Bharatwiki Socrates at 03:34, 2 December 2023

2023-12-02T03:34:49Z

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{{Infobox artifact
|image = Aramaic inscription at Taxila Museum.jpg
|name = Aramaic inscription of Taxila
|image_caption = Aramaic inscription of Taxila.
|material = Portion of octagonal marble pillar.
|size = 200px
|writing =[[Aramaic language|Aramaic]]
|created = circa 260 BCE
|period = 3rd Century BCE
|place = [[Sirkap]], [[Taxila]], [[Pakistan]]
|discovered_coords =33.7561N 72.8292E
|location = [[Taxila Museum]], [[Pakistan]]
|id =
|registration =
| map =
{{Location map
| South Asia
| width = 250px
| float = center
| border =
| caption = Location of the Aramaic Inscription of [[Taxila]].
| alt =
| relief = yes
| AlternativeMap =
| overlay_image =
| label =
| label_size =
| position =
| background =
| mark =
| marksize =
| link =
| lat_deg = 33.7561
| lon_deg = 72.8292
}}
}}
The '''Aramaic inscription of Taxila''' is an inscription on a piece of marble, originally belonging to an octagonal column, discovered by [[Sir John Marshall]] in 1915 at [[Taxila]], [[British India]]. The inscription is written in [[Aramaic]], probably by the Indian emperor [[Ashoka]] around 260 BCE, and often categorized as one of the [[Minor Rock Edicts]].<ref name="RM">Asoka by Radhakumud Mookerji [https://books.google.com/books?id=uXyftdtE1ygC&pg=PA275 p.275]</ref> Since Aramaic was the official language of the [[Achaemenid empire]], which disappeared in 330 BCE with the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]], it seems that this inscription was addressed directly to the populations of this ancient empire still present in northwestern India, or to border populations for which Aramaic remained the normal communication language.<ref name="DS">A new Aramaic inscription of Asoka found in the Laghman Valley (Afghanistan), André Dupont-Sommer Proceedings of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres Year 1970 114-1 [https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1970_num_114_1_12491 p.173]</ref> The inscription is known as [[Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften|KAI]] 273.

==Related inscriptions==
The discovery of this inscription was followed by that of several other inscriptions in Aramaic or Greek (or both), written by Asoka. The most famous are the [[Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription]], written in Greek and Aramaic, or the [[Kandahar Greek Edict of Ashoka]], also found in [[Kandahar]]. In 1932 another inscription in Aramaic was discovered in the Laghman Valley at Pul-i-Darunteh, then in 1963 an inscription in "Indo-Aramaic" alternating the Indian language and the Aramaic language, but using only the Aramaic script, the Aramaic parts translating the Indian parts transcribed in the Aramaic alphabet, also found in Kandahar. Finally, another inscription was found in Laghman, the [[Aramaic Inscription of Laghman]].<ref name = "DS"/>

==Text of the inscription==
The text of the inscription is very fragmentary, but it has been established that it contains twice, lines 9 and 12, the mention of MR'N PRYDRŠ ("our lord [[Priyadasi]]"), the characteristic title used by Ashoka.<ref name ="RM"/><ref>A new Aramaic inscription of Asoka discovered in Kandahar (Afghanistan), Dupont-Sommer, André, Records of the sessions of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres Year 1966 110-3 [https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1966_num_110_3_12024 p.448]</ref>

{| class ="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ The Aramaic Inscription of Taxila.<ref>[[Dineshchandra Sircar|Sircar, Dines Chandra]], ''Select Inscriptions Bearing On Indian History and Civilization Vol.1'' [https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.56635/2015.56635.Select-Inscriptions-Bearing-On-Indian-History-And-Civilization-Vol1#page/n125/mode/2up pp.78-79]</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wilson-Wright |first1=Aren |title=From Persepolis to Jerusalem: A Reevaluation of Old Persian-Hebrew Contact in the Achaemenid Period |url=http://sites.utexas.edu/scripts/files/2020/10/2015-AWW-From-Persepolis-to-Jerusalem.pdf|quote=nštwn……op *ništāvan}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=伊藤 |first1=義教 |title=阿育王のアラム語碑について |journal=オリエント |date=1966 |doi=10.5356/jorient.8.2_1 |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jorient1962/8/2/8_2_1/_pdf/-char/ja|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Altheim |first1=Franz |title=Geschichte Mittelasiens im Altertum |date=2016 |pages=339–340 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=9783110865479 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BXtdDwAAQBAJ&dq=dmydty+ngrwt&pg=PA339}}</ref>
|-
!Object
!Line
!Original ([[Imperial Aramaic|Aramaic alphabet]])
!Transliteration
!English translation
|-
|colspan=1 rowspan=12 |[[File:Sirkap Aramaic inscription 4th century BC (text).jpg|105px|Sirkap Aramaic inscription 4th century BC (text)]]
| '''1'''
| {{big| {{script|Armi|𐡆𐡊𐡓𐡅𐡕𐡀}}}}
| {{transliteration|arc|zkrwtʾ}}
|
|-

| '''2'''
| {{big| {{script|Armi|𐡋 𐡃𐡌𐡉𐡃𐡕𐡉 𐡏𐡋}}}}
| {{transliteration|arc|l dmydty ʿl}}
|
|-

| '''3'''
| {{big| {{script|Armi|𐡍𐡂𐡓𐡅𐡕𐡀 𐡏𐡋}}}}
| {{transliteration|arc|ngrwtʾ ʿl}}
|
|-

| '''4'''
| {{big| {{script|Armi|𐡀𐡓𐡆𐡅𐡔 𐡍𐡂𐡓𐡅𐡕𐡀}}}}
| {{transliteration|arc|ʾrzwš ngrwtʾ}}
|
|-

| '''5'''
| {{big| {{script|Armi|𐡅 𐡋𐡀𐡁𐡅𐡄𐡉 𐡄𐡅𐡅}}}}
| {{transliteration|arc|w lʾbwhy hww}}
|
|-

| '''6'''
| {{big| {{script|Armi|𐡄𐡅𐡐𐡕𐡉𐡎𐡕𐡉 𐡆𐡍𐡄}}}}
| {{transliteration|arc|hwptysty znh}}
|
|-

| '''7'''
| {{big| {{script|Armi|𐡆𐡊 𐡁𐡄𐡅𐡅𐡓𐡃𐡄}}}}
| {{transliteration|arc|zk bhwwrdh}}
|
|-

| '''8'''
| {{big| {{script|Armi|𐡄𐡅𐡍𐡔𐡕𐡅𐡍 𐡆𐡉 𐡄𐡅𐡕}}}}
| {{transliteration|arc|hwnštwn zy hwt}}
|
|-

| '''9'''
| {{big|... ''' {{script|Armi|𐡌𐡓𐡀𐡍 𐡐𐡓𐡉𐡃𐡓}}'''}}
| {{transliteration|arc|'''mrʾn Prydr'''...}}
| our lord [[Priyadasi]]
|-

| '''10'''
| {{big| {{script|Armi|𐡄 ... 𐡋𐡊𐡅𐡕𐡓}}}}
| {{transliteration|arc|h.... lkwtr}}<br/>{{transliteration|arc|h.... lkwtd}}
|
|-

| '''11'''
| {{big|{{script|Armi|𐡅𐡀𐡐 𐡁𐡍𐡅𐡄𐡉}}}}
| {{transliteration|arc|wʾp bnwhy}}
|
|-

| '''12'''
| {{big|''' {{script|Armi|𐡋𐡌𐡓𐡀𐡍 𐡐𐡓𐡉𐡃𐡓}}'''}}
| {{transliteration|arc|'''lmrʾn Prydr'''}}
| our lord [[Priyadasi]]
|}

<gallery>
File: SirkapCity.JPG|Ruins of the city of [[Sirkap]].
File: Aramaic_inscription_from_Taxila_JRAS.jpg|Another image of the inscription.
File: Sirkap Aramaic inscription 4th century BC.jpg|Another image of the inscription
</gallery>

== See also ==
{{Portal|History|Pakistan}}
* [[List of Edicts of Ashoka]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Gandhara}}

[[Category:3rd-century BC inscriptions]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Edicts of Ashoka]]
[[Category:Aramaic inscriptions]]
[[Category:KAI inscriptions]]

Aramaic Inscription of Taxila - Revision history

Bharatwiki Socrates at 03:34, 2 December 2023