Ratanpurwa – Basaha

Discovery of Ratanpurwa 1. Remarks on the Minor Rock Edict of Asoka at Ratanpurwa - Jñāna-Pravāha Research Journal 16 - Harry Falk In January 2009, not long after my catalogue of Asokan sites (Falk 2006) had appeared, yet one more Minor Rock Edict (MRE) was brought to public notice first by its discoverer Devi Dayal Maurya, teacher at Mughalsarai, Varanasi who had reported it to scholars at the Jnana-Pravaha - Centre for Cultural Studies & Research, Varanasi, which is devoted to the maintenance and promotion of the traditional sciences and arts of India. Startled by a first photograph provided by the discoverer, two young scholars from JnanaPravaha,Dr. Niraj Pandey and Samrat Chakravorty, visited the site, took better photographs and informed the academic world about it. Very soon the text was edited by K.K. Thaplyal and published in the Monograph series of the said Institute with the title A New Asokan Inscription from Ratanpurwa in 2009. Since the text of the edict is almost perfectly preserved, the reading as established by Thaplyal needs no further comment. In his booklet all major issues of the text are touched upon and elucidated. In line with the tenets followed in my A…