Place · Ashokan pillar · India
Lauriyā Nandangarh pillar
The Ashokan sandstone pillar still standing at Lauriya Nandangarh in West Champaran district, Bihar, on the ancient road from Pataliputra toward Lumbini and the Nepal terai. The 10-metre polished Chunar sandstone column carries the six pillar edicts of 243 BCE and is capped by a seated lion capital — one of the few Ashokan pillars still standing in situ, undisturbed by medieval relocation. A series of large stupa mounds flank it. The pillar inscription expounds Ashoka's dharma administration and prohibits animal slaughter on specific days. The site was identified by James Prinsep in 1835 when he deciphered the Brahmi script using this pillar's text.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Tradition
- Ashokan edicts (Brahmi, Kharosthi, Greek, Aramaic)
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 26.997, 84.408
Connections (1)
- Ashokan stone from ChunarChunar
The Lauriya Nandangarh pillar still stands where it was raised, with its lion capital, beside a large stupa mound in the Bihar terai — one of very few in situ. Its polished sandstone is traditionally traced to the Chunar quarries on the Ganga near Varanasi, several hundred kilometres away, which means monoliths of thirty and forty tonnes were cut, dressed, polished and moved upriver as a matter of routine imperial supply.
On these journeys
Sources
Major Pillar Edicts — Lauriya Nandangarh
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