Lauriya Areraj
लौरिया अरेराज · Lauriya Areraj Ashokan Pillar
Mauryan (Ashokan, 244 BCE) with Gupta–Pala overlay·Mauryan Ashokan·🇮🇳 Bihar, East Champaran District, Lauriya Areraj village, India
About
About Lauriya Areraj
Lauriya Areraj is the companion Ashokan pillar to Lauriya Nandangarh, a 36.5-ft polished sandstone monolith (244 BCE) with 7 Major Pillar Edicts on the Gandak–Burhi Gandak interfluve. Excavated 1862 (Cunningham) and 1904 (Bloch), its lion capital is now in Kolkata Museum (replica in situ), but the shaft remains 1 m lean-corrected with Brahmi inscription intact. At 65 m elevation, the surrounding moated brick stupa mound (Areraj mound) 200 m south yielded Gupta terracottas, linking the Ashokan edict to a later monastic site. The pair of Lauriya pillars frames the Buddha's final northward yatra.
Why it mattersOnly second complete Ashokan lion pillar in situ; duopoly with Nandangarh proves Ashokan paired Dhamma markers on Buddha's route.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why the Areraj text differs slightly from Nandangarh—scribal vs doctrinal
- 02Mound chronology—whether Sunga core under Gupta
Theories
- 01Paired pillars marking Kosala–Vaishali Dhamma frontier
- 02Stupa mound as later Buddhist appropriation of Ashokan Dhamma space
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- 244 BCE (Ashoka, 26th regnal year)
- Period
- Mauryan (Ashokan, 244 BCE) with Gupta–Pala overlay
- Culture
- Mauryan Ashokan
- Builders
- Ashoka (pillar), Sunga–Gupta monks (stupa mound)
- Purpose
- Dhamma edict pillar (Major Pillar Edicts I–VII) and subsequent commemorative stupa
- Abandoned
- 12th century (Pala decline)
- Rediscovered
- 1862 Cunningham; 1904 Bloch excavation
- Excavation
- Excavated
244 BCE
Pillar erection with Edicts I–VII
1st century BCE–5th century CE
Areraj stupa mound accretion
1862
Cunningham records intact lion capital
1904
Bloch clears stupa mound and capital removal
On the ground
Structures & features
26.5653° N · 84.6819° E · 65 m · 3 mapped features
Ashokan Lion Pillar Shaft
inscription36.5-ft polished shaft (41.8-inch base) with Major Pillar Edicts I–VII, replica lion capital on top
26.5653° N · 84.6819° EAreraj Brick Stupa Mound
stupa30×30 m brick mound with moat trace and Gupta terracotta finds, 200 m south of pillar
26.5639° N · 84.6822° EMoat and Tank (West)
hydraulicL-shaped moat 8 m wide with tank depression, feeding the pillar–stupa sacred precinct
26.5650° N · 84.6814° E