A distributed corpus
The Indian submission to UNESCO's tentative list describes Ashokan edict sites along Mauryan routes and identifies individual major rock edict locations, including Girnar, Dhauli, Jaugada and Kalsi. This is a state-party nomination document, useful for the site list and conservation context; it is not a critical edition of every line. The corpus involves multiple physical locations and local inscription histories. A phrase known from one site must not be silently supplied to a worn line at another.
Start with one site, its particular rock face, present protection, documented find and recording history, script and language as established by an edition. Then compare the corresponding passage at another site. Note differences in wording, surface layout and preservation. A standardized English translation can hide variation among witnesses.
Girnar as an exercise
Use the UNESCO listing to identify Girnar as a major rock edict site, then locate a specialist publication or ASI record before quoting any text. Record the site's location and support separately from the edition's reading. Ask whether a date refers to Ashoka's reign, the carving, later reuse or modern discovery. If a particular sign is not visible in the available image, cite the edition's reading and say that direct inspection was unavailable.
Practice: make a two-site comparison grid with support, script, preservation, edition and one textual variation only after consulting editions of both sites. Leave the variation field open until the sources have been checked.
Modern-language examples on this page clarify a linguistic pattern. They do not establish unattested sounds or forms for an ancient language. Follow the cited sources below and keep editorial readings separate from the surviving trace.