Lauriya Areraj

The site of Lauriya-Areraj is situated about 138km north of Patna and 26km west of Motihari. The village Lauriya is famous for the presence of the inscribed monolithic Aśokan Pillar. The pillar has six pillar edicts of Emperor Aśoka engraved on it. Presently, the pillar stands to the east of the village and is locally called as ‘Laur’ or ‘the phallus of Śiva’ and is worshipped as such.

The Excavation Branch-III, Patna undertook excavation at the site. This resulted in the unearthing of a monastery to the east of the pillar. The associated antiquities and pottery assemblage found from the site dated back to the early historic period i.e., from 1st century BC to 3rd century AD.

The monastery exposed to the east of the pillar comprises a small shrine in the central chamber on the eastern side was noticed. The brick-paved floor of monastery was covered with a rammed floor of brick jelly and surkhi and water from the courtyard was dispensed through an underground drainage.

The pottery repertoire of the site is predominantly RW and Red Slipped Ware (RSW) while, limited quantities of tiny sherds of BSW and GW were also recovered. Among the antiquities revealed from the excavation are terracotta snake hoods, beads, wheels, sling balls etc.

Both literary and archaeological evidences indicate that the site was in the close vicinity of a trade route connecting Vaishali to Lumbini via Kesariya, Lauriya-Nandangarh and Rampurwa.