Emblem of India.

The Lion Capital of Ashoka is a sculpture of four lions standing back to back. It was originally placed atop the Ashoka pillar at Sarnath, now in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The pillar, sometimes called the Ashoka Column is still in its original location, but the Lion Capital is now in the Sarnath Museum. The Lion Capital is the national emblem of India. Image File history File links Emblem_of_India. ... Image File history File links Emblem_of_India. ... Emblem of India The national emblem of India is an adaptation of the Buddhist Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath, near Banaras in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Emperor Ashoka (a possible picturisation) Ashoka the Great (Devanagari: अशोक; IAST transliteration: ) was the emperor of the Mauryan Empire from 273 BCE to 232 BCE. After a number of military conquests, Ashoka reigned over most of South Asia and beyond, from present-day Afghanistan to Bengal and as far south as... 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. ... Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: उत्तर प्रदेश, Urdu: اتر پردیش), also popularly known by its abbreviation UP, is the most populous and fifth largest state in the Union of India. ... A national emblem symbolically represents a nation. ...

The capital contains four lions, standing back to back, mounted on an abacus, with a frieze carrying sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a galloping horse, a bull, and a lion, separated by intervening spoked chariot-wheels over a bell-shaped lotus. Carved out of a single block of polished sandstone, the capital was believed to be crowned by a 'Wheel of the Law' (Dharma Chakra), which has now been lost. 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. ... Binomial name Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758) The Lion (Panthera leo) is a mammal of the family Felidae. ... An abacus is a calculation tool, often constructed as a wooden frame with beads sliding on wires. ... Frieze of the Tower of the Winds. ... In the art of sculpture, a relief is an artwork where a modelled form projects out of a flat background. ... Genera and Species Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Elephas recki † Stegodon † Mammuthus † Elephantidae (the elephants) is a family of pachyderm, and the only remaining family in the order Proboscidea. ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 nugget For other uses, see Horse (disambiguation). ... Look up bull in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Binomial name Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. ... Sandstone near Stadtroda, Germany Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock grains. ... The eight-spoked dharma wheel is a common symbol in Buddhist iconography, representing the collective teachings of Buddha, known as the dharma. ...

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• National emblem of India