View of the Asokan Pillar at Vaishali.

Fragment of the 6th Pillar Edict of Ashoka (238 BCE), in Brahmi, sandstone. British Museum.

The Asokan pillar at Lumbini.

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. Vaishali or Vesali (Pali) was a city, the capital of the Licchavis and the Vajjian Confederacy. ... Image File history File links Fragment of the 6th pillar Edict of Ashoka. ... Image File history File links Fragment of the 6th pillar Edict of Ashoka. ... The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty during his reign from 272 to 231 BCE. These inscriptions are dispersed throughout the areas of modern-day Pakistan... BrāhmÄ« refers to the pre-modern members of the Brahmic family of scripts, attested from the 3rd century BC. The best known and earliest dated inscriptions in Brahmi are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka. ... The British Museum in London is one of the worlds greatest museums of human history and culture. ... Lumbini (Sanskrit for the lovely) is a Buddhist pilgrimage site located in Rupandehi District, Lumbini Zone of Nepal near the Indian border. ... The Mauryan empire (321 to 185 BCE), at its largest extent around 230 BCE. The Mauryan empire was Indias first great unified empire. ... Allegiance: Magadhan Empire Rank: Emperor Succeeded by: Dasaratha Maurya Reign: 273 BC-232 BC Place of birth: Pataliputra, India Battles/Wars Kalinga War Emperor Ashoka the Great (Devanagari: अशोक(:); IAST transliteration: , pronunciation: ) (304 BC–232 BC) (Imperial Title:Devanampiya Piyadassi ie He who is the beloved of the Gods who, in... (4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events The first two Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome over dominance in western Mediterranean Rome conquers Spain Great Wall of China begun Indian traders regularly visited Arabia Scythians occupy...

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, and is now displayed in the Sarnarth museum. It has been used as one of the central symbols of India, in particular on Indian banknotes. A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty during his reign from 272 to 231 BCE. These inscriptions are dispersed throughout the areas of modern-day Pakistan... Sarnath (formerly also Mrigadava, Rishipattana, Isipatana), located 13 kilometres from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha was founded. ...

The Sarnath pillar 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". Dharma (Sanskrit: धर्म) or Dhamma (Pāli: धमा) (Natural Law) refers to the underlying order in Nature and human behaviour considered to be in accord with that order. ...

The pillar is a column surmounted by a capital, 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: A capital of the Composite order In Western architecture, the capital (from the Latin caput, head) forms the crowning member of the column, which projects on each side as it rises, in order to support the abacus and unite the square form of the latter with the circular shaft. ... A canopy (building) is an architectural projection that provides weather protection, identity or decoration, and is supported by the building to which it is attached and a ground mounting, by not less than two stanchions (upright support posts). ... The inverted bell is a metaphorical name for geometric shape that resembles a bell upside down. ... Binomial name Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. ... Bold textSAM ROCKS An abacus (plurals abacuses or abaci) is a calculation tool, often constructed as a wooden frame with beads sliding on wires. ... The Dharmacakra (Sanskrit) or Dhammacakka (Pāli), Tibetan , Chinese fălún 法轮, Wheel of Dharma is an auspicious Buddhist symbol representing a Buddhas teaching of the path to enlightenment. ... Standing Buddha sculpture, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Pakistan, 1st century CE, Musée Guimet. ...

• The Elephant represents the Buddha's conception in reference to the dream of Queen Maya of a white elephant entered her womb.
• 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. Alfred Foucher (1865-1952), a French scholar, identified the Buddha image as having Greek origins. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Look up taurus, Taurus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Shiva (also spelled Siva; Sanskrit ) is considered to be the supreme God in Shaivism, a denomination of Hinduism and one of the five primary forms of the Divine in Smarta tradition or Smartism, a denomination of Hinduism. ... Kanthaka ( in Pali and Sanskrit) (6th century BC, in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India) was a white horse of length eighteen cubits that was a royal servant and favourite horse of Prince Siddhartha, who later became Gautama Buddha. ...

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: Allegiance: Magadhan Empire Rank: Emperor Succeeded by: Dasaratha Maurya Reign: 273 BC-232 BC Place of birth: Pataliputra, India Battles/Wars Kalinga War Emperor Ashoka the Great (Devanagari: अशोक(:); IAST transliteration: , pronunciation: ) (304 BC–232 BC) (Imperial Title:Devanampiya Piyadassi ie He who is the beloved of the Gods who, in... This term first used to describe Ashoka of the Mauryan Dynasty literally translates to he for whom the wheel of law turns. ...

The Ashoka pillar in Sarnath.

• 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 that just a symbol of royal power. Sarnath (formerly also Mrigadava, Rishipattana, Isipatana), located 13 kilometres from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha was founded. ...

Single lion capital

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 were 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 from among 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 kms from Bettiah, Bihar for it suggests that these pillars possibly marked the course of the ancient Royal highway from Patliputra to Nepal valley. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 412 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1402 × 2037 pixel, file size: 254 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Maurya Empire Pillars of Ashoka Vaishali... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 412 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1402 × 2037 pixel, file size: 254 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Maurya Empire Pillars of Ashoka Vaishali... Vaishali is one of the districts of Bihar state, India. ... Vaishali is one of the districts of Bihar state, India. ... Bettiah is the headquarters of West Champaran district in the state of Bihar, near Indo-Nepal border, 225 Kilometres north-west of Patna. ... Bihar (Hindi: बिहार, Urdu: بہار, IPA: ,  ) is a state of the Indian union situated in the eastern part of the country. ... Paá¹­nā   (Hindi: पटना) is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. ...

Notes

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

See also

• 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