Photo 1002/22(1141)

Similar viewpoint to print 1140, but a little more distant. Bloch describes this as a 'duplicate plate of smaller size,' but it is similar rather than a duplicate. It is unclear when Craddock (the photographer credited with prints 1140 and 1142) visited the site, but it was probably around the time of Beglar's photograph, which was taken in the season of 1878-79. Cunningham recounts: 'During the cold season of 1878-79 I visited a number of out-of the-way places in the Panjab. I had arranged with my assistant, Mr. Beglar, for the complete exploration of the ruined mounds in the Yusufzai district which had not yet been visited. These included the hill of Karamar and the great ruined fortress of Hashtnagar, as well as photographs of the rock inscription of Asoka at Shahbaz-garhi....' (Tours of Major-General A. Cunningham, Director General, Archaeological Survey of India in 1877-78 and 1878-79, India Home Proceedings, Archaeology, IOR/P/1501, p. 29).

Cunningham had previously visited the site in 1847 and again in 1872-73, after which he wrote that owing to its position on the hillside, the rock could not easily be photographed and he was forced to make a laborious manual copy of the inscription:

'The great inscription of Asoka is engraved on a large shapeless mass of trap rock, lying about 80 feet up the slope of the hill, with its western face looking downwards towards the village of Shahba-garhi. The greater portion of the inscription is on the eastern face of the rock looking up the hill, but the latter part, which contains the names of the five Greek kings, is on the western face. The mass of rock is 24 feet long and about 10 feet in height, with a general thickness of about 10 feet. When I first saw the inscription in January 1847 there was a large piece of rock, which had fallen from above, resting against the upper or eastern faceof the inscription. At my request this piece of rock had been removed in 1871 by a party of Sappers, and I was thus able to take a complete impression of this side of the inscription. I cleared the ground both above and below the rock, and built level terraces in front of both inscriptions so as to be able to examine with tolerable ease any doubtful portions. The eastern face, though not smooth, presents a nearly even surface, the result of a natural fracture; but the western face is rough and uneven, and the letters, though not much worn, do not afford a good impression. I therefore traced them out carefully with ink for the purpose of taking an eye copy; but the ink was washed out at night by a heavy fall of rain. The same thing happened a second time, but after a third tracing the weather became fair, and I was able to make a complete eye copy as well as an impression of this important part of Asoka's inscription. Every doubtful letter was examined several times in different lights, and was copied by my native assistants as well as by myself, until by repeated comparisons the true form was generally obtained. Under these circumstances I believe I have secured as perfect and as accurate a copy of this famous inscription as it is now possible to make. As no photographs can be taken of either face of the inscription on account of the slope of the hill, an eye copy, thus checked by an impression, is, I believe, the best possible substitute. I propose hereafter to collate the Shahbaz-garhi inscription with the Khalsi inscription, as both of these texts are nearly perfect in the important 13th Tablet which contains the names of the five Greek kings, and of several well known districts of India.' (Alexander Cunningham, Archaeological Survey of India. Report for the year 1872-73, A.S.I. vol. V, Calcutta, 1882), p. 19. Portions of Cunningham's transcription are reproduced at plate 5 of his report.