The edicts are cut into three boulders and date back to 3rd century BC and they are written in the ancient Indic script of Gandhara culture, Kharosthi.

The edicts are inscribed on an outcrop of a small rocky mountain outside the city of Mansehra in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

[1] Ashoka was dismayed by the destruction caused by his military during the conquest of Kalingas and in remorse later converted to Buddhism.

Following his conversion, Ashoka visited sacred Buddhist locations throughout the Mauryan Empire and erected multiple pillars bearing his inscriptions of a new morality law.

[2] To protect the site, Department of Archeology and Museum, Pakistan provided canopies to cover the rocks and shelter them from weather conditions.