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View of the Asokan Pillar at Vaishali.

The pillars of Ashoka are a series of columns dispersed throughout the northern Indian subcontinent, and erected by the Mauryan king Ashoka during his reign in the 3rd century BCE.

Many of the pillars are carved with proclamations reflecting Buddhist teachings: the Edicts of Ashoka. The most famous of the columns is the one that was erected at Sarnath, headed by a capital with four lions. The capital is now displayed in the Sarnath museum, and has been used as one of the central symbols of India, in particular on Indian banknotes. The pillar of Sarnath was originally found crumpled into pieces. Experts put together the stones like a jigsaw puzzle after long debate. Controversy remains, if lions should be at the top. A large wheel was also found at the same place. Some said, the wheel or Dharmachakra (popularly known in India as the "Ashoka Chakra") should be at the apex, to signify Dharma prevails over the king of beasts. An intact pillar in Thailand (see photo) seems to imply the same.

The Sarnath pillar, originally with the Lion Capital of Asoka erected atop, marks the site of the first sermon of the Buddha, where he taught the Dharma to five monks. The pillar bears one of the Edicts of Ashoka, an inscription against schism within the Buddhist community, which reads "No one shall cause division in the order of monks".

This is the famous original sandstone sculpted Lion Capital of Ashoka preserved at Sarnath Museum which was originally erected around 250 BCE atop an Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath. The angle from which this picture has been taken, minus the inverted bell-shaped lotus flower, has been adopted as the National Emblem of India showing the Horse on the left and the Bull on the right of the Ashoka Chakra in the circular base on which the four Indian lions are standing back to back. On the far side there is an Elephant and a Lion instead. The wheel "Ashoka Chakra" from its base has been placed onto the center of the National Flag of India.

The pillar was originally a column surmounted by the "Lion capital of Asoka" presently at display at the Sarnath Museum, which consists of a canopy representing an inverted bell-shaped lotus flower, a short cylindrical abacus where alternate four 24-spoked Dharma wheels with four animals (an elephant, a bull, a horse, a lion in this order), and four lions facing the four cardinal directions. The four animals are believed to symbolize different steps of the Gautama Buddha's life:

• The Elephant represents the Buddha's conception in reference to the dream of Queen Maya of a white elephant entered her womb.

The base of the Ashoka pillar in Sarnath which was broken during Turk invasions, it was originally surmounted by the "Lion Capital of Ashoka" which is presently at display at the Sarnath Museum. This particular Lion Capital of Ashoka, originally atop this pillar in Sarnath has been adopted as the National Emblem of India.

• The Bull, according to Foucher, represents the birth of the Buddha, as it happened during the month of Vaicakha (April-May), known to Buddhists as Vesak, under the zodiacal sign of the Taurus, during the full moon.^[1] The enlightenment and passing of the Buddha also occurred during the Taurus full moon. The bull is also the symbol of Shiva.
• The Horse represents Kanthaka, the horse the Buddha rode for his Great Departure from palatial life.
• The Lion represents the attainment of Buddhahood.

The four animals may also represent lesser Hindu deities as they existed at the time, and/or possibly how they were under the service of Buddha. Other sources also mention the four different animals symbolizing the four great rivers of the world, which are mentioned in Indian creation myths.

The four lions surmounting the capital symbolize the kingship of the Buddha and his rule over the four directions.

There are also non-religious interpretations to the symbolism of the pillars, describing the four lions as the symbol of Ashoka's rule over the four directions, the wheels as symbols of enlightened rule (Chakravartin), and the four animals as symbols of four surrounding territories of India:

• the Lion of the north.
• the Elephant of the east.
• the Bull of the south.
• the Horse of the west.

This secular interpretation is rather contradicted by the presence of the Edicts, which tend to make Ashoka's pillars a vehicle of religious proselytism rather than just a symbol of royal power.

Front view of the single lion capital in Vaishali.

There exists in Vaishali, a pillar with a single lion capital erected by Ashoka. The location of this pillar is contiguous to the site where a Buddhist monastery and a sacred coronation tank stood. Excavations are still underway and several stupas suggesting a far flung campus for the monastery have been discovered. This pillar is different from the earlier Ashokan pillars because it has only one lion capital. The lion faces north, the direction Buddha took on his last voyage.[1] Identification of the site for excavation in 1958 was aided by the fact that this pillar still jutted out of the soil. More such pillars exist in this greater area but they are all devoid of the capital. Of special mention is the one in Nandangarh, 23 km from Bettiah, Bihar for it suggests that these pillars possibly marked the course of the ancient Royal highway from Patliputra to the Nepal valley.

1. ^ "The beginnings of Buddhist Art" Alfred Foucher, Plate I

• Mauryan art
• Image of a standing pillar of Ashoka
• A Gupta-period iron pillar at the Qutb complex
• Ashoka pillar in Southern India
• Ashoka's Major Rock Edict
• Lion Capital of Asoka
• National Emblem of India
• National Flag of India
• Ashoka Chakra

• 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 Website, New York, USA

Fragment of the 6th Pillar Edict of Ashoka (238 BCE), in Brahmi, sandstone. British Museum.		The Asokan pillar at Lumbini.		Ashoka pillar at Wat U Mong near Chiang Mai, Thailand showing Dharma Chakra prevails over beasts (lion). A similar four "Indian lion" Lion Capital of Ashoka atop an Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath which was destroyed during Turk invasions of India missing the larger Dharma Chakra / Ashoka Chakra atop the four lions, now preserved at Sarnath Museum has been adopted as the National Emblem of India and the smaller Chakra in the base on which the lions are standing has become a part of the National Flag of India.