Dhauli, just off Bhubaneshwar, is beside the river Daya and has the Ashokan Rock Edicts
Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, reigned from 268 BCE to 232 BCE, and had conquered many areas across India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. His battle at Kalinga in Odisha was fought on the river Daya and the death toll is said to have been over a lac. It was so bloody that the river Daya flowing alongside turned red with the blood of those killed. The sight of this violence so shocked Ashoka that he gave up fighting and spread Buddhism across Asia.
His edicts or pronouncements are a collection of more than thirty inscriptions on boulders and cave walls. Ashoka used the term Dhamma Lipi or Inscriptions of the Dharm to refer to his edicts.
Yet he is less known for the Edicts of Ashoka than as Ashoka the Great. The emblem of the modern Republic of India is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka. He also has a tree named after him.
The river Daya has more or less dried up now.
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