Consider the following pairs:
| Site of Ashoka's major rock edicts | Location in the State of | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dhauli | Odisha |
| 2. | Erragudi | Andhra Pradesh |
| 3. | Jaugada | Madhya Pradesh |
| 4. | Kalsi | Karnataka |
How many pairs given above are correctly matched?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) Only two pairs
Only pairs 1 and 2 are correct: Dhauli is in Odisha and Erragudi is in Andhra Pradesh. Jaugada is also in Odisha (Ganjam district), and Kalsi is in Uttarakhand (near Dehradun), so pairs 3 and 4 fail.
- ✓ 1. Dhauli, near Bhubaneswar in Khurda district, has Ashoka's Kalinga rock edicts and is a centrally protected monument of the Archaeological Survey of India in Odisha.
- ✓ 2. Erragudi (also spelt Yerragudi) is a major rock edict site in Andhra Pradesh, in the south-west of the state near the Karnataka border.
- ✗ 3. Jaugada is in Ganjam district of Odisha, on the Rushikulya river; its edicts duplicate those at Dhauli. It is not in Madhya Pradesh.
- ✗ 4. Kalsi lies near Dehradun in Uttarakhand, at the meeting of the Yamuna and the Tons. Karnataka's Ashokan sites are other places, for example Brahmagiri, which has minor rock edicts.
Remember · Major rock edicts: Dhauli and Jaugada (Odisha), Kalsi (Uttarakhand), Erragudi (Andhra Pradesh), Girnar (Gujarat), Sopara (Maharashtra), Mansehra and Shahbazgarhi (Pakistan).
Sources
- ASI draft heritage bye-laws — Dhauli rock inscription of the edicts of Asoka (mentions Jaugada) ↗ “A duplicate of these Dhauli rock edicts is found on the surface of a rock in Jaugada, on the bank of river Rushikulya, to the north-west of Ganjam town in the Ganjam district of Odisha.”
- Nagar Nigam Dehradun (Government of Uttarakhand) — About Dehradun ↗ “Dehradun was once ruled by the great Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (3st century BC), whose rock edict was found near Kalsi, just off the town.”
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Ashokan Edict sites along the Mauryan Routes (Tentative List) ↗ “others, like the Erragudi edict in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, are on steep and somewhat inaccessible ridges. … 12. Brahmagiri Minor rock edicts 14.81361°N 76.80611°E Archaeological Survey of India”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·