Post

The pillars were erected across the empire — from present-day Afghanistan to Bangladesh. Each one was polished sandstone, fifteen to forty feet high, carved with edicts in multiple scripts. This one, at Vaishali, is particularly ancient and stands alone in a field. The edicts on the pillars do not proclaim military conquest. They proclaim dharma — duty, compassion, the proper treatment of animals and prisoners and foreigners.

I had the Kalinga war inscribed on a rock — not to glorify it but to confess it. One hundred thousand killed, many more displaced, and I, the victor, found it not victory but horror. No emperor before me had inscribed his own remorse. I believed posterity should know what conquest costs. I still believe that.