Palaces Caves Stupas Pillars Rock Edicts

PALACES

Mauryan Palace In Bihar (Site of Mauryan Palace, Kumrahar, Patna)The archaeological remains of ancient Pataliputra namely the Eighty pillared hall and Arogya Vihar are located at Kumrahar.

CAVES

The Barabar Caves are the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India [1], mostly dating from the Mauryan period (322–185 BCE), and some with Ashokan inscriptions, located in the Jehanabad District of Bihar, India, 24 km north of Gaya.These caves are situated in the twin hills of Barabar (four caves).

Nagarjuna Caves is an important archeological site, located on the Nagarjuni Hills, about 41 km from Bodhgaya and 36 km north of Gaya. It consists of three caves, namely, Gopi Cave, Mirza Mandi and Vedathika Kubha. Buddhist religious principles were practiced here.

STUPAS

The 'Great Stupa' at Sanchi was originally commissioned by the emperor Ashoka the Great in the third century BCE. Its nucleus was a simple hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha. It was crowned by the chatra, which was intended to honour and shelter the relics.

Dhamekh Stupa at Sarnath is one of the prominent Buddhist structures in India. Dhamekh Stupa was constructed by the great Mauryan king, Ashoka.Dhamekh Stupa bears special significance at Sarnath as it signifies the “seat of the holy Buddha”, as he proclaimed his faith.Buddhist pilgrims belonging to different countries visit this place for circumambulation of this sacred Stupa and to offer worship to Buddha.

The pillars of Ashoka are a series of columns dispersed throughout the northern Indian subcontinent, erected or at least inscribed by the Mauryan king Ashoka during his reign in the 3rd century BCE. Originally, there must have been many pillars but only nineteen survive with inscriptions. Many are preserved in a fragmentary state. Averaging between forty and fifty feet in height, and weighing up to fifty tons each, all the pillars were quarried at Chunar, just south of Varanasi and dragged, sometimes hundreds of miles, to where they were erected. Here, four lions are seated back to back.

PILLARS

The pillars of Ashoka bear inscriptions in Brahmi script. Alexander Cunningham was the first to study the inscriptions on the pillars.

An Ashokan pillar across from a stupa at Kolhua, near Vaishali, in Bihar

The Major Rock Edict, Ashoka's first rock inscription at Girnar, an example of Brāhmī script.

ROCK EDICTS

Rock Edict of Ashokaabout 250 BC Dhauli, near Bhubaneshvar Dhauli is located in the ancient territory of Kalinga, now the state of Orissa, which the emperor Ashoka (reigned 272-231 BC) conquered with appalling loss of life in about 260 BC. Thereafter the emperor repented of the violence which he had done, and converted to Buddhism. He expressed his remorse, and his intention to govern the kingdom according to the principles of his new faith, in a series of rock-cut edicts which were inscribed on over 100 monuments throughout his vast kingdom. The Dhauli monument is seen in this photo. Its sculpted elephant faces east. Ashoka's inscription is cut into the north face of the rock, below the sculpture. The hill temples in the background are modern: a white "peace" stupa built by the Japanese, and a reconstructed Shiva temple.

MONASTERIES

A Buddhist monastery at Sanchi

PUNCH-MARK COINS

Silver punch mark coins of the Mauryan empire bear Buddhist symbols such as the dharma chakara, the elephant and the tree under which the enlightenment happened and the burial mound where the Buddha died.. 3rd century B.C