South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

Boulder A lies above a precipice about 20 feet high. Its lower portions are cut away at both the inscribed faces in the north and east. The eastern face is 17 feet 6 inches wide and contains Rock Edicts I-II at the left end. Rock Edicts III and VI in the middle and Rock Edict XIV in a depression at the upper right corner. Rock Edicts I-III and VI are not separated from one another and, owing to the unsatisfactory preservation of the writing, it is difficult to determine the end of one edict and the beginning of another. The northern face of this boulder (designated A-1) is 15 feet 6 inches wide and contains Rock Edicts XI, V and VII. Rock Edict XI is engraved at the left end. It comprises six lines of writing, of which lines 1-5 measure between 3 feet 3 inches and 4 feet in length while the last line is only 2 inches long. Rock Edict V, consisting of seven lines of writing, covers a rectangular space measuring 8 feet 6 inches by 1 foot 8 inches, although the last line is only 3 feet long. A blank space, about 3 feet in width, separates this area from the space occupied by Rock Edict XI. Rock Edict VII is engraved on the upper right corner and is separated from Rock Edict V by a blank space only 6 inches wide. It consists of five lines of writing which cover an area measuring 3 feet 3 inches by 1 foot 2 inches. The preservation of the writing of these edicts is fairly satisfactory although a portion at the right end of Rock Edict V is defaced.

Boulder B lies a little to the cast of the eastern face of Boulder A. The inscribed eastern face of this boulder is 13 feet in width from north to south. It is pointed towards the top and is divided by a roughly chiselled line, running from top to bottom, into two triangular sections. The portion at the right contains Rock Edicts IV, VIII and X. These edicts are well preserved although three letters at the beginning of line 2 of Rock Edict VIII are defaced. The three edicts contain respectively fourteen, four and five lines of writing and are separated one from another by short chiselled horizontal lines at the left end. The lines of writing are fairly straight in the upper part but irregular in the lower. There is a crack which runs from the left just above the last line of Rock Edict IV upwards to the right. This may have existed before the incision of the edicts as the letters appear to have been engraved outside it. The preservation of the writing on the triangular section in the left part of this boulder (designated B-1) is unsatisfactory. It contains the first 29 lines of Rock Edict XIII, the writing being continued on Boulder C which is 5 feet 6 inches wide and lies a few feet to the south of Boulder B. The lines of Rock Edict XIII on Boulder B are very closely engraved and difficult to decipher. The decipherment is also rendered difficult by the existence of the crack referred to above. Boulder C contains the last seven lines (lines 30-36) of Rock Edict XIII.

Boulder D stands 27 feet to the south-east of the eastern face of Boulder A. It contains Rock Edict XII written in twelve lines. The preservation of the writing is fairly satisfactory. Sahni speaks of faint traces of one line of writing below the last line of the edict at the right extremity.

Boulder E lies 27 feet to the east of Boulder B. It contains Rock Edict IX on its vertical face looking west. The lines of writing (lines I-II) are not straight and parallel.

Boulder F is situated between Boulders C and E ; but its position is lower (i.e. nearer the ground) than that of the latter. It is the most easily accessible among the inscribed rocks near Erraguḍi and the inscription on it, representing a version of Minor Rock Edicts I-II, seems to have been engraved earlier than the series of the fourteen Rock Edicts engraved on Boulders A-E. It is indeed worthy of note that the Minor Rock Edicts, which appear to have been issued earlier than any of the known edicts of Aśoka, are engraved here on a boulder at the bottom of the hill while Boulder A, bearing the first few edicts (Rock Edicts I-III) of the series of fourteen Rock Edicts, stands on its summit. The Minor Rock Edicts on Boulder F are the most satisfactorily preserved among the edicts of Aśoka at Erraguḍi.