The
pillars of Ashoka are a series of columns dispersed throughout the
Indian subcontinent, erected or at least inscribed with
edicts by the
Mauryan king
Ashoka during his reign in the 3rd century BC. Originally, there must have been many pillars but only nineteen survive with inscriptions, and only six with animal capitals, which were a target for Muslim
iconoclasm. Many are preserved in a fragmentary state. Averaging between in height, and weighing up to 50 tons each, the pillars were dragged, sometimes hundreds of miles, to where they were erected.