Who of the following had first deciphered the edicts of Emperor Ashoka?
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Answer: B. James Prinsep, an officer of the East India Company Mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, deciphered the Brahmi script of Ashoka's edicts in 1837-38.
Watch for: William Jones is the most famous early Indologist, so students pick him.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Wrong because Georg Buhler worked later on Indian palaeography.
- C. Wrong because Max Muller was a scholar of Vedic texts.
- D. Wrong because William Jones founded the Asiatic Society but did not decipher Brahmi.
Source to check: NCERT Class 12 Themes in Indian History Part I, Chapter 2 'Kings, Farmers and Towns' (section on Prinsep and Piyadassi)
Answer from the official UPSC key. Written and fact-checked by AI against the official key. Spotted a mistake? Report it.