Ashoka Pillar, Prayagraj

This sandstone column dates from the reign of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, more than 2,000 years ago, and now stands inside Allahabad Fort in Prayagraj. It carries inscriptions in the Brahmi script setting out Ashoka's edicts on non-violence, tolerance and just government, issued after he turned to Buddhism in the wake of the Kalinga War.

The pillar has outlasted many empires and is valued as a record of an early attempt at a common moral code across the subcontinent. The fort around it is a large Mughal work on the Yamuna, later strengthened by Akbar, with gateways and halls overlooking the meeting of the Ganga and Yamuna. Also within the fort is the Saraswati Koop, a well believed to mark the hidden source of the mythical Saraswati River.