288 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOET. 



About half a mile from the city walls we come upon 

 one of the most interesting remnants of antiquity, 

 the great stone or rock inscribed with the Biidhistic 

 edict of King Ashoka or Priyadarsi, who ruled over 

 the greater part of India in the third century before 

 Christ, and who, as it appears from this stone, had 

 relationship with contemporary rulers of Egypt, Syria, 

 and Greece. This is one of the great landmarks in 

 our knowledge of Indian antiquity ; it is almost a 

 startling witness to the remote past ; and it does not 

 stand alone, though its fellow-witnesses are removed 

 from it by many hundreds and hundreds of miles. 

 Far off on the wild Afghan border, at the base of the 

 Indian Caucasus, I have seen a similar rock sculptured 

 with the same characters, and presenting almost the 

 same edict as this of Girnar. Similar inscriptions 

 exist at Dhauli in Bengal, on pillars in Allahabad 

 and Delhi, and the seat of the monarchy of Ashoka 

 has been identified with Patna. Thus we may see 

 how extensive must have been the sway of this 

 ancient monarch, and how powerful the influence of 

 Biidhism in his time. 



The Jiinaghar state has erected a species of house 

 over this valuable relic of antiquity for its better pre- 

 servation. The inscribed stone is an immense block 

 of granite in the shape of a partially-flattened cone, 

 nearly twenty feet high, a little more in circumference, 

 and the inscriptions extend over great part of its sur- 

 face. The language of these, being Sanscritic, pre- 



