Ashokan Rock Edicts, Dhauli

These rock edicts near Bhubaneswar stand close to Dhauli Hills beside the Daya River, where Emperor Ashoka's Mauryan forces fought the Kalinga war in 262 BC. Tradition says about 10,000 people died and the river ran red by the end of the fighting.

The bloodshed weighed on Ashoka, who turned to Buddhism and began spreading a message of peace by having inscriptions in the Brahmi script carved on natural rocks across the country. The edicts here are among them and are now looked after by the Archaeological Survey of India.