Jonathan writes:

> John Irwin wrote about this question somewhere...

Yes, the biblio of his work is given in footnotes nos 1, 4, 5, 6 of Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi's paper attached by Nagaraj Paturi. 

Thanks, Nagaraj. 

PS. 

Would anyone have access to V. Jayasval's paper mentioned in footnote 28?

"From Resource Exploitation to Final Chipping: A Study of Ancient Scupturing Processes in Chunar-Varanasi Region", in: Indian Archaeology Since Independence, ed. K.M. Shrimali, Delhi 1996, pp. 35-44.

Thanks in advance, 

Artur Karp

Polska

2017-05-19 9:19 GMT+02:00 Jonathan Silk <kauzeya@gmail.com>:
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@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@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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