page_title: Minor Rock Edicts
section_title: Full texts of the Minor Rock Edicts
hierarchical_section_title: Minor Rock Edicts / Text of the Minor Rock Edicts / Full texts of the Minor Rock Edicts
caption_attribution_description: English: Ashoka Minor Rock Edict inscription, Siddapur
context_page_description: The Minor Rock Edicts of Ashoka are rock inscriptions which form the earliest part of the Edicts of Ashoka, and predate Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts. These are the first edicts in the Indian language of Emperor Ashoka, written in the Brahmi script in the 11th year of his reign. They follow chronologically the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription, in Greek and in Aramaic, written in the 10th year of his reign, which is the first known inscription of Ashoka.
  There are several slight variations in the content of these edicts, depending on location, but a common designation is usually used, with Minor Rock Edict N°1 and a Minor Rock Edict N°2, the different versions being generally aggregated in most translations. There is also a minor edict No.3, discovered in Bairat, for the Buddhist clergy.
  The inscriptions of Ashoka in Greek or Aramaic are sometimes also categorized as "Minor Rock Edicts".
context_section_description: Minor Rock Edict No.1
  In this Edict, Ashoka describes himself as a Buddhist layman (Upāsaka) /a Buddha-Śaka /a Saka, and also explains he has been getting closer to the Samgha and has become more ardent in the faith.
  Minor Rock Edict No.2
  Only appears in a few places, in conjunction with Minor Edict No.1
  Minor Rock Edict No.3
  Only appears at Bairat, where it was discovered in front of the Bairat Temple, possibly the oldest free-standing temple in India. The Edict is now located in the Museum of The Asiatic Society, Calcutta, and because of this is sometimes called the "Calcutta-Bairāṭ inscription". Also known as the Bhabru Edict. Ashoka claims "great is my reverence and faith in the Buddha, the Dharma (and) the Samgha", and makes a list of recommended Buddhist scriptures that Buddhist monks as well as the laity should repeatedly study.
caption: Minor Rock Edicts 1&2 in Siddapur.
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