Nigali Sagar

Nigali Sagar pillar of Ashoka
The Nigali Sagar pillar, one of the pillars of Ashoka.
Material Polished sandstone
Size

Height:

Width:
Period/culture 3rd century BCE
Discovered 27°35′41.7″N 83°05′44.9″E / 27.594917°N 83.095806°E / 27.594917; 83.095806Coordinates: 27°35′41.7″N 83°05′44.9″E / 27.594917°N 83.095806°E / 27.594917; 83.095806
Place Nigalihawa, Nepal.
Present location Nigalihawa, Nepal.
Nigali Sagar
"Budha-sa Konākamana-sa" ("Of the Kanakamuni Buddha") inscription in the Brahmi Script, at Nigali Sagar, 250 BCE

Nigali Sagar is an archaeological site in Nepal containing the remains of a pillar of Ashoka. The pillar is called the Nigali Sagar pillar, or also the Nighihawa pillar, or Nigliva pillar, or Araurakot Asoka Pillar. The site is located about 20 kilometers northwest of Lumbini and 7 kilometers northeast of Taulihawa, Nepal.[1]

Kanakamuni Buddha

It is said that in this place the Kanakamuni Buddha, one of the Buddhas of the past, was born.[2] The Asoka inscription engraved on the pillar in Brahmi script and Pali language attests the fact that Emperor Asoka enlarged the Kanakamuni Buddha's stupa, worshiped it and erected a stone pillar to mark the birthplace of Kanakamuni Buddha on the occasion of the twentieth year of his coronation.

The Nigali Sagar Edict

The word "Stupa" first appears in Nigali Sagar.

The inscription, made when Emperor Asoka visited the site in 249 BCE and erected the pillar, reads:

Brahmi script and Pali language:

Devanam piyena piyadasin lajina- chodasavasa bhisitena
Budhasa Konakamanasa thube-dutyam vadhite
Visativa sabhisitena –cha atana-agacha-mahiyite
silathabe-cha usa papite

“His Majesty King Priyadarsin in the 14th year of his reign enlarged for the second time the stupa of the Buddha Kanakamuni and in the 20th year of his reign, having come in person, paid reverence and set up a stone pillar”.[3][4]

Because of this dedication by Ashoka, the Nigali Sagar pillar has the earliest known record ever of the word "Stupa" (here the Pali word Thube).[5]

There is also a second inscription, "Om mani padme hum" and "Sri Ripu Malla Chiram Jayatu 1234" made by King Ripu Malla in the year 1234 (Saka Era, corresponding to 1312 CE).

Accounts of the pillar

The Chinese pilgrims Fa-Hien and Hiuen-Tsang describe the Kanakamuni Stupa and the Asoka Pillar in their travel accounts. Hiuen Tsang speaks of a lion capital atop the pillar, now lost.

References

  1. ↑ Lumbini development trust report
  2. ↑ Political Violence in Ancient India by Upinder Singh p.46
  3. ↑ Basanta Bidari - 2004 Kapilavastu: the world of Siddhartha - Page 87
  4. ↑ Inscriptions of Asoka. New Edition by E. Hultzsch (in Sanskrit). 1925. p. 165.
  5. ↑ Amaravati: The Art of an early Buddhist Monument in context. p.23

See also


Edicts of Ashoka
(Ruled 269-232 BCE)
Regnal years
of Ashoka		 Type of Edict
(and location of the inscriptions)		 Geographical location
Year 8 End of the Kalinga war and conversion to the "Dharma"
Location of the Minor Rock Edicts (Edicts 1,2&3)
Other inscriptions often classified as Minor Rock Edicts.
Location of the Major Rock Edicts.
Location of the Minor Pillar Edicts.
Original location of the Major Pillar Edicts.
Capital cities
Year 10[1] Minor Rock Edicts Related events:
Visit to the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya
Construction of the Mahabodhi Temple and Diamond throne in Bodh Gaya
Predication throughout India.
Dissenssions in the Sangha
Third Buddhist Council
In Indian language: Sohgaura inscription
Erection of the Pillars of Ashoka
Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription
(in Greek and Aramaic, Kandahar)
Minor Rock Edicts in Aramaic:
Laghman Inscription, Taxila inscription
Year 11 and later Minor Rock Edicts (n°1, n°2 and n°3)
(Panguraria, Maski, Palkigundu and Gavimath, Bahapur/Srinivaspuri, Bairat, Ahraura, Gujarra, Sasaram, Rajula Mandagiri, Yerragudi, Udegolam, Nittur, Brahmagiri, Siddapur, Jatinga-Rameshwara)
Year 12 and later[1] Barabar Caves inscriptions Major Rock Edicts
Minor Pillar Edicts Major Rock Edicts in Greek: Edicts n°12-13 (Kandahar)

Major Rock Edicts in Indian language:
Edicts No.1 ~ No.14
(in Kharoshthi script: Shahbazgarhi, Mansehra Edicts
(in Brahmi script: Kalsi, Girnar, Sopara, Sannati, Yerragudi, Delhi Edicts)
Major Rock Edicts 1-10, 14, Separate Edicts 1&2:
(Dhauli, Jaugada)
Schism Edict, Queen's Edict
(Sarnath Sanchi Allahabad)
Rummindei Edict, Nigali Sagar Edict
Year 26, 27
and later[1]		 Major Pillar Edicts
In Indian language:
Major Pillar Edicts No.1 ~ No.7
(Allahabad pillar Delhi pillar Topra Kalan Rampurva Lauria Nandangarh Lauriya-Araraj Amaravati)

Derived inscriptions in Aramaic, on rock:
Kandahar, Edict No.7[2][3] and Pul-i-Darunteh, Edict No.5 or No.7[4]

  1. 1 2 3 Yailenko,Les maximes delphiques d'Aï Khanoum et la formation de la doctrine du dhamma d'Asoka, 1990, pp.243.
  2. ↑ Inscriptions of Asoka de D.C. Sircar p.30
  3. ↑ Handbuch der Orientalistik de Kurt A. Behrendt p.39
  4. ↑ Handbuch der Orientalistik de Kurt A. Behrendt p.39
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