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Article: Context, content, and composition: questions of intended meaning and the Asokan edicts.
- Article from:
- Asian Perspectives: the Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific
- Article date:
- September 22, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 University of Hawaii Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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DESPITE ITS RELATIVELY SHORT SPAN, THE MAURYAN EMPIRE holds great significance for the modern Indian nation. Often celebrated as India's first empire, the Mauryan polity (c. 320-180 B.C.) is frequently held up as the emblem of an early national unity, although, as is the case with many ancient empires, much doubt still exists regarding the actual extent and nature of control exercised by Mauryan rulers. The central theme of this paper aims to work toward a resolution of this doubt by developing a critical and multidisciplinary understanding of the Asokan edicts, a crucial category of evidence often used in the construction of Mauryan historical narratives.
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