The Ashoka period pillars are made :

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Accepted Answer

The correct option is 4:

The Ashoka period pillars, which are the most iconic surviving examples of Mauryan art and architecture, were almost exclusively quarried and carved from a specific type of sandstone. This sandstone, known as **Red Chunar stone** or **Chunar sandstone**, was sourced from the well-known quarry site of Chunar, located near Varanasi in present-day Uttar Pradesh. The Mauryan craftsmen utilized these massive blocks, often over 40 feet in height, to create monolithic shafts—meaning the entire column was cut from a single piece of stone. The most distinguishing feature of this stone, once carved and finished, is the extraordinary, mirror-like "Mauryan polish" which has endured for over two millennia, making the Red Chunar stone the foundational material for these imperial edicts.

The incorrect option is 1:

Granite stone is a hard, durable igneous rock that was utilized for Mauryan rock-cut architecture, most famously in the Barabar Caves, but it was not the main material for the tall, free-standing pillar shafts. The pillars' characteristic high polish was much more easily achieved on the finer-grained Chunar sandstone. The main shaft of the typical Ashokan pillar is identified as being derived from the Chunar quarries, distinguishing it from the granite of other Mauryan constructions.

The incorrect option is 2:

Marble stone is a metamorphic rock that was not the principal or characteristic building material for the large-scale public monuments of the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd century BCE. While marble became highly prized for later intricate temple architecture and decorative work in India, particularly during the Mughal period, the technology and aesthetic preference for Emperor Ashoka's monolithic pillars centered on the polished sandstone of the Chunar variety.

The incorrect option is 3:

Jaisalmer stone, often a distinct yellow or golden-colored sandstone, is regionally specific to Rajasthan and is predominantly associated with the medieval and early modern architecture of western India. The use of Jaisalmer stone in monumental structures and temple carving flourished centuries after the Mauryan period. Geographically, culturally, and chronologically, the material is entirely separate from the imperial Mauryan project which relied on the accessible and high-quality red sandstone of the Gangetic valley's Chunar quarries.