inscriptionor Kandahar II was found, in which the IndianPrakritlanguage and the Aramaic language alternate, but using only theAramaic script. The Aramaic parts translate the Indian parts transcribed in the Aramaic alphabet. A few years after this description was discovered, in 1973, theLahmann II inscriptionfollowed.
The text of the Aramaic Inscription of Laghman has been transliterated into the Latin alphabet and translated as follows:
The translation is slightly incomplete but brings some valuable indications. It first mentions the propagation of moral rules, which Ashoka will call "Dharma" in hisEdicts of Ashoka, consisting of the abandonment of vanity and respect for the life of the people and animals (here, urging people to give up fishing).
Then, according to semitologistAndré Dupont-Sommer, who made a detailed analysis of the script observed in multiple rock inscriptions in the Laghman valley as well as in other Aramaic inscriptions of Ashoka,the inscription mentions the city ofTadmor(Tdmrin the Aramaic script in the inscription, iePalmyra), the destination of the great commercial road leading from India to theMediterranean basin, located at a distance of 3,800 kilometres (2,400 mi). According to the reading of Dupont-Sommer, Palmyra is separated by two hundred "bows" from Laghman. In the inscription, the word used to indicate bow is "QŠTN", and Dupont-Sommer asserted that it is an Aramaic word denoting a unit to measure a distance of 15 to 20 kilometres (9.3 to 12.4 mi), which could represent a day on the road for an archer.Other distances are then given, which makes it possible to interpret Laghman's inscription as a kind of information terminal on the main trade route with the West.
Franz Altheimand Ruth Altheim-Stiehl read three hundred instead of two hundred bows; they equated it with the Vedic unit of measurementyojana, c. 12 kilometres (7.5 mi), which would result in a number close to the actual 3,800 kilometres (2,400 mi) distance between Laghman and Palmyra.The linguist Helmut Humbach criticized the reading of Dupont-Sommer and considered his claims regarding the distance to have no validation.
Another issue is that in the Aramaic alphabet, the letters "r" and "d" share an identical character.Jean de Menasceread the city's name "Trmd" and identified it withTermezon theOxusriver.LinguistFranz Rosenthalalso contested the reading of Dupont-Sommer and considered that the inscription refers to an estate called "Trmr".HistorianBratindra Nath Mukherjeerejected the readings of both Dupont-Sommer and de Menasce; he contested the large value attributed to "bow", considering it a small unit. The historian also rejected the reading of Tdmr and Trmd as referring to a city; in the view of Mukherjee, the name, whether Tdmr or Trmd refers to the rock on which the inscription was carved itself.
The Aramaic Inscription of Laghman is the oldest of the known Ashoka inscriptions, with theKandahar Bilingual Inscription, both dated to the year 10 of Ashoka's reign.
Another Aramaic inscription, theLaghman II inscription, almost identical, was discovered nearby in the Laghman Valley, and published in 1974.