[INDOLOGY] Ashokan Pillars' transport

Fri May 19 18:54:39 UTC 2017

I find mentions of the Chunar quarry also in Lars Fogelin's "An
Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism", pp. 86-89, 91. He does not go
into details of the transport, but calls it - and rightly! - "a massive
undertaking":

>> The quarrying, transport, and fnishing of the pillars signify a massive
undertaking by the Mauryan state. (87)

Artur

2017-05-19 20:08 GMT+02:00 Shaw, Julia <julia.shaw at ucl.ac.uk>:

> There is further discussion of this issue in Nayanjot Lahiri's *Ashoka in
> Ancient India*, Harvard University Press (2015, esp. p. 241),
>
> Julia
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Shaw, Julia
> *Sent:* 19 May 2017 19:03:29
> *To:* Artur Karp
>
> *Cc:* indology at list.indology.info
> *Subject:* Re: [INDOLOGY] Ashokan Pillars' transport
>
>
> It is also on Researchgate.... so perhaps easiest to just request a full
> text version from the author.
>
> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261791090_From_
> Stone_Quarry_to_Sculpturing_Workshop_A_Report_on_
> Archaeological_Investigations_around_Chunar_Varanasi_and_
> Sarnath_by_Vidula_Jayaswal
> From Stone Quarry to Sculpturing Workshop. A Report on ...
> <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261791090_From_Stone_Quarry_to_Sculpturing_Workshop_A_Report_on_Archaeological_Investigations_around_Chunar_Varanasi_and_Sarnath_by_Vidula_Jayaswal>
> www.researchgate.net
> From Stone Quarry to Sculpturing Workshop. A Report on Archaeological
> Investigations around Chunar, Varanasi and Sarnath by Vidula Jayaswal
>
>
> Dr Julia Shaw
>
> Lecturer in South Asian Archaeology
>
> Institute of Archaeology UCL
>
> 31-34 Gordon Square
>
> London WC1H 0PY
>
>
>
> http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/people/staff/shaw
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Artur Karp <karp at uw.edu.pl>
> *Sent:* 19 May 2017 18:58:57
> *To:* Shaw, Julia
> *Cc:* indology at list.indology.info
> *Subject:* Re: [INDOLOGY] Ashokan Pillars' transport
>
> Thank you, Julia.
>
> But - a pity. The link does not lead to the paper, one gets a view of some
> selected fragments, nothing more. Pity - again.
>
> But, anyway -
>
>  getting the pillar out of the quarry, then - transporting it to the
> river, then - moving it onto a ship, then - getting it out of the ship,
> then - transporting it to the place of the final destination, then -
> setting it there --- a phantastically complicated technical/organizational
> enterprise.
>
> Says much more about the Aśokan era than - I'd risk saying that - some
> enigmatic texts engraved on the pillar.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Artur
> Polska
>
> 2017-05-19 19:43 GMT+02:00 Shaw, Julia via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info>:
>
>> Dear Artur
>>
>>  Vidula Jayaswal (of BHU) has written on this.
>>
>> https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/From_Stone_Quarry_to_
>> Sculpturing_Worksho.html?id=wwpuAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
>>
>> <https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/From_Stone_Quarry_to_Sculpturing_Worksho.html?id=wwpuAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y>
>> From Stone Quarry to Sculpturing Workshop
>> <https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/From_Stone_Quarry_to_Sculpturing_Worksho.html?id=wwpuAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y>
>> books.google.co.uk
>> The recognitior of ancient stone quarries at chunar hills with dateble
>> epigraphs was a startling discovery made by the author of this book, in the
>> year 1990. the followup archaological field investigations around chunar
>> and Varanasi, which were carried out between the years 1990 and 1994, have
>> uncovered the entire process of stone carving which was prevalent during
>> the historical period in the Ganga plains. Besides archaeological
>> investigations, ethnological surveys were also carried out. As a result of
>> which it has been possible, start from quarrying of stone carving process,
>> start from quarrying of stone blocks, their transportation to the centres
>> of utility-carving of the sculpturing centres and the main religious
>> centres etc.
>>
>>
>> Best wishes, Julia
>>
>> ----------------------
>>
>> Dr Julia Shaw
>>
>> Lecturer in South Asian Archaeology
>>
>> Institute of Archaeology UCL
>>
>> 31-34 Gordon Square
>>
>> London WC1H 0PY
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/people/staff/shaw
>>
>>
>> Message: 5
>> Date: Fri, 19 May 2017 07:32:00 +0200
>> From: Artur Karp <karp at uw.edu.pl>
>> To: indology <indology at list.indology.info>
>> Subject: [INDOLOGY] Ashokan Pillars' transport
>> Message-ID:
>>         <CALNcvFvmT6rLbsjftHKUMe3dJkHrN+eAsyt42CvC-036Knbvsg at mail.gm
>> ail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> Dear List,
>>
>> Has anyone studied - and written on - the mode of transport of A?okan
>> 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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