Our quest to find the surviving Ashokan Edicts in Karnataka
took us to the elusive Ashokan edicts at Kanakagiri. Probably there is no
Ashokan edicts here or the information on the internet is incomplete regarding
the same. 'Kanakagiri', translated as 'Hill of Gold' is located about 30 km
from Gangavathi in Koppal district. After visiting a friend's place at
Gangavathi, we got a chance to go in search of the edicts. Early next morning
we headed towards Kanakagiri. From various sources of information, we had
learned that the Ashokan Edicts are placed inside the temple though unaware of
its exact location.
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| The Main Entrance |
Kanakagiri is referred at many places as "Ashoka's
Swarnagiri". Our task of finding the edicts began as we entered the the
first temple which was the Kanakachalapathi temple. This temple was built
during the Vijayanagar period by the Nayakas of Kanakagiri. While our eyes were
eagerly in search of the edicts, a room in front the main Gopuram caught our
attention. On carefully inspecting the room interiors for the presence of any
edicts, we found none. A beautiful stone slab depicting a scene involving the
king and queen was placed in front of the room.
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| Shri Kanakachalapathi Temple |
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| The Stone Panel Depicting a Scene between King and Queen |
As we entered the temple we sighted three big inscription
panels, a close examination of them revealed that they had nothing related to
emperor Ashoka. This temple is dedicated to Lord Kanakachalapathi, a form of
Vishnu. The Sabhamantapa has beautiful pillars and stories from Ramayana etched
at the top of the wall. The temple has been maintained very well, but no one
here had any idea about the Ashokan edicts. The priest was not all in the mood
to discuss about Ashokan edicts and the temple manager along with others
present around too confirmed that there is no such edicts present here.
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| The Stone Inscriptions |
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| The Sabhamantapa |
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| The Dwikuta Temple |
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| A Scene from Ramayana |
On showing them the book we referred to on Kanakagiri that
spoke about the edicts, they remained unconvinced, until one among them finally
gave in.....
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