Monday, June 10, 2013

Ashoka Pillar At Saranath

Place of Buddha's first sermon. The pillar is not located in it's original location as it is broken during Turk and Islamic invasions. Now the Lion capital (National Emblem of Govt. of India) is displayed at the Archeological museum at Sarnath, 10 km from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Originally a wheel (Wheel of Dharma/ Ashoka Chakra, a wheel with 24 spokes) was placed over the lion capital and was mounted on a stone pillar near Dhamek Stupa (44 m in height and 28 m in diameter), Sarnath.
It was 15.25 m high monolithic polished Chunar sandstone pillar (0.71 m diameter at the base and 0.56 at the top) over which the Lion Capital was erected by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (272 - 232 BC). It has four back-to-back Indian lions. Below this are representations of a lion, an elephant, horse and the bull. The pillar bears three inscriptions in Brahmi script.






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