page_title: Feroz Shah Kotla
section_title: Script on stone
hierarchical_section_title: Feroz Shah Kotla / Script on stone
caption_attribution_description: English: Ashoka's Pillar Edict at Delhi.
context_page_description: The Feroz Shah Kotla or Kotla was a fortress built by Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq to house his version of Delhi city called Ferozabad.
  A pristine polished sandstone Topra Ashokan pillar from the 3rd century BC rises from the palace's crumbling remains, one of many pillars of Ashoka left by the Mauryan emperor; it was moved from Topra Kalan in Pong Ghati of Yamunanagar district in Haryana to Delhi under orders of Firoz Shah Tughlaq of Delhi Sultanate, and re-erected in its present location in 1356. The original inscription on the obelisk is primarily in Brahmi script but language was Prakrit, with some Pali and Sanskrit added later. The inscription was successfully translated in 1837 by James Prinsep. This and other ancient lats have earned Firoz Shah Tughlaq and Delhi Sultanate fame for its architectural patronage.
  Other than the Ashokan Pillar, the Fort complex also houses the Jami Masjid, a Baoli and a large garden complex.
context_section_description: The Sultanate had wanted to break and reuse the Ashokan pillar for a minaret. Firoz Shah Tuhglaq, however, decided to erect it near the mosque instead. At the time of re-installation of the obelisk in Delhi, in 1356, no one knew the meaning of the script engraved in the stone.
  About five hundred years later, the script (Brahmi) was deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837 with help from scripts discovered on other pillars and tablets in South Asia.
caption: The inscription on Ashoka pillar at Firoz Shah Kotla.
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