When I wrote the post on Ashoka’s Rock Edicts I had made a suggestion at the end of the post to the department concerned, which was to put up a proper and readable translation of the edicts at the site — both in English and Urdu.
To my pleasant surprise, I discovered the other day, when I stopped by at the site while traveling on the Karakoram Highway, that a new signboard had been installed alongside the old signboard displaying a gist of the edicts both in English and Urdu. (See pictures.) One would like to think that the new signboard was the result of suggestions and comments made on the ATP post, but the fact is that the Archaeology Department had done it on their own much before the ATP post appeared. (And I doubt if anyone in the Archaeology Department reads ATP.)
Even though one would have preferred to see the whole translation of the edicts, rather than just a summary, the new attempt is definitely an improvement over the old and unreadable signboard. The new board is neat and written clearly in English and Urdu. Otherwise, too, the place looked reasonably clean and well kept. They also have a caretaker (chowkidar) now who looks after the place from 8 to 5 at daytime.
Talking to the caretaker I found that back in 2002 (when the era of “Enlightened Moderation” was just beginning to dawn in Pakistan) a hand grenade was tossed by someone at a group of foreign tourists visiting the rocks. Luckily, other than minor injuries to some of the visitors, no significant injury or damage was caused either to the visitors or to the rocks. The attack did, however, scare away any potential tourists.
The rocks, with their benign message, have been sitting here quietly for over two thousand and two hundred years. One hopes that they would remain there, undisturbed, in the future as well.
Its really amazing that people of South Asia do not want to acknowledge their history because of narrow religious outlook.
Dear Zakoota - It is history we are talking about not something fiction. It simply cannot be wished away, because you dont agree. BTW there were humanity and civilization existing before rise of Islam maybe even that need not be taught in any country.
I am afraid some comments here only go on to portray Islam as an extremely fragile philosophy which unable to tolerate mere acknowledgement of our history and cultural heritage? Our heritage is our heritage; we can’t simply make it disappear. The sooner we realize that we live in the Valley of Indus, not in an Arabian desert, the better it will be for our peace, our identity.
Zakoota & Saad: with all due respect, this is NOT indian culture. Your comments are witness to the depths of the abyss of ignorance that the Pakistani “education” system has taken our people to.
Pakistan is home to one of the oldest civilizations on earth. It is navel gazing attitudes such as you two gentle people which have brought us to the edge of destruction.
Must say I am glad and impressed that the archaeology department has put a proper plaque there with readable information. The picture you had put up ion the last post was not just funny it was a disgrace but I have seen boards like that on all sorts of places.
Whatever the reason for their changing the boards, it is good that they did.
I remember years ago going to the Lahore Fort with some friends and there were these supposed information boards full of oddly constructed and hilarious sentences that made no sense at all and were full of grammar and spelling mistakes… kind of like some of the comments here; I sometimes wonder if some people commenting here are working for the same department which writes these boards
Thanks for reminding us of Ashoka’s edits. It would be quite fascinating to know what these particular edicts state.
As for other opinions on this post, I am not really surprised- one can find similar sentiments whenever an Indian writer shows openness to India’s Islamic heritage.
Thanks and keep up the great work!
Well Asoka was no hindu.He converted to budhism and was a great preacher of non violence.Regarding other things about indian culture being promoted in Pakistan, I strongly agree with Zakoota.
What a shame…we are still writing articles and talking about historical hindu kings and what not.
It seems that our television and print media have become crazy or rather maniac, regarding indian films, their semi-nude posing actresses and their plays showing overdose of pooja and other rituals.
You cannot even watch headline news these days on any major tv station with your elders sitting next as it shows what bipasha basu or katrina kaif while they swam with boyfriends. I dont understand what has gone wrong with us? what agenda this Musharaf is working on?
ATP should stop taking any articles that depict indian culture or promote anything related to india. Keep in mind all recent anti-Pakistan activities india has been involved in, despite our shameless confidence building measures!
MQ can you send some link about history of Ashoka?