While it is one of the few extant pillars that carry Ashokan edicts,[3] it is particularly notable for containing later inscriptions attributed to the Gupta emperor Samudragupta (4th century CE).

[2] According to some scholars, the pillar was moved from its original location and installed within Akbar's Allahabad Fort in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh by Emperor Akbar himself, but this theory is disputed by other scholars who point out the absence of any confirmatory evidence that the pillar was moved, and pre-Mughal inscriptions that indicate that it was already present in its current location.

As the fort is now occupied by the Indian Army, the public are only allowed limited access to the premises and special permission is required to view the pillar.

[9] The Ashokan inscriptions suggest that the pillar was first erected at Kaushambi, an ancient town some 30 miles (50 kilometres) west of its current location which was then the capital of the kingdom of Vatsa.

[11]: 968  It was once re-erected during the time of Jahangir in 1605,[2] albeit crowned by a globe surmounted by a cone, and was later sketched by the Jesuit missionary, Joseph Tiefenthaler, in the mid-18th century.

He summed up the design with the following remark,[8] Indeed, it looks to me not unlike a stuffed poodle stuck on the top of an inverted flower pot.An alternate theory proposed by Krishnaswamy and Ghosh in 1935 states that the Allahabad Pillar was never moved.

They dismissed the theory that Muslim Sultans, anyone from the Mughal empire, Hindu kings before the arrival of Islam, or any private individual may have moved the pillar from Kaushambi to the current location.

Ashoka may have installed it at Prayag because the confluence of Ganges and Yamuna rivers was already a major pilgrimage site during his time, thus a location that gave more access and visibility to his edicts.

[13] A third theory was proposed in 1979 by John Irwin, who concurred with Krishnaswamy and Ghosh that the Allahabad Pillar was never moved and was always at the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Yamuna.

[15][16] According to Irwin, an analysis of the minor inscriptions and ancient scribblings on the pillar first observed by Cunningham, also noted by Krishnaswamy and Ghosh, reveals that these included years and months, and the latter "always turns out to be Magha, which also gives it name to the Magh Mela", the bathing pilgrimage festival of the Hindus.

The Vasuki temple and Alarkapuri, which pilgrims visit after ritual bathing as a part of their traditional parikrama (circumambulation, Magha Mela walking circuit), are also ancient and consistent with early Sanskrit texts.

[15][16] According to Irwin, the pillar itself is pre-Buddhist, to which Ashoka added the Brahmi script inscription to advertise his edicts to the masses of pilgrims and the extant Buddhist monasteries there.

[17] When James Prinsep of the Asiatic Society came across the broken pillar just inside the gates of the Allahabad Fort in c. 1834, its inscriptions were being eroded by the rain and sun.

Some of these are, however, dated and coupled with the style of scripts used, are useful to establish the periods when the pillar was in an erect position, and when it was lying prone on the ground.

[22] A later inscription, also known as the Prayag Prashasti, is attributed to the 4th century CE Gupta king Samudragupta, and follows immediately below the edicts of Ashoka.

[26] The inscription is a panegyric praising Samudragupta and lists the political and military achievements of his reign including his expeditions to the south.

[12] In the Samvat year 1632, Saka 1493, in Magha, the 5th of the waning moon, on Monday, Gangadas's son Maharaja Birbal made the auspicious pilgrimage to Tirth Raj Prayag.