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The Lion Capital of Ashoka is the capital, or head, of a column erected by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in Sarnath, India, c. 250 BCE. Its crowning features [ 1 ] are four life-sized lions set back to back on a drum-shaped abacus .
The most celebrated capital is the four-lion one at Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh), erected by Emperor Ashoka circa 250 BC. Four lions are seated back to back. Four lions are seated back to back. At present the column remains in the same place whereas the Lion Capital is at the Sarnath Museum.
The elaborately carved animal capitals surviving on from some Pillars of Ashoka are the best known works, and among the finest, above all the Lion Capital of Ashoka from Sarnath that is now the National Emblem of India. Coomaraswamy distinguishes between court art and a more popular art during the Mauryan period.
The capital, which became the national emblem of India in 1950, is in a museum in Sarnath. The Lion capital is a polished sandstone carving of four lions atop an abacus (the slab forming the top of a column). The lions are facing in four directions and on the abacus are eight images.
The original Lion Capital of Ashoka, 3rd century BCE, Sarnath Museum. The emblem forms a part of the official letterhead of the Government of India and appears on all Indian currency as well. It also functions as the national emblem of India in many places and appears prominently on Indian passports.
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Visiting Sarnath in 1815, he was the first to describe a dedicated exploration of the ruins. [41] Throughout the early 19th century, amateur archeologists explored and excavated at Sarnath, removing antiquities, and several artists drew sketches of the site (especially of the Dhamek Stupa). [49]
The national emblem is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath consisting of four Asiatic lions standing back to back, symbolising power, courage, confidence and faith. [24] The lions are mounted on a circular abacus over a bell-shaped lotus.