17. The monolith pillars alluded to in the text are chiefly those of
the great Emperor Piyadasi, Beloved of the Gods, also known by the
name of Asoka. So far from being memorials of a time when 'the
mechanical arts were in a rude state', the Asoka columns exhibit the
arts of the stone-cutter and sculptor in perfection. They were
erected about 242 to 230 B.C., and the inscriptions on them contain a
code of moral and religions precepts. They do not commemorate
conquests, although the Asoka pillar at Allahabad has been utilized
by later sovereigns for the recording of magniloquent inscriptions in
praise of their grandeur. The best-known of the Asoka pillars are the
two at Delhi, and the one at Allahabad. Many scholars have devoted
themselves to the study of the inscriptions of Asoka, which may be
said to form the foundation of authentic Indian history. The reader
interested in the subject should consult Senart, _Les Inscriptions de
Piyadasi_, t. I and II, Paris, 1881, 1886; V. A. Smith, _Asoka, the
Buddhist Emperor of India_, 2nd ed.. Oxford, 1909; and 'The
Monolithic Pillars or Columns of Asoka' (_Z.
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