Lion Capital of Ashoka

2994:, pp. 170–171 A capital with protomes of four lions from Old Termez This capital takes the form of four lion protomes, facing in different directions (the cardinal points) (Fig. 15, 15:a). In its artistic style, and especially in the treatment of the long wavy ringlets of the lions’ manes, it is comparable to some examples of Hellenistic sculpture. All the evidence indicates that it belonged to a stambha pillar and was not an ordinary capital. It would seem to be appropriate to a Greco-Buddhist figurative complex. ... As far as its function is concerned, we have one small indication in the form of a detail modeled on the backs of the lions. This is a fairly tall, square abacus, with two parallel relief lines running round the bottom. In the top of the abacus there is a square slot measuring 13-15×13-15 cm, into which another detail evidently was to be fitted. This detail may have been a beam, but is more likely to have been a symbol in the form of the wheel of the doctrine (Dharmachakra).53 This latter theory is supported by the fact that the backs of the lions’ necks are higher than the level of the abacuses, which would have complicated the fitting of beams. By contrast, a separate symbol – in this case a wheel – could have been quite easily fixed in the slot with the help of some projecting element; another way of it fastening it would have been with a metal bolt. 1280: 2147:, p. 35 Quote: "Although Marshall says explicitly little about his intention to give his Indian colleagues an active role in unearthing and presenting their own history, his actions clearly showed that he did. First among those whose work he promoted was Daya Ram Sahni, a Sanskritist by training who had worked on the excavations at Kushinagar in 1905, then Rajgir and Rampurva in 1906 and 1907. In an effort to keep material excavated at Sarnath close to the site, Marshall laid plans in 1904 to establish the Archaeological Museum Sarnath, the first site museum under the ASI; the building was completed in 1910. Although Sahni did not have a role in the Sarnath excavations, he was the one who supervised the work of arranging and labeling the museum’s holdings, and just four years later he published the lengthy and meticulously detailed Catalogue of the Museum of Archaeology at Sarnath. Almost immediately after he began to work on the museum’s collections, he presented the site itself in his 582: 1385: 367:. Temples had been the inevitable arenas for the struggle for kingly power. The Turkish invaders followed the settled patterns. Among Hindus and Jains, many temples have survived until the present day. Whereas royal temples were raided and brought down, the ones attended by ordinary people were often left undisturbed. "The same could have occurred with Buddhist institutions focused on the laity, had they existed." according to Fogelin, "However, by the thirteenth century CE, Buddhist monasteries in the Gangetic Plain and northeastern India were prominently supported by local and regional kings, and their relations with the non-elite laity consisted of little more than serving as landlords." According to Eaton, "Detached from a Buddhist laity, these establishments had by this time become dependent on the patronage of local royal authorities, with whom they were identified." Echoing the same theme, art historian Frederick Asher says, " 826:

argued in the negative. He alone tried to prove that Indian artists had arrived independently at their form of bell. The logic of his argument, however, was weak." According to Irwin, Coomaraswamy had picked some "untypical" details of reliefs of a century later in which the lotus had been stylized to argue that "the petals, stamen and pericarp of the lotus flower as stylized ... must have inspired the rope-moulding and abacus respectively of the Asokan pillar-capital. This argument is too weak to convince anybody but the already converted." According to Irwin, "V. S. Agrawala followed Coomaraswamy in refusing to accept the 'Asokan bell' as anything but Indian, but he presented his case as an article of faith, making no attempt to prove it. He saw the bell as an inverted lotus flower 'overflowing' the form of a symbolic vase-of-plenty (

481: 1370: 1074: 1193: 1205: 1034:, whose distinctive belly hair (unlike the African lion) was carefully depicted by Mesopotamian artists, whence by Greek and then Persian, should lack this feature here; indeed the Sarnath lions and their kin owe all to the arts of others rather than native observation." Sounding a similar theme as Asher, he concludes that it was "all a matter of assimilation and sometimes reinterpretation, rather than a crude choice between indigenous or foreign. But the visual experience of many Ashokan and later city dwellers in India was considerably conditioned by foreign arts, translated to an Indian environment, just as the archaic Greek had been by the Syrian, the Roman by the Greek, and the Persian by the arts of their whole empire." 1058: 1232: 1260: 1220: 1334: 998:

appeared in South Asia, at least in the form associated with Ashokan columns. But this should not be seen in colonialist terms as an export from an Achaemenian or Hellenistic centre to the South Asian periphery but as the result of Ashoka's entrepreneurial engagement with the larger world. The culture in India was more receptive to innovation and there was a sense of a common culture, caused partly by the expansion of Buddhism to the borders with Iran, and the appearance of markers proclaiming a message. When the Ashokan empire fell, the breakdown was drastic. New styles of art emerged, but their artistic inspirations and appeal were more local.

1409: 779:, a flower that rises clean and pure from muddy pond water, as he rose above an impure world to achieve awakening. According to art historian Gail Maxwell, The lions are fashioned so as to affect the viewer by the use of shape, colour, and texture, not necessarily to represent reality, suggestive of the addorsed capitals of the Achaemenid Empire. But all other aspects are Indian. "The four lions," according to her, "very likely signify "the sovereignty of both Ashoka, since the pillar was erected near the capital of his kingdom and of the truths taught by the Buddha, whose clan, the Shakyas, used the lion as their emblem." 1350: 405: 497: 1447:"The decline of the Indus valley culture (c.2600–1900 BC) also meant the end of the Indian subcontinent’s ‘first urbanisation’. After a gap of more than a thousand years, archaeological excavations and textual evidence points to the re-emergence of cities, as well as widespread road and river-based trade networks connecting cities and other sites, in South Asia during the mid-first millennium BC. This phenomenon is referred to as the ‘second urbanisation’ and the period, c. 3rd century BC – 4th century AD, is known as the Early Historic." 1296: 1319: 729: 393: 653:

and eventually became wild. This is suggested to have resulted from the contact of the South Asian dynasties with the Achaemenid and Seleucid empires when hunting lions became a sign of royal prowess. The Achaemenids had inherited the pastime from western Asia. There is evidence from Syria of lion hunts and lion menageries with caged lions in the early fourth-millennium BCE. When emperor Ashoka converted to Buddhism in the wake of large-scale killing and destruction by his army in

273: 598:, can be polished with a fine abrasive or even patiently with wood. According to art historian Gail Maxwell, the sandstone received its shine through the application of heat which gives a lasting glass-like finish to the stone. The pillar which bore the capital aloft "remains broken in several pieces at the site and is now protected by a glass enclosure that separates the pillar from visitors." Before it fell, it is thought the capital was secured to the intact pillar by a metal 329:, had recorded a short description of Sarnath. Faxian had also mentioned some towers, one at the site where the Buddha met the five disciples and another "60 paces north" where he gave the first sermon, the account being more about relating the traditional stories than giving particulars of geography. Neither account was written on-site, but from memory upon returning to China. Giving more literal credence to the accounts of Faxian and Xuanzang, the museum curator 4104: 1170:

the Asokan lion capitals. ... The connections between the symbols of the lion capital and the postwar peaceful rhetoric are striking. Asoka’s acceptance of Buddhism was the result of witnessing the devastation after the successful Battle of Kalinga (261 B.C.E.). Affected by the bloodshed, he was filled with remorse and resolved to pursue a non-violent and peaceful approach to life. The latter symbolism is a fitting one in this context as

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the native Hindu population. For British colonial historians, this depiction of Islamic despots served to illustrate the beneficence of British rule. Some postcolonial nationalist historians have used the presumed historical oppression of Hindus by Muslims to argue for a more Hindu, rather than secular, India. Buddhism has only a small place within these larger narratives of despotism, destruction, and desecration."

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but chariot wheels of the period which typically had 24 spokes. According to the anthropologist Lars Fogelin, as the only capital to exhibit wheel motifs, the lion capital at Sarnath is thought to symbolize the wheel of the moral law in "a specifically Buddhist sense of the term." Overall, the symbolism of the Sarnath column and capital is thought to be more Buddhist than secular.

753:), pointedly links the wheel and lion with its refrain, " roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Dharma ." In other interpretations, the four small animals shown on the side of the abacus have been thought to represent the cardinal directions: the lion (north), elephant (west), bull (south), and horse (east), and the smaller wheels for the 574:

each lion is carved a wheel of 24 spokes in high relief. Between the wheels, also shown in high relief are four animals following each other from right to left. They are a lion, an elephant, a bull, and a horse; the first three are shown at walking pace but the horse is at full gallop. The capital which was carved from a single block of marble is broken across the

989:, while categorically stating a Mauryan debt to "the stonework inherited from Achaemenid Iran," of the appearance during the Mauryan period of artwork that contrasted remarkably with local styles, and stating the likelihood of traditions of producing "naturalistic forms" being preserved in Iranian stonemasons for the critical decades between the fall of 644:, the lions did not have eyeballs; instead, precious stones were initially placed in the eye sockets. The stones were held in place by iron pins passing through fine holes in the upper and lower lids. Although the stones were lost, one pin had remained embedded in the upper left lid of one of the lions at the time of the discovery. 1073: 182:, and interspersing them, four animals, a lion, an elephant, a bull, and a galloping horse follow each other from right to left. A bell-shaped lotus forms the lowest member of the capital, and the whole 2.1 metres (7 ft) tall, carved out of a single block of sandstone and highly polished, was secured to its 812:

on the pillar during Oertel’s excavations, on the Indian national flag." Guha adds, "The historian and superintendent of the Museums Branch of the Archaeological Survey of India (1946–51), V. S. Agrawala, who was in charge of making the plaster cast in 1946, followed him in extending its meaning as the

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Resolved that the National Flag of India shall be a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron (kesari), white and dark green in equal proportion. In the centre of the white band, there shall be a Wheel in navy blue to represent the Charkha. The design of the Wheel shall be that of the Wheel (Chakra) which

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chiefly stood in Coomaraswamy's words for "the Revolution of the year, as Father Time, the flowing tide of all begotten things, dependent on the Sun.” According to Guha, "Coomaraswamy’s interpretations aided the placing of the 'Sarnath wheel,' found broken and not physically connected with the lions

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According to historian Richard Eaton, instead of arbitrary attacks on Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain temples, the common practice of planning a conquest involved the swift and strictly defined desecration of those temples that were supported and frequented by royalty. The strategy was not new to India but

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religious establishments increasingly attracting the support of both the ordinary, non-clerical, public and royalty. "In the historiography of India," according to archaeologist Lars Fogelin, "the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries are often depicted as a period when Islam was forcibly imposed on

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in the ASI winter season of 1904–1905. The column, which had broken before it became buried, remains in its original location in Sarnath, protected but on view for visitors. The Lion Capital was in much better condition, though not undamaged. It was cracked across the neck just above the lotus,

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Various reconstructions of the Sarnath pillar and its capital have been proposed. The topmost wheel can rest on the backs of the four lions, or it can be positioned higher (the exact length of the shaft supporting the wheel being unknown). The full pillar is generally reconstructed straightforwardly

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animal, and elephants and bulls to be the more characteristic beasts of India. "There is, then, the evidence here," he concludes, "for detailing influenced by Greek art, often through Persian models, in the architecture of the third to second centuries BCE. Sir John Marshall, after drawing attention

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considers it unlikely that Ashoka's capital was carved "without the experience imported by Persian immigrants," but suggests that regardless of Ashoka's purpose of using Buddhism as a unifying force, his success depended on the prevailing worship of the pole (stambha) as the axis mundi in the native

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Irwin's first hypothesis has been challenged by Frederick Asher who says, "That the pillars attributed to Aśoka are really from his time is a virtual certainty despite arguments that they date earlier (Irwin 973). The author of the pillars’ inscriptions, Piyadasi, is known to be Aśoka from the Maski

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who added that until the advent of the Mauryas Indian art had not strayed beyond the confines of folk art, and on that basis speculated that two or three generations after the downfall of the Achaemenid empire Hellenistic craftsmen working in Persepolis had been hired by emperor Ashoka. Wheeler did

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motif of ancient Indian art and religion, overflowing with luxuriant lotus petals." Writing in 1975, the Indologist John Irwin asked, "Did the carvers of 'Aśokan' pillars derive the idea of their bell from Persepolis, or not?" Irwin added, "So far, only one scholar, the late A. K. Coomaraswamy, has

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The first of the existing visual portrayals of lions in South Asia are the Maurya columns such as the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath. Some scholars believe that lions were introduced into India from western Asia as a quarry for royal hunts, implying that they became a feral population thereafter

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the Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, 1931–1935, the stone shaft was not found but, "its thickness can be estimated from the mortice hole, 20 centimetres (8 in) in diameter, drilled into the stone between the lions' heads." Further, according to Sahni, "Of the wheel

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Two lions were undamaged. The heads of the other two had come off before being buried and upon excavation required affixing. Of these damaged, one lion was missing the lower jaw at the time of the initial excavation and the other the upper, both not found since. On the side of the abacus and below

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attempted to dig down into the Dhamekh from its top to uncover relics. He soon abandoned the effort, but not before noting that votive models of the stupa were scattered in the vicinity, lending credence to the view that the Dhamekh marked the spot at which the Buddha had preached his first sermon.

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There is a striking similarity between the Stambh and symbols of Jainism. There are 24 trirthankars = 24 spokes of the chakra. Then we have the lion representing Mahavir Bhagwan (24th tirthankar) , bull representing Rishabhanatha (1st Tirthankar), the elephant representing Ajitanath( 2nd Tirthankar)

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Frederick Asher, summarizing, credits the world system that had briefly emerged during Ashoka's rule. In his view, South Asia had a hitherto unprecedented level of engagement with the Mediterranean world during the Mauryan period. It is no coincidence that it is during that period stone sculpture

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of a contemporary 3rd century BCE myth. A water spout arose from the heart of this lake. After surfacing and splitting into four streams it emanated from the mouths of the same four animals sitting on the lake's shore and flowed onto the four corners of the earth, like the message of the Buddha or

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landscape, according to historian Karen Shelby, "the Indian Forces Memorial is the most striking. Through what would be unusual imagery for western eyes, the sculpture asserts an Indian presence. Eschewing traditional western figurative forms of commemoration, the statue is a replication of one of

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The imaginative treatment of the lion changed in other ways after emperor Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism and the raising of the lion capital. Not just a symbol of imperial strength or the Buddha's power, the lion became also a symbol of peace. Ashoka's lion capital has been used in memorials on

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has mentioned Irwin and V. S. Agrawala among those who have held that the early stone carving was the work of Indians alone. He has suggested that the inspiration for them and the technique of polishing them came from Persia, noting further the absence of any archaeological evidence for Agrawala's

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In 1973, John Irwin challenged the assertions of foreign influence by advancing three hypotheses: (a) Not all pillars were made for Ashoka; some had been adapted for his use; (b) whereas the four lions did seem to have Persian influence, the spiritedness of bull and the elephant betray an intimate

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represented the body of the Buddha and the lions the throne. In his view, the Sarnath capital is equally Vedic and Buddhist in the significance of its various parts. According to the Indologist John Irwin, the wheels on the rim of the abacus do not represent the Buddhist wheels of the sacred law

421:, an engineer in the Public Works Department, who had surveyed Hindu and Buddhist sites in Burma and Central India in the 1890s was appointed superintending engineer at Varanasi, he constructed a storehouse at Sarnath for the artefacts found earlier and paved the road to Sarnath. He then convinced 3974:

For Pictures of the famous original "Lion Capital of Ashoka" preserved at the Sarnath Museum which has been adopted as the "National Emblem of India" and the Ashoka Chakra (Wheel) from which has been placed in the center of the "National Flag of India" - See "lioncapital" from Columbia University

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or 'the wheel flag.' Without invoking any new evidence Agrawala laboured to explain that 'there is no cult allegiance here in the symbolism of the Mahachakra and its accessories like the four lions . . . here one is face to face with an acclamation to the single unmanifested and undifferentiated

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Author and editor Richard Stoneman arguing more generally about sculpture in early historic South Asia suggests that in figural and decorative sculpture, style and content need to be considered separately. "Techniques of carving," he states, "are not the same as the choice of subject matter, and

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empires, but the floral motifs on the Mauryan abaci show the influence of western Asian traditions older than any in the Hellenistic world. He also echoed Irwin's idea that as there are no examples elsewhere of "single, free-standing" pillars, they must be the product of a South Asian tradition,

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and a pillar nearby erected by Ashoka that was, "glistening and smooth as ice." He mentioned a monastery in "Mrigdeva", or Deer Park 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away. Here there was another pillar erected by Ashoka about 21 metres (70 ft) high and shining "as bright as jade." In the view of

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To Alexander Cunningham in Sanchi in 1851, the addorsed lions in the gateways and especially their claws bore the signs of Greek influence. "Many of the details," continues Stonemen, "such as the manes, do remind one strongly of Greek styles of carving." Citing art historian Sheila Huntington,

1535:"the Asokan period in Indian history was essentially an international period. ... It was not a narrowly national period . . . when India’s ambassadors went abroad to far countries and went abroad not in the way of an empire and imperialism but as ambassadors of peace and culture and goodwill." 237:

in 330 BCE, have led some to conjecture an eastward migration of Iranian stonemasons among whom the tradition of naturalistic carving had been preserved during the intervening decades. Others have countered that a tradition of erecting columns in wood and copper had a history in India and the

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Although several members in the assembly had proposed other meanings for India's national symbols, Nehru's meaning came to prevail. On 11 December 1947, the Constituent Assembly adopted the resolution. Nehru was well-acquainted with the history of Ashoka, having written about it in his books

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were posited by Boardman, who stated, "The Sarnath lions take the same forms a little farther, but again the realistic carving of the flews, the crinkled folds beside the mouth, is not a feature of Persian or eastern work at all, but a reflection of the realistic rendering of this feature by

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and the appearance of Mauryan columns, emphasises the entrepreneurial spirit of Ashoka who, "did not shrink from doing what only the most illustrious rulers outside India had done before him: he had pillars produced of unbelievable dimensions, cut in one piece and transported to predefined

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concluded that all the pillars that were considered Ashokan had been erected by the orders of emperor Ashoka during the twenty-five-year period from 257 BCE to 232 BCE. Setting the stage for future debate he suggested that their execution was "essentially foreign." Following up in 1922,

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The significance and meaning of the lotus bell, the lowest member of the capital, has also been discussed in the literature. Agrawala explained in 1964: "The first decorative element of the Lion Capital can by no means be interpreted as Indo-Persepolitan Bell. It is in every respect the

1057: 857:, Marshall wrote, "While the Sārnāth capital is thus an exotic, alien to Indian ideas in expression and in execution, the statue of Pārkham falls naturally into line with other products of indigenous art and affords a valuable starting point for the study of its evolution." The 3409:. Preface by B. D. Chattopadhyaya; Contributors: Sudeshna Guha, Michael S. Dodson, Tapati Guha-Thakurta, Christopher Pinney, Robert Harding. The Alkazi Collection of Photography in association with Mapin Publishing, and support of Archaeological Survey of India. p. 39. 782:

Scholars have debated the meanings of the wheels, the large one that had once surmounted the capital and the four appearing in relief along the rim of the abacus. Some have likened the wheels, especially the lost larger one, to the Buddhist wheel of the moral law, the

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Sarnath did not have unbroken history. Very few Buddhists remained in India after the 12th century. Buddhists from Tibet, Burma, and Southeast Asia did make pilgrimages to South Asia from the 13th to the 17th centuries, but their most common destination was

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to such foreign motifs at Sanchi as the ‘Assyrian tree of life, the West Asiatic winged beasts, and grapes, went on to remark that ‘nothing in these carvings is really mimetic, nothing certainly which degrades their art to the rank of a servile school’."

1149:, also advised Nehru in the choice. The state emblem of the Dominion of India was accepted by the cabinet on 29 December 1947, with the resolution of a national motto set aside for a future date. Nehru also explicitly displaced the spinning wheel, the 379:, the site of the Buddha's enlightenment, not Sarnath the site of his first sermon and the birthplace of the Buddhist order. Sarnath was pillaged again in 1894 when a large number of bricks were carried away for use as ballast in a nearby railway line. 2768: 1384: 345:

had suffered setbacks in northwestern and southwestern India in the first millennium CE, they remained prominent in the religious life of central and northeastern regions well into the early centuries of the second millennium. This occurred despite

1259: 1508:"The elephant was ... an important signifier in Buddhism. According to the story of the Buddha’s birth, his mother dreamed of a white elephant entering her womb through her side. The elephant eventually became a symbol for the Buddha himself. 325:

historian Frederick Asher, Xuanzang's account sometimes employed monuments as symbolic devices to fix miracles in a place. More than two centuries before Xuanzang's visit, at the very beginning of the fifth century another Chinese visitor,

545:, on the abacus are four lions. In this context, it means that only the frontal figures are visible joined at the shoulders, each with its back to another so as to form a pair and two pairs are perpendicular. The lions are each 1.1 metres ( 261:

and the horse representing Sambhavanath (3rd Tirthankar) . The symbols of animals are not an assumption , each Tirthankar has a symbol/ tree / color associated with him which is carried in scriptures long before even Buddha existed.

570:, who analysed the pose of the Sarnath lions in a 2014 study, concluded they were seated on account of their backs sloping more steeply upwards than those of standing lions. They have been described as seated in some other studies. 623:

itself, four small fragments were found. The ends of thirteen spokes remain on these pieces. Their total number was presumably thirty-two." The original diameter of the surmounting wheel was conjectured to have been 0.84 metres (

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suggests that they could imply the existence of a greater number of Ashokan pillars during early historic South Asia and its immediate aftermath than had remained at the time of the 18th- and 19th-century British investigations.

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Expanding on the theme further Vincent Smith wrote in 1930 that the shine of the Mauryan pillars, the lotus bell bases of their capitals and the stylized lions, suggested Iranian carvers had migrated to the Mauryan empire after

787:, which the Buddha began to turn in Sarnath and whose motion through time and space has spread his message universally. Others have thought them to have been nonsectarian symbols, promoting an ethical notion of rulership, or 1279: 1490:, "also have domesticated animals associated with them: the cow, the bull, and the buffalo, respectively. Thus the lion, when paired with any of these three animals, represents 'the feral god with the bovine servant'." 593:

The capital has a polished finish. Although most sandstone is difficult to polish without dislodging the grains on the surface, according to a 2020 study by Frederick Asher, very fine-grained sandstone found, e.g. in

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royalty. As the monarch of a vast realm, but also a Buddhist, he sought new symbols to project his power. Thus whereas the Ashokan lions seemed remarkably similar to the conventionalized Persian, the idea of using a

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in eastern India, he gave a new direction to the imaginative treatment of the lion: from being a symbolic object of royal domination, the lion became an emblem of royal prowess. According to architectural historian

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choices of decorative detail lie somewhere between. Copying is not the only model: interaction and creative re-use may be more rewarding concepts." He describes the differing interpretations by art historians

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appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Asoka. The diameter of the Wheel shall approximate to the width of the white band. The ratio of the width to the length of the flag shall ordinarily be 2:3.

1014:. Whereas Boardman sees "similarities, and probably influence, in technique and style," Root discounts influence "on the basis of pictorial content and ideological infrastructure; and both seem to be right." 1333: 919:, but argued that Greek examples were in essence classical load-bearing pillars with an animal on top, whereas the Indian pillars of Ashoka were more slender, and closer to monumental stone-versions of 666:, "In early Buddhist architecture, the lion, along with the horse, the elephant, and the zebu, were considered auspicious. All these animals appeared as a standard quartet on many Mauryan pillars." 938:

inscription in present-day Karnataka. Moreover, the symbolism of the pillars and their capitals, appropriate for these royal edicts, suggests that the pillars were made to carry the inscriptions."

1456:"The famous four lion capital at Sarnath was surmounted by a wheel and stood above a carved abacus depicting the four noble, or cardinal, beasts – the lion, the elephant, the horse and the bull." 320:(then known as Hiuan-tsang) in India from 629 CE to 645 CE had appeared in 1857–1858. In his account, Xuanzang mentioned a tall stupa to the northeast of Varanasi off the right bank of the 1204: 444:. He proceeded to the Main Shrine, north of the stupa. It was to the west of this shrine that he found the buried stump and fragments of the Ashokan pillar at Sarnath, and soon its lion capital. 1408: 1192: 807:

argued in 1935 that Buddhist symbolism was not the only one established in the Vedic period which had preceded Buddhism and during which worship did not have a visual representation. The

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transition to stone was but a small step in an empire and period in which ideas and technologies were in a state of flux. The lion capital is rich in symbolism, both Buddhist and secular.

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of the lions, the straining tendons of their paws, and the "flesh around the jaws" have led others to ask about the provenance of some of the art commonly ascribed to the Maurya period.

371:, who did conquer Benares in 1193–94 ... might have plundered Sarnath, more likely for whatever wealth was imagined to be stored there ... than for the sake of iconoclastic destruction." 1499:"Along with the bull, the elephant and lion are ubiquitous sacred symbols ... in the Buddha's birth narrative his mother Queen Maya, dreamed of a white elephant that entered her womb." 791:(literally wheel turner) which Ashoka might have been aspiring to present himself, to align himself with the prestige and universality of the Buddha. According to cultural historian 1107:. They were modelled on the lions and the dharmachakra of the capital, and their adoption constituted an attempt to give India a symbolism of ethical sovereignty. On 22 July 1947, 1369: 677:, the lion of the Shakya clan. The three other animals on the rim of the abacus have been associated with events in the life of Prince Siddhartha: the elephant with his mother 901:

familiarity with animals whose habitat did not extend to Iran; and (c) Ashoka had channelled a preexisting industry and culture devoted to treating a pillar as a symbol for

3774:. 67–68. Chicago and Cambridge MA: University of Chicago Press, published in association with the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University: 225–234. 1349: 433:, to be allowed to excavate Sarnath in the winter of 1904–05. John Marshall resolved to put in place plans for a museum to keep the excavated artefacts close to the site. 3111:. With contributions by George Erdosy, R. A. E. Coningham, D. K. Chakrabarti and Bridget Allchin. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 222–273. 316:

For his investigations, Cunningham preferred to glean information from foreign sources. A French translation by Stanislas Julien of the travels of the Chinese pilgrim

897:, but rather than the archaeology or history, they concentrated on the symbolism which they thought was given concrete form by features of pre-Buddhist metaphysics. 459:, Assistant Superintendent of the ASI, and later its Director-General, supervised the organisation and labelling of the museum's collection and in 1914 completed the 65:

wheel of the moral law appears in relief below each lion. Between the chakras appear four animals in profile—horse, bull, elephant, and lion. The architectural

3727: 905:, the axis around which the earth revolves. Irwin acknowledged the existence of numerous precedents of pillars with animal effigies in the ancient world, from the 575: 519:

The capital is 2.1 metres (7 ft) tall in total. Its lowest portion is an inverted lotus petal bell which is 61 centimetres (2 ft) high, carved in the

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In the days leading to India's independence, the Sarnath capital played an important role in the creation of both the state emblem and the national flag of the

611:, the Buddhist wheel of the "social order and the sacred law," which is lost except for fragments. It was held in place by a shaft. According to the detailed 1231: 925:, portable wooden standards known in India from undetermined antiquity. To J. C. Harle, the Sarnath lions did show a conventionalized style associated with 581: 562:

Oertel describes the lions to be "standing back-to-back" in his original report of 1908. Other authors have used the same expression in describing the lions'

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of its new national flag on 15 August 1947. In its centre is a wheel of 24 spokes based on those appearing on the side of the abacus in Ashoka's capital.

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Guha, Sudeshna (2021) . "Material Truths and Religious Identities: The Archaeological and Photographic Making of Banaras". In Dodson, Michael S. (ed.).

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F. O. Oertel's plan of excavation. The Lion Capital was found in 1905 to the west of the main shrine, which is to the north of the "Jagat Singh" stupa.

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This may not seem strange if we realize that Ashokas grandfather was a practicing jain for a large part of his life and his mother was also Jain.

2781:, Even more pointedly referring to the Buddha's sermon, is the large stone wheel whose rim was supported on the backs of the four addorsed lions. 3239:

Bopearachchi, Osmund (2021) . "Achaemenids and Mauryans: Emergence of Coins and Plastic Arts in India". In Patel, Alka; Daryaee, Touraj (eds.).

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Over the centuries, the lion capital of Ashoka served as an important artistic model, and inspired many creations throughout India and beyond:

4118: 3973: 2151:, probably the most frequently reprinted volume published by the ASI. Sahni became the first Indian director-general of the Survey in 1931." 2754: 967:

in the second half of the first millennium BCE. By Ashoka's time, the Asiatic lion had a long history of being employed as a symbol of the

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on the abacus and the one badly damaged appearing in relief on its rim—have been associated with the Buddha, one of whose names was

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the meaning of peace and internationalism which in his view had prevailed in Ashoka's empire at the time of the erection of the pillars.

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style, and decorated with 16 petals. The bell has been interpreted to be a stylized lotus, a common motif. Above the bell is a circular

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was the first scholar to suggest that the Sarnath capital was the work of foreign artisans working in India. Comparing the capital to

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Hellenistic Greek artists, who could effectively reduce the force of the compact eastern forms by such treatment. It remains odd that

1318: 4006: 3088:

Wheel Flag of India Chakra-dhvaja: being a history and exposition of the meaning of the Dharma-chakra and the Sarnath Lion Capital

426: 1295: 1517:"Nehru had moved for the chakra to replace M. K. Gandhi’s charkha (spinning wheel), which had been featured on previous flags." 704:

of Ashoka himself. The pillar, thus, has been likened both to the water spout rising to meet the lake-like abacus and also the

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facing the four quarters, interspersed by four noble beasts, who in early Buddhist texts represent the four quarters." In the

3930: 3890: 3871: 3804: 3752: 3702: 3683: 3664: 3578: 3444: 3414: 3376: 3294: 3267: 2961: 2883: 2748: 1600: 1135: 480: 1591:

Fennet, Annick (2021). "The original 'failure'? A century of French archaeology in Afghan Bactria". In Mairs, Rachel (ed.).

3932:

Understanding The 5th century Buddhas of Sarnath: A newly identified Mudra and a new comprehension of the Dharmachakramudra

293: 17: 2909: 874: 1888:, p. 69 Quote: "The upper part of the capital is supported by an elegantly shaped Persepolitan bell-shaped member." 1465:"The pillar was originally crowned by a large chakra, or wheel of truth, some of whose spokes are in the Sarnath Museum. 4434: 4399: 4394: 1399: 3979: 3852: 3831: 3632: 3605: 3559: 3433: 3395: 3357: 3248: 3204: 3185: 3166: 3135: 1991: 455:, the first site museum of the ASI, was completed in 1910. The lion capital has been displayed in the museum since. 566:, including in a 2014 study and a 2017 review, or have quoted Oertel using it, in a 2020 study. The archaeologist 214:

and two of its lions had sustained damage to their heads. It is displayed not far from the excavation site in the

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Queen Maya dreams of the White Elephant entering her womb, Gandhara. The elephant is a sacred symbol in Buddhism.

4133: 3919: 3116: 430: 3019: 1087:. Standing 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) tall, the memorial introduces many visitors to the 130,000 lives lost by 508:, as they appeared in 2016, protected behind a glass enclosure. It is located 584 ft (178 m) SSW of 4148: 3243:. Ancient Iran Series. Boston and Leiden: BRILL, originally, Irvine: UCI, Jordan Center for Persian Studies. 1116: 1003: 850: 422: 246: 206: 3945: 3721:. With an introduction by J. Ph. Vogel. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, India. pp. 28–31. 1891: 4414: 4404: 3999: 3015: 1183:

from its archaeological remains, with the tall column supporting the capital, and the larger wheel on top.

3643: 2924: 2834: 1982:

Greary, David; Mukherjee, Sraman (2017). "Buddhism in Contemporary India". In Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.).

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Prince Siddhartha becomes an ascetic hermit by shaving his head, his horse Kanthaka by his side, Borobodur

3842: 2810: 1526:"The organization that led India to independence, the Indian National Congress, was established in 1885." 1112: 654: 199: 4424: 1088: 979: 963:) as a symbol of projecting political power had significantly increased in India after the rise of the 3952: 3674:

Pal, Pratapaditya (2016). "Introduction: Piety, Puja, and Visual Images". In Pal, Pratapaditya (ed.).

3348:(2006). "Tidal waves of Indian history, new interpretations and beyond.". In Olivelle, Patrick (ed.). 3075: 4409: 4156: 4126: 3923: 3405:

Guha, Sudeshna (2010). "Introduction: Archaeology, Photography, Histories". In Guha, Sudeshna (ed.).

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suggest that free-standing pillars had not appeared in Europe before the advent of the Roman empire.

305: 226: 3086: 2829: 300:

of the Raja of Benares. These had taken place 150 metres (490 ft) to the west of the Dhamekh.

4365: 4323: 3161:. Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Art History. Southern Gate, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 421–444. 3071: 2806: 1210: 1154: 1150: 1146: 894: 792: 3716: 4210: 3992: 3345: 986: 2738: 771: 669:

The lion capital and its Ashokan pillar have complex meanings. The lions—the four sitting

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The lion capital is among the first group of significant stone sculptures to have appeared in

4178: 3547: 2951: 2934: 2873: 2844: 2778: 1120: 678: 524: 254: 175: 58: 527:, or a drum-shaped slab, of diameter 86 centimetres (34 in) and height 34 centimetres ( 4419: 4328: 4288: 1324: 845: 342: 309: 1269:

with similar four addorsed lions, but with a flatter abacus showing alternating geese and

8: 4389: 4107: 3262:. Cambridge World Archaeology Series. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 465. 3176:

Asher, Frederick M. (2006). "Early Indian Art Reconsidered". In Olivelle, Patrick (ed.).

2947: 2869: 941: 866: 804: 742: 230: 2740:

Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order

689:

in the dead of night, and the bull with his first meditation under the rose apple tree (

296:, the Commissioner of Benares noted diggings for bricks carried out by Jagat Singh, the 4264: 3783: 3534: 3509: 3476: 3333: 3300: 3260:

Archaeology of South Asia: From Indus to Asoka, c. 6500 BCE–200 CE

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claim that the technique went back to the Vedic Age and was inherited by the Mauryans.

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perhaps in non-durable materials such as wood for the pillar and copper for the crown.

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places—pillars crowned with lions and bulls of an unprecedented naturalistic beauty."

3915: 3886: 3867: 3848: 3827: 3810: 3800: 3787: 3758: 3748: 3698: 3679: 3660: 3628: 3611: 3601: 3584: 3574: 3555: 3501: 3429: 3410: 3391: 3372: 3353: 3304: 3290: 3263: 3244: 3200: 3181: 3162: 3141: 3131: 3112: 3092: 2957: 2879: 2744: 1997: 1987: 1606: 1596: 1595:. The Routledge World Series. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 142–170, 144. 1340: 1286: 1104: 1064: 968: 745:

as if roaring the Buddha's message to the remotest parts. A later Buddhist text, the

496: 360: 284:

Sarnath had a history of visits and some exploration in the 18th and 19th centuries.

250: 234: 183: 174:. Its crowning features are four life-sized lions set back to back on a drum-shaped 33: 209:(ASI) in the very early years of the 20th century. The excavation was undertaken by 4429: 4272: 4256: 4186: 4075: 3775: 3770:

Sohoni, Pushkar (2017). "Old fights, new meanings: Lions and elephants in combat".

3678:. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and University of California Press. pp. 19–54. 3325: 3282: 3055: 2899: 1536: 1108: 930: 878: 776: 463:". Oertel's detailed report, "Excavations at Särnäth", had appeared in 1908 in the 404: 368: 280:

in Sarnath, a watercolour by Abdullah, Shaikh, January 1814 (sketch); 1819 (colour)

242: 1115:, and later the prime minister of the Republic of India proposed formally in the 844:

Writing in 1911—following two decades of investigations—the historian

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Archaeological remains of the topmost wheel of the Lion Capital of Ashoka, in the

205:

The capital eventually fell to the ground and was buried. It was excavated by the

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According to cultural historian and museologist Sudeshna Guha, the art historian

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The archaeology of early historic South Asia: the emergence of cities and states

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Others who made noteworthy contributions were the linguist and Buddhism scholar

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Lion Capital with mounting abacus atop, Old Termez, Uzbekistan, 1st century CE.

1270: 1022: 886: 858: 854: 839: 663: 619: 586: 563: 456: 448: 364: 330: 285: 215: 195: 123: 27:

Capital of a column of Mauryan emperor Ashoka in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, India

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Maxwell, Gail (2004). "India, Buddhist Art". In Buswell, Robert E. Jr. (ed.).

3573:. The Routledge World Series. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 38–55. 3286: 3096: 2903: 1017:

A transmission of Hellentistic architectural and decorative features from the

728: 4383: 4202: 4170: 3505: 3080:. New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. 1475: 1375: 964: 948: 392: 249:

that the wheel on the abacus be the model for the wheel in the centre of the

3728:"Identities Lost and Found in the Commemorative Landscapes of the Great War" 3657:

Architecture History, Theory and Preservation: Prehistory to the Middle Ages

272: 4349: 4240: 4044: 3939: 3329: 3281:. Springer Nature Switzerland and Springer Praxis Books. pp. 107–128. 1423: 1395: 1157:, the main instrument of Indian nationalism. He also attempted to give the 960: 952: 788: 784: 607: 520: 509: 441: 418: 321: 289: 277: 210: 112: 54: 3676:

Puja and Piety: Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Art from the Indian Subcontinent

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Sanchi gateway relief showing a possible depiction of the Sarnath pillar,

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new national flag, and the capital itself without the lotus the model for

4029: 3885:. with a foreword by Frederick W. Motes. London and New York: Routledge. 674: 616: 229:

1,600 years earlier. Their sudden appearance, as well as similarities to

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Symbols in art and religion: the Indian and the comparative perspectives

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of addorsed lions to project both spiritual and temporal power was new.

4296: 4034: 3866:. Cambridge MA and London: Harvard University Press. pp. 188–189. 3650:. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, India. pp. 59–104. 1730: 1728: 1726: 1724: 1722: 1026: 1011: 990: 926: 902: 870: 705: 700: 222: 3538: 3522: 3513: 3489: 3480: 3464: 3277:

Dolan, Marion (2021). "Art, Architecture, and Astronomy of Buddhism".

637: ft). The wheel fragments are on display in the Sarnath Museum. 4054: 4039: 3826:. Architecture in Context series II. London and New York: Routledge. 3627:. Oxford History of Art Series. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 1975: 1198:

John Irwin's reconstruction of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath.

78: 1986:. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 36–60, 46. 1719: 4049: 3779: 3523:"'Aśokan' Pillars: A Re-Assessment of the Evidence - III: Capitals" 754: 682: 670: 605:

The lions supported a larger wheel, also polished, symbolizing the

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visited in 1815 and found some sculpture which he donated to the

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The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks

3490:"'Aśokan' Pillars: A Reassessment of the Evidence-II: Structure" 3180:. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 51–66. 3130:. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute. pp. 2–3, 432–433. 3056:"The Buddhist culture of ancient Termez in old and recent finds" 2678: 2676: 1145:. The major contemporary philosopher of the religions of India, 359:

had been prevalent there considerably before the arrival of the

4357: 2719:, Press Information Bureau, Government of India, archived from 1479: 1415: 1301: 1266: 921: 658: 595: 326: 179: 160: 152: 3569:

Jansari, Sushma (2021). "South Asia". In Mairs, Rachel (ed.).

2737:

Kopstein, Jeffrey; Lichbach, Mark; Hanson, Stephen E. (2014),

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Righteous Republic: The Political Foundations of Modern India

3648:

Archaeological Survey of India: Annual Report 1904–1905

3428:(2nd ed.). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 3128:

Sarnath: A critical history of the place where Buddhism began

2985: 2673: 2663: 2661: 2659: 2657: 2655: 2653: 2651: 2649: 2114: 1487: 1483: 1171: 1166: 1080: 599: 347: 297: 187: 127: 2195: 2193: 2191: 2189: 2187: 2185: 2183: 716: 2401: 2399: 2397: 1213:'s reconstruction of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath. 1174:("leper" in Flemish) is also known as a 'city of peace'." 907: 351: 3695:

The Return of the Buddha: Ancient Symbols for a New Nation

2980:

Worship of the Ashokan pillar, as shown at Stupa 3, Sanchi

2646: 2506: 2445: 2443: 2102: 1695: 3216:"Reflections on the Origins of Indian Stone Architecture" 2180: 2041: 2039: 2037: 2035: 1924: 1922: 1869: 1867: 1865: 1863: 1861: 699:). The abacus and its animals have been related to Lake 2709: 2636: 2634: 2632: 2467: 2394: 2382: 2341: 2078: 2020: 1934: 1649: 1647: 559: ft) tall and have been described as "life-sized." 3600:. New York: Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 360–366. 3350:

Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE

3178:

Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE

2789: 2787: 2617: 2569: 2440: 2418: 2416: 2414: 2331: 2329: 2327: 2312: 2290: 2288: 2263: 2261: 2259: 2257: 1953: 1951: 1949: 1671: 288:, the painter visited in 1780 and made a record of the 245:, the interim prime minister of India, proposed in the 3199:. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press. 2736: 2605: 2593: 2581: 2559: 2557: 2484: 2482: 2370: 2220: 2218: 2216: 2214: 2212: 2210: 2208: 2159: 2157: 2126: 2090: 2068: 2066: 2032: 1919: 1858: 1809: 1807: 1805: 1803: 1764: 1683: 1574: 1572: 1570: 1568: 1038:

Stoneman describes the Asiatic lion primarily to be a

292:, the most conspicuous monument at the site. In 1794, 3747:. Cambridge MA and London: Harvard University Press. 2693: 2691: 2629: 2530: 2360: 2358: 2356: 2242: 1848: 1846: 1644: 1622: 1620: 3799:. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. 2850: 2784: 2730: 2518: 2455: 2411: 2324: 2300: 2285: 2254: 2169: 2051: 1946: 1907: 1788: 1740: 1707: 1659: 1237:

A modern replica in Wat Umong, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

1225:

General proportions of the pillar, after John Irwin.

436:

Oertel began his excavations in the vicinity of the

3426:

The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent

3157:. In Brown, Rebecca M.; Hutton, Deborah S. (eds.). 2554: 2494: 2479: 2428: 2205: 2154: 2063: 1819: 1800: 1752: 1565: 873:in 330 BCE. He and others after him have detected 178:. The side of the abacus is adorned with wheels in 3824:The East: Buddhists, Hindus and the Sons of Heaven 3465:"'Aśokan' Pillars: A Reassessment of the Evidence" 3445:"Understanding the 5th century Buddhas of Sarnath" 2815:. Varanasi: Vishwavidyalaya Prakashan. p. 67. 2688: 2353: 2008: 1963: 1843: 1831: 1776: 1632: 1617: 1553: 3718:Catalogue of the Museum of Archaeology at Sarnath 3548:"Origins of form and structure in monumental art" 3066:. Pisa and Roma: Fabrizio Serra Editore: 157–187. 2230: 1378:lion capital, Khokhrakot, Haryana, 2nd century CE 613:Catalogue of the Museum of Archaeology at Sarnath 461:Catalogue of the Museum of Archaeology at Sarnath 69:below the abacus, is a stylized upside-down lotus 4381: 3954:Sarnath : Archaeology, Art and Architecture 3407:The Marshall Albums: Photography and Archaeology 3371:. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 741:The four lions have also been thought to be the 96:86 centimetres (34 in) (diameter of abacus) 1981: 1010:of the extent of Greek influence on the art of 951:has observed that the cultural standing of the 257:. The proposal was accepted in December 1947. 3654: 3257: 3060:Parthica: Incontri di Culture Nel Mondo Antico 2682: 2279: 2120: 1584: 4134: 4000: 3883:Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road 3197:The Loss of Hindustan: The Invention of India 2710:Ministry of Home Affairs (29 December 1947), 2703: 875:Persian-Hellenistic influences in Mauryan art 3957:, Archaeological Survey of India, p. 58 3369:An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism 3238: 2512: 1984:The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism 3912:Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor 3388:Banaras: Urban Forms and Cultural Histories 3314:"Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States" 2743:, Cambridge University Press, p. 344, 4141: 4127: 4007: 3993: 3928: 3844:History Of Fine Arts In India And The West 3442: 3279:Decoding Astronomy in Art and Architecture 2908:. Thames and Hudson, London. p. 175. 2084: 3571:The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek worlds 3159:A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture 3084: 3070: 3053: 3036: 3003: 2991: 2825: 2388: 2376: 2318: 2026: 1593:The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek worlds 893:, and cultural historian and Sanskritist 502:Pieces of the pillar, the lowest portion 382: 3880: 3794: 3554:. London: Curzon Press. pp. 46–67. 3213: 3107:(1995). "Mauryan architecture and art". 2878:. Taylor & Francis. pp. 38–39. 2805: 2623: 2611: 2599: 2587: 2575: 2175: 580: 271: 3861: 3821: 3595: 3568: 3366: 3324:(3). Oxford University Press: 283–319. 3103: 2898: 2667: 2536: 2347: 2108: 2045: 1928: 1873: 1734: 1701: 1689: 1677: 1665: 190:. Erected after Ashoka's conversion to 14: 4382: 3840: 3769: 3725: 3641: 3622: 3258:Coningham, Robin; Young, Ruth (2015). 2953:Archaeology and Buddhism in South Asia 2875:Archaeology and Buddhism in South Asia 2856: 2640: 2449: 2248: 2199: 2149:Guide to the Buddhist Ruins of Sarnath 1957: 1885: 1837: 1590: 4122: 3988: 3742: 3711: 3545: 3520: 3487: 3462: 3423: 3311: 3276: 3175: 3152: 3125: 2930: 2840: 2793: 2774: 2563: 2524: 2500: 2488: 2473: 2461: 2434: 2422: 2405: 2335: 2306: 2294: 2267: 2224: 2163: 2144: 2132: 2096: 2072: 2057: 1940: 1913: 1897: 1852: 1825: 1813: 1794: 1770: 1758: 1746: 1713: 1653: 1638: 1626: 1559: 1304:gateway lion capital, 1st century BCE 1136:Letters from a father to his daughter 1119:, which was tasked with creating the 775:, the Buddha compared himself to the 440:, which lies to the southwest of the 218:, the oldest site museum of the ASI. 3950: 3404: 3385: 3344: 3241:India and Iran during the Long Durée 3194: 2956:. Taylor & Francis. p. 39. 2697: 2548: 2364: 2014: 1782: 1245: 3745:Political Violence in Ancient India 3692: 3673: 3085:Agrawala, Vasudeva Sharan (1964b). 2970:from the original on 21 August 2023 2946: 2912:from the original on 25 August 2022 2905:Early India and Pakistan: To Ashoka 2868: 2757:from the original on 21 August 2023 2236: 1969: 1578: 1153:, at the centre of the flag of the 410:The excavation site two years later 24: 4222: 4014: 3901: 3659:. London and New York: Routledge. 1400:Gwalior Fort Archaeological Museum 1177: 751:Great Discourse on the Lions' Roar 25: 4446: 4084:Buddha Preaching his First Sermon 3962: 1079:"India in Flanders Field, 2011." 57:stand back to back on a circular 4150: 4103: 4102: 3942:(journal), 40, p. 90, Fig.8 3772:Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 3091:. Varanasi: Prithivi Prakashan. 3030: 3009: 2997: 2940: 1407: 1383: 1368: 1348: 1332: 1317: 1294: 1278: 1258: 1230: 1218: 1203: 1191: 1072: 1056: 727: 715: 681:about his birth; the horse with 495: 479: 449:Museum of Archaeology at Sarnath 403: 391: 47: 3881:Wriggins, Sally Hovey (2021) . 3655:Pabón-Charneco, Arleen (2021). 2892: 2862: 2819: 2799: 2138: 1879: 1529: 1520: 1511: 1502: 1493: 1468: 1459: 1450: 1327:with an abacus (1st century CE) 1113:interim prime minister of India 1021:cities of Central Asia, or the 467:, Annual Report, 1904–5. 233:of Iran before the fall of the 3847:. Hyderabad: Orient Longmans. 3220:Bulletin of the Asia Institute 3046: 1441: 1420:remains of a surmounting wheel 877:. The subject was taken up by 470: 194:, it commemorated the site of 13: 1: 3822:Tadgell, Christopher (2008). 3697:. Routledge. pp. 78–79. 3693:Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2014). 3390:. Routledge. pp. 42–74. 1546: 1117:Constituent Assembly of India 833: 465:Archæological Survey of India 453:Archaeological Museum Sarnath 247:Constituent Assembly of India 207:Archeological Survey of India 168: 3126:Asher, Frederick M. (2020). 3016:Sanchi Archaeological Museum 765:, " The abacus depicts four 647: 115:(excavator), 1904–1905 7: 202:some two centuries before. 10: 4451: 3969:Blog with excellent photos 3795:Stoneman, Richard (2019). 3732:Journal of Belgian History 3550:. In Werner, Karel (ed.). 3318:Journal of Islamic Studies 3195:Asif, Manan Ahmed (2020). 3077:The Heritage of Indian Art 2683:Coningham & Young 2015 2121:Coningham & Young 2015 1265:Lion capital of Ashoka at 1089:Indian Expeditionary Force 980:Christopher Ernest Tadgell 855:a male figure from Parkham 837: 640:According to the museum's 267: 31: 4435:Indian Buddhist sculpture 4400:Ancient Indian sculptures 4395:National symbols of India 4342: 4316: 4233: 4220: 4163: 4157:National symbols of India 4098: 4063: 4022: 3980:National symbols of India 3929:Huntington, John (2009), 3443:Huntington, John (1990). 3287:10.1007/978-3-030-76511-8 3153:Asher, Frederick (2011). 3072:Agrawala, Vasudeva Sharan 3054:Abdullaev, Kazim (2014). 1046: 687:departure from the palace 306:Asiatic Society of Bengal 227:Indus Valley Civilisation 133: 119: 108: 100: 92: 84: 74: 46: 41: 4305:Lactobacillus bulgaricus 3862:Vajpeyi, Ananya (2012). 3644:"Excavations at Sarnath" 3598:Encyclopedia of Buddhism 2551:, p. 154–155. 1737:, p. 222–223. 1434: 1394:, early 5th century CE. 1155:Indian National Congress 1147:Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 793:Vasudeva Sharan Agrawala 32:Not to be confused with 3743:Singh, Upinder (2017). 3623:Mitter, Partha (2001). 3527:The Burlington Magazine 3494:The Burlington Magazine 3469:The Burlington Magazine 3214:Boardman, John (1998). 3039:, p. 130 (Fig. 14) 3006:, p. 131 (Fig. 16) 1285:Sanchi gateway relief, 4227: 4071:Lion Capital of Ashoka 3975:Website, New York, USA 3841:Tömory, Edith (1982). 3726:Shelby, Karen (2021). 3642:Oertel, F. O. (1908). 3424:Harle, J. C. (1994) . 3367:Fogelin, Lars (2015). 1142:The Discovery of India 1130: 1091:in this region in the 1063:A stamp issued by the 983:pre-Buddhist shrines. 590: 383:Excavation and display 281: 145:Lion Capital of Ashoka 88:2.1 metres (7 ft) 42:Lion Capital of Ashoka 4226: 3946:Asher, p.139, note 34 3914:, 2012, Hachette UK, 3312:Eaton, R. M. (2000). 2812:Studies In Indian Art 1165:battlefields. In the 1125: 1121:Constitution of India 917:Sphinx of the Naxians 817:divine phenomenon.'" 584: 578:just above the bell. 275: 225:after the end of the 4289:Ganges river dolphin 3951:Mani, B. R. (2012), 3546:Irwin, John (1990). 3521:Irwin, John (1975). 3488:Irwin, John (1974). 3463:Irwin, John (1973). 3330:10.1093/jis/11.3.283 3024:19 June 2022 at the 2948:Ray, Himanshu Prabha 2870:Ray, Himanshu Prabha 1478:, the three deities 1390:A lion capital from 1325:Mathura lion capital 1032:Panthera leo persica 957:Panthera leo Persica 895:Vasudeva S. Agrawala 708:, the world's axis. 343:Buddhist monasticism 310:Alexander Cunningham 231:Persepolitan columns 18:Sarnath Lion Capital 4415:Memorials to Ashoka 4405:Sculptures of lions 2670:, pp. 188–189. 2408:, pp. 636–638. 2282:, pp. 255–256. 2280:Pabón-Charneco 2021 2202:, pp. 225–226. 2111:, pp. 87, 254. 1943:, pp. 109–110. 1704:, pp. 220–221. 942:Osmund Bopearachchi 867:Alexander the Great 805:Ananda Coomaraswamy 747:Maha-Sihanada Sutta 743:cardinal directions 685:, the mount of his 657:, or what is today 615:, 1914, written by 486:Capital in Sahni's 251:Dominion of India's 4228: 2950:(31 August 2017). 2872:(31 August 2017). 2807:Agrawala, Vasudeva 2476:, p. 712-715. 1414:Lion capital from 1008:Margaret Cool Root 913:Pre-dynastic Egypt 679:Queen Maya's dream 591: 282: 4425:Lions in religion 4377: 4376: 4284:(Heritage animal) 4116: 4115: 3922:, 9781408703885, 3892:978-0-3672-1386-2 3873:978-0-674-04895-9 3806:978-0-691-15403-9 3754:978-0-674-97527-9 3704:978-0-415-71115-9 3685:978-0-520-28847-8 3666:978-1-138-32676-7 3580:978-1-138-09069-9 3416:978-81-89995-32-4 3378:978-0-1999-4821-5 3296:978-3-030-76510-1 3269:978-0-521-84697-4 2963:978-1-351-39432-1 2900:Wheeler, Mortimer 2885:978-1-351-39432-1 2750:978-1-139-99138-4 2513:Bopearachchi 2021 2452:, pp. 14–15. 2350:, pp. 87–88. 2135:, pp. 76–78. 2099:, pp. 74–75. 1773:, pp. 21–22. 1680:, pp. 42–44. 1656:, pp. 44–45. 1602:978-1-138-09069-9 1581:, pp. 78–79. 1343:, 1st century CE. 1341:Satavahana period 1289:, 1st century BCE 1287:Satavahana period 1246:Related sculpture 1211:Vasudeva Agrawala 1105:Dominion of India 1065:Dominion of India 889:, art historian 438:Jagat Singh stupa 423:Sir John Marshall 235:Achaemenid Empire 184:monolithic column 141: 140: 34:Pillars of Ashoka 16:(Redirected from 4442: 4410:Buddhist symbols 4370: 4362: 4354: 4324:Independence Day 4309: 4301: 4293: 4292:(Aquatic animal) 4285: 4277: 4269: 4261: 4253: 4245: 4215: 4207: 4199: 4191: 4187:Satyameva Jayate 4183: 4175: 4155: 4154: 4143: 4136: 4129: 4120: 4119: 4106: 4105: 4077:Bala Bodhisattva 4009: 4002: 3995: 3986: 3985: 3958: 3943: 3937: 3896: 3877: 3858: 3837: 3818: 3791: 3766: 3739: 3722: 3708: 3689: 3670: 3651: 3638: 3619: 3592: 3565: 3542: 3533:(871): 631–643. 3517: 3500:(861): 712–727. 3484: 3475:(848): 706–720. 3459: 3449: 3439: 3420: 3401: 3382: 3363: 3341: 3308: 3273: 3254: 3235: 3210: 3191: 3172: 3149: 3122: 3100: 3081: 3067: 3040: 3034: 3028: 3013: 3007: 3001: 2995: 2989: 2983: 2982: 2977: 2975: 2944: 2938: 2928: 2922: 2921: 2919: 2917: 2896: 2890: 2889: 2866: 2860: 2854: 2848: 2838: 2832: 2823: 2817: 2816: 2803: 2797: 2791: 2782: 2772: 2766: 2765: 2764: 2762: 2734: 2728: 2727: 2726:on 8 August 2017 2725: 2718: 2713:Press Communique 2707: 2701: 2695: 2686: 2680: 2671: 2665: 2644: 2638: 2627: 2621: 2615: 2609: 2603: 2597: 2591: 2585: 2579: 2573: 2567: 2561: 2552: 2546: 2540: 2534: 2528: 2522: 2516: 2510: 2504: 2498: 2492: 2486: 2477: 2471: 2465: 2459: 2453: 2447: 2438: 2432: 2426: 2420: 2409: 2403: 2392: 2386: 2380: 2374: 2368: 2362: 2351: 2345: 2339: 2333: 2322: 2316: 2310: 2304: 2298: 2292: 2283: 2277: 2271: 2265: 2252: 2246: 2240: 2234: 2228: 2222: 2203: 2197: 2178: 2173: 2167: 2161: 2152: 2142: 2136: 2130: 2124: 2118: 2112: 2106: 2100: 2094: 2088: 2082: 2076: 2070: 2061: 2055: 2049: 2043: 2030: 2024: 2018: 2012: 2006: 2005: 1979: 1973: 1967: 1961: 1955: 1944: 1938: 1932: 1926: 1917: 1911: 1905: 1895: 1889: 1883: 1877: 1871: 1856: 1850: 1841: 1835: 1829: 1823: 1817: 1811: 1798: 1792: 1786: 1780: 1774: 1768: 1762: 1756: 1750: 1744: 1738: 1732: 1717: 1711: 1705: 1699: 1693: 1687: 1681: 1675: 1669: 1663: 1657: 1651: 1642: 1636: 1630: 1624: 1615: 1614: 1588: 1582: 1576: 1563: 1557: 1540: 1537:Jawaharlal Nehru 1533: 1527: 1524: 1518: 1515: 1509: 1506: 1500: 1497: 1491: 1472: 1466: 1463: 1457: 1454: 1448: 1445: 1422:, circa 600 CE ( 1411: 1387: 1372: 1352: 1336: 1321: 1298: 1282: 1262: 1234: 1222: 1207: 1195: 1109:Jawaharlal Nehru 1076: 1060: 891:Benjamin Rowland 879:Mortimer Wheeler 772:Aṅguttara Nikāya 731: 719: 636: 635: 631: 628: 558: 557: 553: 550: 541: in). Set 540: 539: 535: 532: 499: 483: 427:director-general 407: 395: 369:Muhammad of Ghor 255:the state emblem 243:Jawaharlal Nehru 173: 170: 151:, or head, of a 120:Present location 51: 39: 38: 21: 4450: 4449: 4445: 4444: 4443: 4441: 4440: 4439: 4380: 4379: 4378: 4373: 4368: 4366:Indian Calendar 4360: 4352: 4338: 4312: 4307: 4299: 4291: 4283: 4281:Indian elephant 4275: 4267: 4259: 4251: 4243: 4234:Flora and fauna 4229: 4218: 4213: 4211:National Pledge 4205: 4197: 4189: 4181: 4179:Emblem of India 4173: 4159: 4149: 4147: 4117: 4112: 4094: 4090:Sarnath capital 4059: 4018: 4013: 3965: 3935: 3904: 3902:Further reading 3899: 3893: 3874: 3855: 3834: 3807: 3755: 3738:(1–2): 100–118. 3713:Sahni, Daya Ram 3705: 3686: 3667: 3635: 3608: 3581: 3562: 3447: 3436: 3417: 3398: 3379: 3360: 3297: 3270: 3251: 3207: 3188: 3169: 3155:"On Maurya Art" 3138: 3119: 3049: 3044: 3043: 3035: 3031: 3026:Wayback Machine 3018:website notice 3014: 3010: 3002: 2998: 2990: 2986: 2973: 2971: 2964: 2945: 2941: 2929: 2925: 2915: 2913: 2897: 2893: 2886: 2867: 2863: 2855: 2851: 2839: 2835: 2824: 2820: 2804: 2800: 2792: 2785: 2773: 2769: 2760: 2758: 2751: 2735: 2731: 2723: 2716: 2708: 2704: 2696: 2689: 2681: 2674: 2666: 2647: 2639: 2630: 2622: 2618: 2610: 2606: 2598: 2594: 2586: 2582: 2574: 2570: 2562: 2555: 2547: 2543: 2535: 2531: 2523: 2519: 2511: 2507: 2499: 2495: 2487: 2480: 2472: 2468: 2460: 2456: 2448: 2441: 2433: 2429: 2421: 2412: 2404: 2395: 2387: 2383: 2375: 2371: 2363: 2354: 2346: 2342: 2334: 2325: 2317: 2313: 2305: 2301: 2293: 2286: 2278: 2274: 2266: 2255: 2247: 2243: 2235: 2231: 2223: 2206: 2198: 2181: 2174: 2170: 2162: 2155: 2143: 2139: 2131: 2127: 2119: 2115: 2107: 2103: 2095: 2091: 2085:Huntington 1990 2083: 2079: 2071: 2064: 2056: 2052: 2044: 2033: 2025: 2021: 2013: 2009: 1994: 1980: 1976: 1968: 1964: 1956: 1947: 1939: 1935: 1927: 1920: 1912: 1908: 1896: 1892: 1884: 1880: 1872: 1859: 1851: 1844: 1836: 1832: 1824: 1820: 1812: 1801: 1797:, pp. 2–3. 1793: 1789: 1781: 1777: 1769: 1765: 1757: 1753: 1745: 1741: 1733: 1720: 1712: 1708: 1700: 1696: 1688: 1684: 1676: 1672: 1664: 1660: 1652: 1645: 1637: 1633: 1625: 1618: 1603: 1589: 1585: 1577: 1566: 1558: 1554: 1549: 1544: 1543: 1534: 1530: 1525: 1521: 1516: 1512: 1507: 1503: 1498: 1494: 1473: 1469: 1464: 1460: 1455: 1451: 1446: 1442: 1437: 1432: 1431: 1430: 1427: 1412: 1403: 1392:Udayagiri Caves 1388: 1379: 1373: 1361: 1360: 1359: 1356: 1353: 1344: 1337: 1328: 1322: 1310: 1309: 1308: 1305: 1299: 1290: 1283: 1274: 1271:flame palmettes 1263: 1248: 1243: 1242: 1241: 1238: 1235: 1226: 1223: 1214: 1208: 1199: 1196: 1180: 1178:Reconstructions 1101: 1100: 1099: 1096: 1093:First World War 1077: 1068: 1061: 1049: 842: 836: 763:Raymond Allchin 761:. According to 739: 738: 737: 736: 735: 732: 724: 723: 720: 696:syzygium aqueum 650: 633: 629: 626: 624: 568:Kazim Abdullaev 555: 551: 548: 546: 537: 533: 530: 528: 517: 516: 515: 514: 513: 500: 492: 491: 484: 473: 415: 414: 413: 412: 411: 408: 400: 399: 396: 385: 302:Colin Mackenzie 294:Jonathan Duncan 270: 171: 155:erected by the 104:3rd century BCE 70: 37: 28: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 4448: 4438: 4437: 4432: 4427: 4422: 4417: 4412: 4407: 4402: 4397: 4392: 4375: 4374: 4372: 4371: 4363: 4355: 4346: 4344: 4340: 4339: 4337: 4336: 4334:Gandhi Jayanti 4331: 4326: 4320: 4318: 4314: 4313: 4311: 4310: 4302: 4294: 4286: 4278: 4270: 4262: 4254: 4249:Indian peafowl 4246: 4237: 4235: 4231: 4230: 4221: 4219: 4217: 4216: 4208: 4200: 4195:Jana Gana Mana 4192: 4184: 4176: 4167: 4165: 4164:Constitutional 4161: 4160: 4146: 4145: 4138: 4131: 4123: 4114: 4113: 4111: 4110: 4099: 4096: 4095: 4093: 4092: 4087: 4080: 4073: 4067: 4065: 4061: 4060: 4058: 4057: 4052: 4047: 4042: 4037: 4032: 4026: 4024: 4020: 4019: 4016:Sarnath Museum 4012: 4011: 4004: 3997: 3989: 3983: 3982: 3977: 3971: 3964: 3963:External links 3961: 3960: 3959: 3948: 3926: 3908:Allen, Charles 3903: 3900: 3898: 3897: 3891: 3878: 3872: 3859: 3853: 3838: 3832: 3819: 3805: 3792: 3780:10.1086/691602 3767: 3753: 3740: 3723: 3709: 3703: 3690: 3684: 3671: 3665: 3652: 3639: 3633: 3620: 3606: 3593: 3579: 3566: 3560: 3543: 3518: 3485: 3460: 3440: 3434: 3421: 3415: 3402: 3396: 3383: 3377: 3364: 3358: 3342: 3309: 3295: 3274: 3268: 3255: 3249: 3236: 3211: 3205: 3192: 3186: 3173: 3167: 3150: 3136: 3123: 3117: 3105:Allchin, F. R. 3101: 3082: 3068: 3050: 3048: 3045: 3042: 3041: 3037:Agrawala 1964b 3029: 3008: 3004:Agrawala 1964b 2996: 2992:Abdullaev 2014 2984: 2962: 2939: 2923: 2891: 2884: 2861: 2849: 2833: 2830:123 (Fig. 6-7) 2826:Agrawala 1964b 2818: 2798: 2796:, p. 743. 2783: 2767: 2749: 2729: 2702: 2687: 2685:, p. 465. 2672: 2645: 2643:, p. 110. 2628: 2626:, p. 444. 2616: 2604: 2592: 2580: 2578:, p. 432. 2568: 2553: 2541: 2529: 2527:, p. 391. 2517: 2505: 2493: 2478: 2466: 2464:, p. 714. 2454: 2439: 2427: 2425:, p. 713. 2410: 2393: 2391:, p. iii. 2389:Agrawala 1964b 2381: 2377:Agrawala 1964b 2369: 2352: 2340: 2338:, p. 643. 2323: 2319:Agrawala 1964a 2311: 2309:, p. 110. 2299: 2297:, p. 111. 2284: 2272: 2270:, p. 432. 2253: 2251:, p. 227. 2241: 2229: 2204: 2179: 2168: 2153: 2137: 2125: 2123:, p. 444. 2113: 2101: 2089: 2077: 2062: 2060:, p. 390. 2050: 2048:, p. 254. 2031: 2029:, p. 172. 2027:Abdullaev 2014 2019: 2007: 1992: 1974: 1972:, p. 130. 1962: 1945: 1933: 1931:, p. 186. 1918: 1916:, p. 425. 1906: 1890: 1878: 1876:, p. 362. 1857: 1842: 1830: 1818: 1799: 1787: 1775: 1763: 1751: 1749:, p. 297. 1739: 1718: 1716:, p. 296. 1706: 1694: 1692:, p. 220. 1682: 1670: 1658: 1643: 1631: 1616: 1601: 1583: 1564: 1551: 1550: 1548: 1545: 1542: 1541: 1528: 1519: 1510: 1501: 1492: 1467: 1458: 1449: 1439: 1438: 1436: 1433: 1429: 1428: 1413: 1406: 1404: 1389: 1382: 1380: 1374: 1367: 1364: 1363: 1362: 1358: 1357: 1354: 1347: 1345: 1338: 1331: 1329: 1323: 1316: 1313: 1312: 1311: 1307: 1306: 1300: 1293: 1291: 1284: 1277: 1275: 1264: 1257: 1254: 1253: 1252: 1247: 1244: 1240: 1239: 1236: 1229: 1227: 1224: 1217: 1215: 1209: 1202: 1200: 1197: 1190: 1187: 1186: 1185: 1179: 1176: 1098: 1097: 1078: 1071: 1069: 1062: 1055: 1052: 1051: 1050: 1048: 1045: 1023:Greco-Bactrian 887:Jean Przyluski 869:'s sacking of 840:Mauryan polish 835: 832: 733: 726: 725: 721: 714: 713: 712: 711: 710: 664:Pushkar Sohoni 649: 646: 620:Daya Ram Sahni 587:Sarnath Museum 501: 494: 493: 485: 478: 477: 476: 475: 474: 472: 469: 457:Daya Ram Sahni 409: 402: 401: 397: 390: 389: 388: 387: 386: 384: 381: 331:Sushma Jansari 286:William Hodges 269: 266: 241:In July 1947, 216:Sarnath Museum 196:Gautama Buddha 172: 250 BCE 139: 138: 135: 131: 130: 124:Sarnath Museum 121: 117: 116: 110: 106: 105: 102: 98: 97: 94: 90: 89: 86: 82: 81: 76: 72: 71: 52: 44: 43: 26: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 4447: 4436: 4433: 4431: 4428: 4426: 4423: 4421: 4418: 4416: 4413: 4411: 4408: 4406: 4403: 4401: 4398: 4396: 4393: 4391: 4388: 4387: 4385: 4367: 4364: 4359: 4356: 4351: 4348: 4347: 4345: 4341: 4335: 4332: 4330: 4327: 4325: 4322: 4321: 4319: 4315: 4306: 4303: 4298: 4295: 4290: 4287: 4282: 4279: 4274: 4271: 4266: 4263: 4258: 4255: 4250: 4247: 4242: 4239: 4238: 4236: 4232: 4225: 4212: 4209: 4204: 4203:Vande Mataram 4201: 4196: 4193: 4188: 4185: 4180: 4177: 4172: 4171:Flag of India 4169: 4168: 4166: 4162: 4158: 4153: 4144: 4139: 4137: 4132: 4130: 4125: 4124: 4121: 4109: 4101: 4100: 4097: 4091: 4088: 4086: 4085: 4081: 4079: 4078: 4074: 4072: 4069: 4068: 4066: 4062: 4056: 4053: 4051: 4048: 4046: 4043: 4041: 4038: 4036: 4033: 4031: 4028: 4027: 4025: 4021: 4017: 4010: 4005: 4003: 3998: 3996: 3991: 3990: 3987: 3981: 3978: 3976: 3972: 3970: 3967: 3966: 3956: 3955: 3949: 3947: 3941: 3934: 3933: 3927: 3925: 3921: 3917: 3913: 3909: 3906: 3905: 3894: 3888: 3884: 3879: 3875: 3869: 3865: 3860: 3856: 3854:0-86131-321-6 3850: 3846: 3845: 3839: 3835: 3833:9780415407526 3829: 3825: 3820: 3816: 3812: 3808: 3802: 3798: 3793: 3789: 3785: 3781: 3777: 3773: 3768: 3764: 3760: 3756: 3750: 3746: 3741: 3737: 3733: 3729: 3724: 3720: 3719: 3714: 3710: 3706: 3700: 3696: 3691: 3687: 3681: 3677: 3672: 3668: 3662: 3658: 3653: 3649: 3645: 3640: 3636: 3634:0-19-284221-8 3630: 3626: 3621: 3617: 3613: 3609: 3607:0-02-865718-7 3603: 3599: 3594: 3590: 3586: 3582: 3576: 3572: 3567: 3563: 3561:9781136101144 3557: 3553: 3549: 3544: 3540: 3536: 3532: 3528: 3524: 3519: 3515: 3511: 3507: 3503: 3499: 3495: 3491: 3486: 3482: 3478: 3474: 3470: 3466: 3461: 3457: 3453: 3446: 3441: 3437: 3435:0-300-06217-6 3431: 3427: 3422: 3418: 3412: 3408: 3403: 3399: 3397:9781003157793 3393: 3389: 3384: 3380: 3374: 3370: 3365: 3361: 3359:9780195305326 3355: 3351: 3347: 3343: 3339: 3335: 3331: 3327: 3323: 3319: 3315: 3310: 3306: 3302: 3298: 3292: 3288: 3284: 3280: 3275: 3271: 3265: 3261: 3256: 3252: 3250:9789004460638 3246: 3242: 3237: 3233: 3229: 3225: 3221: 3217: 3212: 3208: 3206:9780674249868 3202: 3198: 3193: 3189: 3187:9780195305326 3183: 3179: 3174: 3170: 3168:9781444396355 3164: 3160: 3156: 3151: 3147: 3143: 3139: 3137:9781606066164 3133: 3129: 3124: 3120: 3114: 3110: 3106: 3102: 3098: 3094: 3090: 3089: 3083: 3079: 3078: 3073: 3069: 3065: 3061: 3057: 3052: 3051: 3038: 3033: 3027: 3023: 3020: 3017: 3012: 3005: 3000: 2993: 2988: 2981: 2969: 2965: 2959: 2955: 2954: 2949: 2943: 2936: 2932: 2927: 2911: 2907: 2906: 2901: 2895: 2887: 2881: 2877: 2876: 2871: 2865: 2859:, p. 21. 2858: 2853: 2846: 2842: 2837: 2831: 2827: 2822: 2814: 2813: 2808: 2802: 2795: 2790: 2788: 2780: 2776: 2771: 2756: 2752: 2746: 2742: 2741: 2733: 2722: 2715: 2714: 2706: 2700:, p. 31. 2699: 2694: 2692: 2684: 2679: 2677: 2669: 2664: 2662: 2660: 2658: 2656: 2654: 2652: 2650: 2642: 2637: 2635: 2633: 2625: 2624:Stoneman 2019 2620: 2614:, p. 21. 2613: 2612:Boardman 1998 2608: 2602:, p. 18. 2601: 2600:Boardman 1998 2596: 2590:, p. 15. 2589: 2588:Boardman 1998 2584: 2577: 2576:Stoneman 2019 2572: 2566:, p. 64. 2565: 2560: 2558: 2550: 2545: 2539:, p. 22. 2538: 2533: 2526: 2521: 2515:, p. 25. 2514: 2509: 2503:, p. 58. 2502: 2497: 2491:, p. 24. 2490: 2485: 2483: 2475: 2470: 2463: 2458: 2451: 2446: 2444: 2437:, p. 55. 2436: 2431: 2424: 2419: 2417: 2415: 2407: 2402: 2400: 2398: 2390: 2385: 2378: 2373: 2367:, p. 62. 2366: 2361: 2359: 2357: 2349: 2344: 2337: 2332: 2330: 2328: 2321:, p. 13. 2320: 2315: 2308: 2303: 2296: 2291: 2289: 2281: 2276: 2269: 2264: 2262: 2260: 2258: 2250: 2245: 2239:, p. 23. 2238: 2233: 2227:, p. 75. 2226: 2221: 2219: 2217: 2215: 2213: 2211: 2209: 2201: 2196: 2194: 2192: 2190: 2188: 2186: 2184: 2177: 2176:Wriggins 2021 2172: 2166:, p. 29. 2165: 2160: 2158: 2150: 2146: 2141: 2134: 2129: 2122: 2117: 2110: 2105: 2098: 2093: 2087:, p. 90. 2086: 2081: 2075:, p. 28. 2074: 2069: 2067: 2059: 2054: 2047: 2042: 2040: 2038: 2036: 2028: 2023: 2017:, p. 41. 2016: 2011: 2003: 1999: 1995: 1993:9780199362387 1989: 1985: 1978: 1971: 1966: 1960:, p. 69. 1959: 1954: 1952: 1950: 1942: 1937: 1930: 1925: 1923: 1915: 1910: 1903: 1899: 1894: 1887: 1882: 1875: 1870: 1868: 1866: 1864: 1862: 1854: 1849: 1847: 1839: 1834: 1828:, p. 30. 1827: 1822: 1816:, p. 35. 1815: 1810: 1808: 1806: 1804: 1796: 1791: 1785:, p. 39. 1784: 1779: 1772: 1767: 1761:, p. 31. 1760: 1755: 1748: 1743: 1736: 1731: 1729: 1727: 1725: 1723: 1715: 1710: 1703: 1698: 1691: 1686: 1679: 1674: 1668:, p. 43. 1667: 1662: 1655: 1650: 1648: 1641:, p. 44. 1640: 1635: 1629:, p. 21. 1628: 1623: 1621: 1612: 1608: 1604: 1598: 1594: 1587: 1580: 1575: 1573: 1571: 1569: 1562:, p. 22. 1561: 1556: 1552: 1538: 1532: 1523: 1514: 1505: 1496: 1489: 1485: 1481: 1477: 1476:Wendy Doniger 1474:According to 1471: 1462: 1453: 1444: 1440: 1425: 1421: 1417: 1410: 1405: 1401: 1397: 1393: 1386: 1381: 1377: 1376:Kushan Empire 1371: 1366: 1365: 1351: 1346: 1342: 1335: 1330: 1326: 1320: 1315: 1314: 1303: 1297: 1292: 1288: 1281: 1276: 1272: 1268: 1261: 1256: 1255: 1251: 1233: 1228: 1221: 1216: 1212: 1206: 1201: 1194: 1189: 1188: 1184: 1175: 1173: 1168: 1162: 1160: 1156: 1152: 1148: 1144: 1143: 1138: 1137: 1129: 1124: 1122: 1118: 1114: 1110: 1106: 1094: 1090: 1086: 1082: 1075: 1070: 1066: 1059: 1054: 1053: 1044: 1041: 1035: 1033: 1028: 1024: 1020: 1015: 1013: 1009: 1005: 1004:John Boardman 999: 995: 992: 988: 984: 981: 977: 975: 970: 966: 965:Mahajanapadas 962: 958: 954: 950: 949:Upinder Singh 946: 943: 939: 935: 932: 928: 924: 923: 918: 914: 910: 909: 904: 898: 896: 892: 888: 883: 880: 876: 872: 868: 862: 860: 856: 852: 851:John Marshall 847: 846:Vincent Smith 841: 831: 829: 824: 818: 815: 814:chakra dhvaja 810: 806: 801: 798: 794: 790: 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Retrieved 2904: 2894: 2874: 2864: 2852: 2836: 2821: 2811: 2801: 2770: 2759:, retrieved 2739: 2732: 2721:the original 2712: 2705: 2668:Vajpeyi 2012 2619: 2607: 2595: 2583: 2571: 2544: 2537:Tadgell 2008 2532: 2520: 2508: 2496: 2469: 2457: 2430: 2384: 2379:, p. 6. 2372: 2348:Fogelin 2015 2343: 2314: 2302: 2275: 2244: 2232: 2171: 2148: 2140: 2128: 2116: 2109:Allchin 1995 2104: 2092: 2080: 2053: 2046:Allchin 1995 2022: 2010: 1983: 1977: 1965: 1936: 1929:Vajpeyi 2012 1909: 1893: 1881: 1874:Maxwell 2004 1855:, p. 3. 1833: 1821: 1790: 1778: 1766: 1754: 1742: 1735:Fogelin 2015 1709: 1702:Fogelin 2015 1697: 1690:Fogelin 2015 1685: 1678:Jansari 2021 1673: 1666:Jansari 2021 1661: 1634: 1592: 1586: 1555: 1531: 1522: 1513: 1504: 1495: 1470: 1461: 1452: 1443: 1424:Later Guptas 1396:Gupta period 1273:, ca 250 BCE 1249: 1181: 1163: 1159:dharmachakra 1158: 1140: 1134: 1131: 1126: 1102: 1040:West Asiatic 1039: 1036: 1031: 1016: 1000: 996: 985: 978: 973: 961:Persian lion 956: 953:Asiatic lion 947: 940: 936: 920: 911:-pillars of 906: 899: 884: 863: 843: 827: 822: 819: 813: 809:dharmachakra 808: 802: 797:dharmachakra 796: 789:chakravartin 785:dharmachakra 781: 777:Indian lotus 770: 767:Dharmacakras 766: 750: 746: 740: 694: 690: 668: 651: 641: 639: 612: 608:dharmachakra 606: 604: 592: 572: 561: 521:Persepolitan 518: 510:Dhamek Stupa 503: 487: 464: 460: 452: 446: 437: 435: 419:F. O. Oertel 416: 373: 357: 336: 322:Varuna river 315: 290:Dhamek Stupa 283: 278:Dhamek Stupa 263: 259: 240: 220: 211:F. O. Oertel 204: 200:first sermon 186:by a metal 144: 142: 134:Registration 113:F. O. Oertel 66: 29: 4420:Mauryan art 4030:Mauryan art 3352:. Oup USA. 3346:Falk, Harry 3047:Cited works 2857:Tömory 1982 2641:Shelby 2021 2450:Mitter 2001 2249:Sohoni 2017 2200:Sohoni 2017 1958:Oertel 1908 1886:Oertel 1908 1838:Oertel 1908 969:Achaemenian 828:purna-ghata 823:Purna-ghata 675:Shakyasimha 617:Rai Bahadur 471:Description 308:. In 1861 4390:Indian art 4384:Categories 4369:(Calendar) 4353:(Currency) 4308:(Microber) 4297:King cobra 4035:Kushan art 3920:1408703882 3815:2018958249 3763:2017008399 3625:Indian Art 3616:2003009965 3589:2020022295 3146:2019019885 3118:0521375479 3097:1129478258 2933:, p. 2931:Asher 2020 2843:, p. 2841:Asher 2020 2828:, p. 2794:Irwin 1975 2777:, p. 2775:Asher 2020 2564:Asher 2006 2525:Singh 2017 2501:Asher 2006 2489:Harle 1994 2474:Irwin 1974 2462:Irwin 1973 2435:Asher 2006 2423:Irwin 1973 2406:Irwin 1975 2336:Irwin 1975 2307:Dolan 2021 2295:Dolan 2021 2268:Asher 2011 2225:Asher 2020 2164:Sahni 1914 2145:Asher 2020 2133:Irwin 1990 2097:Asher 2020 2073:Sahni 1914 2058:Singh 2017 2002:2016021264 1941:Dolan 2021 1914:Asher 2011 1900:, p. 1898:Asher 2011 1853:Asher 2020 1826:Asher 2020 1814:Asher 2020 1795:Asher 2020 1771:Asher 2020 1759:Asher 2020 1747:Eaton 2000 1714:Eaton 2000 1654:Asher 2020 1639:Asher 2020 1627:Asher 2020 1611:2020022295 1560:Harle 1994 1547:References 1539:quoted in 1027:Ai-Khanoum 1012:Persepolis 991:Persepolis 987:Harry Falk 927:Achaemenid 903:axis mundi 871:Persepolis 838:See also: 834:Influences 706:axis mundi 701:Anavatapta 361:Ghaznavids 223:South Asia 109:Discovered 4300:(Reptile) 4055:Hindu art 4040:Gupta art 3788:165605193 3506:0007-6287 3305:240504248 3226:: 13–22. 3074:(1964a). 2974:10 August 2916:25 August 2698:Asif 2020 2549:Falk 2006 2365:Guha 2021 2015:Asif 2020 1783:Guha 2010 915:, to the 759:equinoxes 755:solstices 648:Symbolism 642:Catalogue 488:Catalogue 337:Although 167:, India, 79:Sandstone 4260:(Flower) 4244:(Animal) 4214:(Pledge) 4198:(Anthem) 4182:(Emblem) 4108:Category 4050:Jain art 3715:(1914). 3338:26198197 3232:24049089 3022:Archived 2968:Archived 2910:Archived 2902:(1959). 2809:(1965). 2755:archived 2237:Pal 2016 1970:Ray 2014 1579:Ray 2014 1426:period). 1025:city of 1019:Seleucid 931:Sargonid 757:and the 683:Kanthaka 671:addorsed 564:attitude 543:addorsed 377:Bodhgaya 363:and the 339:Buddhism 318:Xuanzang 192:Buddhism 159:emperor 75:Material 63:Buddhist 4430:Sarnath 4361:(River) 4276:(Fruit) 4190:(Motto) 2761:21 July 1418:, with 1151:charkha 1085:Belgium 959:, also 922:dhvajas 859:realism 795:, the 655:Kalinga 632:⁄ 576:necking 554:⁄ 536:⁄ 505:in situ 429:of the 365:Ghurids 268:History 165:Sarnath 157:Mauryan 149:capital 147:is the 101:Created 4358:Ganges 4343:Others 4268:(Tree) 4265:Banyan 4252:(Bird) 4206:(Song) 4174:(Flag) 3918: 3889: 3870: 3851: 3830: 3813: 3803: 3786: 3761: 3751: 3701: 3682: 3663: 3631: 3614: 3604: 3587: 3577: 3558: 3539:878154 3537: 3514:877843 3512: 3504: 3481:877526 3479: 3432: 3413: 3394: 3375: 3356: 3336: 3303: 3293: 3266: 3247: 3230: 3203: 3184: 3165: 3144: 3134: 3115: 3095: 2960: 2882: 2747: 2000: 1990: 1609: 1599: 1486:, and 1480:Vishnu 1416:Sanchi 1302:Sanchi 1267:Sanchi 1111:, the 1047:Legacy 659:Odisha 596:Chunar 525:abacus 490:, 1914 451:, now 442:Dhamek 425:, the 327:Faxian 180:relief 176:abacus 161:Ashoka 153:column 85:Height 61:. The 59:abacus 4273:Mango 4257:Lotus 3936:(PDF) 3784:S2CID 3535:JSTOR 3510:JSTOR 3477:JSTOR 3448:(PDF) 3334:JSTOR 3301:S2CID 3228:JSTOR 2724:(PDF) 2717:(PDF) 1488:Durga 1484:Shiva 1435:Notes 1172:Ypres 1167:Ypres 1081:Ypres 691:jambu 600:dowel 417:When 348:Hindu 298:Dewan 188:dowel 128:India 93:Width 53:Four 4317:Days 3944:see 3916:ISBN 3887:ISBN 3868:ISBN 3849:ISBN 3828:ISBN 3811:LCCN 3801:ISBN 3759:LCCN 3749:ISBN 3699:ISBN 3680:ISBN 3661:ISBN 3629:ISBN 3612:LCCN 3602:ISBN 3585:LCCN 3575:ISBN 3556:ISBN 3502:ISSN 3430:ISBN 3411:ISBN 3392:ISBN 3373:ISBN 3354:ISBN 3291:ISBN 3264:ISBN 3245:ISBN 3201:ISBN 3182:ISBN 3163:ISBN 3142:LCCN 3132:ISBN 3113:ISBN 3093:OCLC 2976:2022 2958:ISBN 2918:2022 2880:ISBN 2763:2022 2745:ISBN 1998:LCCN 1988:ISBN 1607:LCCN 1597:ISBN 1139:and 1006:and 974:pair 908:djed 830:)." 447:The 352:Jain 350:and 341:and 276:The 143:The 67:bell 4023:Art 3776:doi 3531:117 3498:116 3473:115 3326:doi 3283:doi 1902:433 1123:: 929:or 431:ASI 198:'s 163:in 137:A 1 4386:: 3938:, 3910:, 3809:. 3782:. 3757:. 3736:LI 3734:. 3730:. 3646:. 3610:. 3583:. 3529:. 3525:. 3508:. 3496:. 3492:. 3471:. 3467:. 3456:40 3454:. 3450:. 3332:. 3322:11 3320:. 3316:. 3299:. 3289:. 3224:12 3222:. 3218:. 3140:. 3064:15 3062:. 3058:. 2978:. 2966:. 2935:73 2845:76 2786:^ 2779:75 2753:, 2690:^ 2675:^ 2648:^ 2631:^ 2556:^ 2481:^ 2442:^ 2413:^ 2396:^ 2355:^ 2326:^ 2287:^ 2256:^ 2207:^ 2182:^ 2156:^ 2065:^ 2034:^ 1996:. 1948:^ 1921:^ 1860:^ 1845:^ 1802:^ 1721:^ 1646:^ 1619:^ 1605:. 1567:^ 1482:, 1398:. 1083:, 693:, 602:. 529:13 169:c. 126:, 4142:e 4135:t 4128:v 4008:e 4001:t 3994:v 3895:. 3876:. 3857:. 3836:. 3817:. 3790:. 3778:: 3765:. 3707:. 3688:. 3669:. 3637:. 3618:. 3591:. 3564:. 3541:. 3516:. 3483:. 3438:. 3419:. 3400:. 3381:. 3362:. 3340:. 3328:: 3307:. 3285:: 3272:. 3253:. 3234:. 3209:. 3190:. 3171:. 3148:. 3121:. 3099:. 2937:. 2920:. 2888:. 2847:. 2004:. 1904:. 1840:. 1613:. 1402:. 1095:. 955:( 749:( 634:4 630:3 627:+ 625:2 589:. 556:4 552:3 549:+ 547:3 538:2 534:1 531:+ 512:. 36:. 20:)

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Lion Capital of Ashoka

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