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.
Faraz:
You can get plenty of information on history of Ashoka on Google. Just google for Emperor Ashoka.
Bhupinder:
Ashoka’s famous fourteen edicts are also available on Google.
Good luck!
Thank you for reporting this. I am glad that the problem was rectified. I look forward to visiting this soon.
As for other commenters, I think they take themselves too seriously and should just be ignored.
To all non-Pakistani readers (Indians specially)
Unfortunately, most Pakistanis of today, who are in their twenties, grew up during the draconian and monstrous era of our great Muslim General Zia-Ul-Haq.
General Sahab poisoned the cultural and social drinking water with the venom of extremism, hate and intolerance (with the support of US and other western powers.)
The effect of General Sahab’s poisoning can still be seen in the mentalities of young Pakistanis.
So please do not mind comments like those given by Zakoota.
Its just that he is a victim and the irony is that he doesnt know that he is a victim.
Kind Regards
Sahibzada Junaid Noor
This is an interesting discussion. Lets hope it does not turn ugly. We are thankful to the Archaeology Department for the improvements to the site and Qalandar Sahab for reporting it. However it is my observation that whenever some thing regarding India, Hindus, Sikhs, or even Buddhists is reported here, wolfs from both sides come out. We know Indians, of all faiths, are regular visitors of ATP. Even though they often do not use their real names or use fictitious names, from the tone of their comments and the position of their arguments, their identity often becomes obvious. I say to my Pakistani brothers and sisters that please be mindful of the feelings of others before posting your comments here. Obviously non-Pakistanis visit this site to learn more about Pakistan. This is an open forum and we should welcome every one. Let us show to all non-Pakistani visitors of this site that we are an open minded nation and gracious people. The land that constitutes Pakistan today has a five thousand years old history. Older than any faith or nationality of mankind. So let us not fight over it. Similarly histories have their own periods. Of course in Pakistan we are very proud of our Islamic period and history. Muslim contributions to all previous civilizations are tremendous. But we must also acknowledge the pre-Islamic history of Pakistan. It will not make us any less Pakistani or less Muslim. Let us grow up and act as a mature and confident nation. Indians do not own our history. We do. And we must preserve it for our future generations and for the human civilization.
Thanks for the update, MQ. Stuff like this gives hope for a much brighter tomorrow. And as I have quoted before, “hope is a good thing and no good thing [should ever] die.”