There is a paper presented in the Indian History Congress by Syed Ali Nadeem Razavi avialable for download at https://archive.org/download/ AntiquarianInterestsInMedieval IndiaTheRelocationOfPillarsByF iruzshah/ AntiquarianInterestsInMedieval India.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@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 WarsawPolska_________________
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