Things to do in Mansehra
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Ashoka Rocks
On the north side of town is Mansehra's tourist attraction, three granite boulders on which 14 edicts were engraved by order of the Mauryan king Ashoka in the 3rd century BC. Appalled by the destruction wreaked by his military campaigns, Ashoka converted to Buddhism and tried to dictate a new morality based on piety, moderation, tolerance and respect for life. He was greatly revered, but his reforms (and his empire) didn't last much longer than he did.
The inscriptions have done better, but they too are fading away; despite the shelters, the ancient Karoshthi script is now almost impossible to see. The rocks uphill are better than the one below the road.
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Sikh Fort
Up a laneway 300m past the library is a fort, built in the early 19th century by Sikh governor general Man Singh (after whom Mansehra is named), and rebuilt by the British after the Second Sikh War and the annexation of the Sikh state. It now houses a police office and a jail. Very few traces of the original mud-and-rock structure can be seen inside.
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Mansehra Municipal Library
Up Kashmir Rd is the three-storey Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Saba, a pastiche of colours and styles. Built in 1937 as a gurdwara, it's now the Mansehra Municipal Library. The ornate interior hasn't been altered much.
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Kashmir Bazaar
Shinkiari and Kashmir Rds curve round a hill, with Kashmir Bazaar sprawled across the top, its narrow lanes in semipermanent shadow.
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Neelam Bazaar
Across the bridge along Jaffar Rd is the smaller, older Neelam Bazaar .
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