Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/122

120 bell section of the lion capital was attached to the shaft by a barrel-shaped bolt of pure copper, measuring 2 feet $0 1⁄2$ inch in length, with a diameter of $4 5⁄16$ inches in the centre, and $3 5⁄8$ inches at each end, which was accurately fitted without cement.

The line of pillars in the Muzaffarpur and Champâran Districts at Bakhirâ (Vaisâli), Lauriyâ-Arâj (Radhiah), Lauriyâ-Nandangarh (Mathiah), and Râmpurwa evidently marks the course of the royal road from the northern bank of the Ganges opposite the capital to the Nepâl valley. The hamlet of Râmpurwâ is not far from the foot of the hills. Three of the five pillars are inscribed with practically identical copies of the ﬁrst six Pillar Edicts, which were thus published for the edification of travellers along the high road. The other known pillars were all placed in equally conspicuous positions at important cities, places of pilgrimage, or on frequented roads in the home provinces. No pillar has yet been found in the distant provinces, where the Rock Edicts were incised. The pillars are all composed of ﬁne sandstone, quarried in most cases apparently at Chanâr (Chunar) in the Mirzâpur District, and were frequently erected at localities hundreds of miles distant from any quarry capable of supplying the exceptionally choice blocks required for such huge monoliths. Their fabrication, conveyance, and erection bear eloquent testimony to