On Ashoka and his Aramaic edicts

BUDDHIST ARAMAIC WATCH: Ashoka, History, Edicts, Inscription, Policy of Dhamma, Death (Vajiram & Ravi).

Explore Ashoka the Great's reign, including his Kalinga War, Dhamma policy, administration, edicts, and efforts to promote Buddhism. Learn about his economic policies, societal reforms, and cultural contributions to ancient India

These study notes for the 2026 UPSC Civil Services Examination in India give a good detailed account of the reign of Emperor Ashoka the Great, including, of course, his Aramaic Dhamma edicts.

Earlier PaleoJudaica posts on or involving Ashoka and his Aramaic are here (but links rotted), here, here, here, and here.

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The languages of Achaemenid-Hellenistic Central Asia

PHILOLOGY: Lost Multilingual World Shows Greek Culture Flourished Across Ancient Asia (Abdul Moeed, Greek Reporter).

A new study of ancient written records shows that multilingual societies thrived across Hellenistic Central Asia for nearly a thousand years, with scribes regularly switching between languages and scripts to serve whichever empire happened to be in power.

Rachel Mairs, a researcher at the University of Reading, published the findings in “Writing in the Ancient World.” The study examines surviving texts from regions now known as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, covering the period from roughly the fifth century BC to the second century CE.

Mairs identifies four main written languages in the region: Aramaic and Elamite under the Achaemenid Persian Empire, Greek under Macedonian rule, and Prakrit under the Mauryan Empire from India.

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This substantial Cambridge Element is free for download until 20 May (so don't dawdle). The GR article is a good summary of it.

Language and Script in Achaemenid and Hellenistic Central Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2026

Rachel Mairs

Summary

This Element examines – for the first time in a single volume – the written evidence from the 'Far East' of the Hellenistic world (Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara). It examines how successive invaders of this region, from Persia, Greece and India, left their linguistic and textual mark. It reviews the surviving Hellenistic-period written material from archaeological sites in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan in Aramaic, Greek and Prakrit.

For more on the Emperor Ashoka and his edicts in Pali, Aramaic, and Greek, see here and links. For lots more on the texts from Persepolis in Aramaic, Old Persian, Elamite, etc., start here and follow the links. And for a bit more on the Bactrian Aramaic texts, see here. Cross-file under Aramaic Watch.

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The Emperor Ashoka - forgotten and rediscovered

THE RELIGIOUS HISTORY NERD BLOG: The Mystery of the Pillars of Ashoka (Barbara O’Brien).

The pillars and the boulder inscriptions were the work of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, called Ashoka the Great, who ruled from about 268 to 232 BCE. Ashoka was a convert to Buddhism, and many of the inscriptions were edicts given to his people to live according to the dharma, the teachings of the Budda. “What is dharma?” asked one edict. “Little evil, much good, kindness, generosity, truthfulness and purity.” Other inscriptions told the story of Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism. And some called for harmony among all people and religions in his empire.

Ashoka’s influence spread Buddhism far beyond the borders of India. In time archeologists recognized that Ashoka’s edicts had been left in many parts of central Asia, in other languages. For example, edicts engraved in the western part of his empire were in Greek. An inscription discovered near Kandahar in 1958 was written in Greek and Aramaic.

Cross-file under Aramaic Watch

I have posted on the Buddhist edict inscriptions of the Emperor Ashoka here, here, and here. But this article also gives the back story of how Ashoka was forgotten in India and how his Pali edicts were deciphered and his story rediscovered in the nineteenth century.

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Festschrift on Achaemenid Iran for Pierre Briant

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Études offertes à Pierre Briant. Notice of a New Book: Agut-Labordère, Damien, Rémi Boucharlat, Francis Joannès, Amélie Kuhrt & Matthew W. Stolper (éds). 2021. Achemenet. Vingt ans après: Etudes offertes a Pierre Briant a l’occasion des vingt ans du Programme Achemenet (Persika 21). Leuven: Peeters.

With articles involving involving many subjects of interest to PaleoJudaica, including Persepolis, Cambyses in Egypt, Arameans in the Achaemenid Empire, Ashoka, Alexander the Great, and the Nabonidus Chronicle.

Follow this link for more on the Achemenet Program.

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Ashoka's Aramaic

ARAMAIC WATCH: The Edicts of Ashoka the Great (Joshua J. Mark, Ancient History Encyclopedia).

The Edicts of Ashoka are 33 inscriptions engraved on pillars, large stones, and cave walls by Ashoka the Great (r. 268-232 BCE), the third king of the Mauryan Empire (322-185 BCE) of India. One set, the so-called Major Rock Edicts, are consistent in their message that the people should adhere to the concept of Dhamma, defined as “right behavior”, “good conduct” and “decency toward others”. The edicts were inscribed throughout Ashoka’s realm which included the areas of modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan and most were written in Brahmi Script (though one, in Afghanistan, is also given in Aramaic and Greek). ...

It's been quite a while since I have posted on ancient Buddhist Aramaic. This new article gives me an excuse to do so again.

The inscriptions of the third-century BCE Indian emperor Ashoka the Great are mostly written in his native Pratkit (related to Sanskrit). But one of his early "Minor Rock Edicts" is a bilingual inscription in Greek and Aramaic: Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription. It recounts what a fine ruler Ashoka has been and how everyone has prospered under him. For a wider-ranging account of his reign, and for his "Major Rock Edicts" in Pratkit, see the first article above.

Once again, the influence of Aramaic in antiquity was vast. It was important enough to be used alongside Greek on a royal inscription in Afghanistan in the early Hellenistic period.

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Ancient Buddhist Aramaic

ARAMAIC WATCH: Aramaic was also used by ancient Indian Buddhists:

A glimpse of Gandhara Buddhist heritage

Tue, 2011-06-07 01:17 — editor

By Janaka Perera (Asian Tribune)

The exhibition in Sri Lanka of Sacred Relics of the Buddha and other Buddhist artifacts from Pakistan during this Poson season (June) should widen the horizon of ordinary Buddhists here on the great Gandhara Buddhist civilization.

Although many of them are aware of the Buddhist heritage of other Asian Buddhist countries, not many Sri Lankans – even of they have heard of the name Gandhara – know where exactly it is and that it was seat of Buddhist civilization in the Indian subcontinent.

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The museum’s six galleries present the material subject wise. Among the exhibits is a complete stupa from the Buddhist monastery of Mohra Moradu, stucco sculptures from Mohra Moradan, big stucco Buddha heads, relic caskets, a sleeping Buddha from Bhamala monastery and an Aramaic inscription of Emperor Piyadasi Asoka (Dharmasoka).

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My emphasis. N. S. Gill has more on Asoka/Ashoka here.