Ancient site · Monument
Junagadh rock inscriptions (Girnar)
Also known as Girnar rock edicts
A large granite boulder at the foot of Mount Girnar, near Junagadh in Gujarat, carved with three royal inscriptions. The oldest is a set of fourteen of Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts, in Brahmi script, about moral rule.
Around 150 CE the Western Satrap Rudradaman added one of the earliest long Sanskrit inscriptions, describing the repair of the Sudarshana reservoir first built under the Mauryas. A third, of the Gupta king Skandagupta, records repairs to the same dam. It is now sheltered by a building.
- Dates
- Ashoka c. 250 BCE; Rudradaman c. 150 CE; Skandagupta c. 456 CE
- Still standing
- Yes
- Location
- 21.53° N, 70.48° E
How we know
The boulder itself is the written record: three dated royal inscriptions cut into it over 700 years.
Nearby sites
- Submerged structures off Dwarka disputed: c. 1500 BCE (S. R. Rao) or historical to medieval times
- Lothal c. 2300–1900 BCE
- Dholavira c. 3000–1500 BCE (phases debated)
- Karla Caves 2nd century BCE–5th century CE
- Ajanta Caves (early caves) early caves c. 2nd century BCE–1st century CE; second phase c. 460–480 CE
- Kot Diji c. 3300–2100 BCE