The highly polished monolithic Ashokan Pillars were carved out of single pieces of a buff- coloured sandstone, usually mined from the quarries of—

The monolithic Ashokan pillars are renowned for their exceptional craftsmanship and a unique, mirror-like 'Mauryan polish'. These pillars were primarily carved from two types of stone: a spotted red and white sandstone from Mathura and, more predominantly, a buff-coloured, fine-grained hard grey sandstone. This specific buff-coloured sandstone was quarried from Chunar, located near Mirzapur and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The Chunar quarries provided the massive single blocks of stone required for the monolithic shafts, which were then transported across the empire. This material was also used for other significant Mauryan structures, such as the 80-pillar hall at Kumhrar. The use of Chunar sandstone became a hallmark of imperial Mauryan art, symbolizing the empire's technical prowess and centralized resource management.