Ashokan Inscriptions on the Chandan Shahid Hill, Rohtas, Bihar The small rock-cut cave, located on the top of Chandan Shahid Hill in Ashikpur, Rohtas district of Bihar, is presumed to be an Ashokan cave that features the characteristic Mauryan polish on its interior. Inside the cave, an inscription of eight lines is engraved on a small rocky boulder. Although part of the inscription is damaged, it has been ascertained that it represents Minor Rock Edict-I of Emperor Ashoka. The reign of the third Mauryan emperor Ashoka lasted from 272-232 BC. He was influenced by Buddhism. He got inscriptions written from place to place in order to spread his Dhamma. Ashoka’s inscriptions are found from Kandahar in the north-west to Bihar in the east and from Kalsi in Dehradun in the north to Karnataka in the south. Most of these inscriptions are in Prakrit language and Brahmi script. The script of some inscriptions is Kharoshti. It must have been the intention of the emperor to get the inscriptions engraved so that his messages should be disseminated in the local language and scripts so that the information could reach most of the people and the public could be benefited. In this sequence, Emperor Ashoka had got a miniature inscription written on the present Ashikpur (Chandan Shaheed) hill in Sasaram. It is written in the northern wall of a small cave about 30 feet below the top of the hill. This manuscript is written in Bramhi script. Its language is very close to Pali. This important inscription was preserved in the year 1917 by the Archaeological Conservation Department of India during the British rule. Sources Archaeological Survey of India Ashokan Miniature Inscription on Chandan Shahid Hill