[INDOLOGY] Ashokan Pillars' transport

[Jonathan Silk]

It's been a very long time and my memory is getting worse and worse, and no
doubt a colleague can help, but if I am not entirely mistaken John Irwin
wrote about this question somewhere...

Jonathan

On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 8:05 AM, Nagaraj Paturi via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> There is a paper presented in the Indian History Congress by Syed Ali
> Nadeem Razavi avialable for download at https://archive.org/download/
> AntiquarianInterestsInMedievalIndiaTheRelocationOfPillarsByFiruzshah/
> AntiquarianInterestsInMedievalIndia.pdf
>
> In which he says:
>
>
> The first question which concerns us in this paper is the problem
> of how these massive pillars were cut and transported from the place
> of origin (mainly from quarries of Chunar and Mathura) by Ashoka,
> their transportation to their new sites and installation therein. The sheer
> weight and volume of the monoliths would require much labour and
> use of technological devices.
>
> Some light on this issue is thrown by two 14 lh century contemporary
> sources of Firuzshah Tughluq: the anonymous Sirat-i Firuzshahi and
> the Tarikh-i Firuzshahi of Shams Siraj Afif.' 2 From both these texts it
> appears that Firuzshah in September 1367 ordered the use of capstan,
> pulleys, ropes and padding to remove and refix the pillars and large
> carts and boats to transfer them by road and river. To quote Afif on the
>
>
>
> 996 IHC: Proceedings, 70th Session, 2009-10
>
> pillar being taken down and prepared for the journey from Topra to
> Delhi:
>
>
> On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 11:02 AM, Artur Karp via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear List,
>>
>> Has anyone studied - and written on - the mode of transport of Aśokan
>> pillars out of the quarry in Chunar, dst. Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh?
>>
>> The Firoz Shah Kotla Pillar (brought by Firoz from Ambala dst., Haryana)
>> is a sandstone monolith nearly 13 m. in height, and it weighs close to 27
>> tons.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Artur Karp (ret.)
>> Chair of South Asian Studies,
>> University of Warsaw
>> Polska
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> Nagaraj Paturi
>
> Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
>
> Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies
>
> FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
>
> (Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )
>
>
>
>
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>



-- 
J. Silk
Leiden University
Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS
Matthias de Vrieshof 3, Room 0.05b
2311 BZ Leiden
The Netherlands

copies of my publications may be found at
http://www.buddhismandsocialjustice.com/silk_publications.html


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