83-566: The pillars of Ashoka are a series of monolithic columns dispersed throughout the Indian subcontinent , erected—or at least inscribed with edicts —by the 3rd Mauryan Emperor Ashoka the Great , who reigned from c. 268 to 232 BC. Ashoka used the expression Dhaṃma thaṃbhā ( Dharma stambha ), i.e. "pillars of the Dharma " to describe his own pillars. These pillars constitute important monuments of
166-639: A 2014 find in Thailand the first from outside the Indian subcontinent; it is assumed this was imported from India. It is clear from Megasthenes that the Mauryans had painting of some quality, but no examples have survived. Many centuries later, the paintings of the Ajanta Caves , the oldest significant body of Indian painting, show there was a well-developed tradition, which may well stretch back to Mauryan times. While
249-511: A considerable distance after quarrying. It may also be used of large glacial erratics moved by natural forces. The word derives, via the Latin monolithus , from the Ancient Greek word μονόλιθος ( monólithos ), from μόνος ( mónos ) meaning "one" or "single" and λίθος ( líthos ) meaning "stone". Large, well-known monoliths include: A structure which has been excavated as
332-580: A domain that stretched across northern India and south below the central plateau of the Deccan. These pillars were placed in strategic sites near border cities and trade routes. The Sanchi pillar was found by F.O. Oertelin in 1851 in excavations led by Sir Alexander Cunningham , first head of the Archaeological Survey of India . There were no surviving traces above ground of the Sarnath pillar, mentioned in
415-459: A finely carved lifelike representation, noteworthy are the lion capital of Sarnath , the bull capital of Rampurva and the lion capital of Lauria Nandangarh . Much speculation has been made about the similarity between these capitals and Achaemenid works. The work of local sculptors illustrates the popular art of the Mauryan period. This consisted of sculpture which probably was not commissioned by
498-441: A lion with the face of a human female, was considered as having ferocious strength, and was thought of as a guardian, often flanking the entrances to temples or royal tombs. Some scholars such as John Irwin emphasized a reassessment from popular belief of Persian or Greek origin of Ashokan pillars. He makes the argument that Ashokan pillars represent Dhvaja or standard which Indian soldiers carried with them during battle and it
581-484: A more popular art during the Mauryan period. Court art is represented by the pillars and their capitals, and surviving popular art by some stone pieces, and many smaller works in terracotta . The highly polished surface of court sculpture is often called Mauryan polish . However this seems not to be entirely reliable as a diagnostic tool for a Mauryan date, as some works from considerably later periods also have it. The Didarganj Yakshi , now most often thought to be from
664-557: A new and sophisticated animal and symbolic abacus (the elephant, the bull, the lion, the horse alternating with the Dharma wheel ) for the Sarnath lion. Other chronological orders have also been proposed, for example based on the style of the Ashokan inscriptions on the pillars, since the stylistically most sophisticated pillars actually have the engravings of the Edicts of Ashoka of the worst quality, namely, very poorly engraved Schism Edicts on
747-516: A sideline, they are very difficult to date if not recorded as coming from an identifiable archaeological context. Many are regarded as pre-Mauryan, but a continuation of the tradition of making mother-goddesses in clay, which dates back to the prehistoric period is revealed by the discovery of these objects at Mauryan levels during the excavations at Ahicchatra. They are found more commonly from Pataliputra to Taxila . Many have stylized forms and technically they are more accomplished, in that they have
830-404: A similar but damaged four-lion capital. There are two pillars at Rampurva, one crowned with a bull and the other with a lion. Sankissa has only a damaged elephant capital, which is mainly unpolished, though the abacus is at least partly so. No pillar shaft has been found, and perhaps this was never erected at the site. The Vaishali pillar has a single lion capital. The location of this pillar
913-598: A unit from a surrounding matrix or outcropping of rock. Mauryan art Mauryan art is art produced during the period of the Mauryan Empire , the first empire to rule over most of the Indian subcontinent , between 322 and 185 BCE. It represented an important transition in Indian art from the use of wood to stone. It was a royal art patronized by Mauryan kings, most notably Ashoka . Pillars, stupas and caves are its most prominent surviving examples. The most significant remains of monumental Mauryan art include those of
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#1732852651702996-497: A well-defined shape and clear ornamentation. Some appear to have been made from moulds, yet there is little duplication. Terracotas from Taxila consists of deity figures, votive reliefs with deities, toys, dice, ornaments and beads. Among the ornaments were round medallions, similar to the bullae worn by Roman boys. Terracotta images of folk gods and goddesses often have an earthy charm (some of them are perhaps dolls). Many animal figures are probably toys for children. The ringstone
1079-558: Is a distinctive type of artefact and miniature sculpture made in India during the approximate period of the Mauryan Empire and the following Sunga Empire (187-78 BCE). They are usually dated to the 3rd or 2nd centuries BCE. They are shaped like a doughnut , but with straighter sides, and flat and plain on the bottom. They are in stone, with the top side very finely carved in relief with several circular zones of decoration running around
1162-607: Is also illustrated in later reliefs from Bharhut , dated to circa 100 BC. The 6th-century pillar at the tomb of Xiao Jing, or Emperor Jing of Western Liang , is similar to the Ashoka pillar. Related topics Other similar topics Monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains . Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock . Some monoliths are volcanic plugs , solidified lava filling
1245-568: Is also possible that some of the stone pillars predate Ashoka's reign. There has been much discussion of the extent of influence from Achaemenid Persia , where the column capitals supporting the roofs at Persepolis have similarities, and the "rather cold, hieratic style" of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka especially shows "obvious Achaemenid and Sargonid influence". India and the Achaemenid Empire had been in close contact since
1328-505: Is another example of Ashokan architecture circa 260 BC, and displays a band of carvings with palmettes and geese , similar to those found on several of the Pillars of Ashoka. Based on stylistic and technical analysis, it is possible to establish a tentative chronological orders for the pillars. The earliest one seems to be the Vaishali pillar, with its stout and short column, the rigid lion and
1411-433: Is contiguous to the site where a Buddhist monastery and a sacred coronation tank stood. Several stupas suggesting a far-flung campus for the monastery have been discovered. The lion faces north, the direction Buddha took on his last voyage. Identification of the site for excavation in 1969 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
1494-445: Is made of finely levigated alluvial clay, which when seen in section is usually of a grey and sometimes of a red hue. It has a brilliantly burnished dressing of the quality of a glaze which ranges from a jet black to a deep grey or a metallic steel blue. Occasionally small red-brown patches are apparent on the surface. It can be distinguished from other polished or graphite-coated red wares by its peculiar lustre and brilliance. This ware
1577-416: Is no distinct base at the bottom of the shaft. The lower parts of the capitals have the shape and appearance of a gently arched bell formed of lotus petals. The abaci are of two types: square and plain and circular and decorated and these are of different proportions. The crowning animals are masterpieces of Mauryan art , shown either seated or standing, always in the round and chiselled as a single piece with
1660-418: Is presently devoid of any capital. The Pillars of Ashoka may have been erected using the same methods that were used to erect the ancient obelisks . Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehrner conducted several obelisk erecting experiments including a successful attempt to erect a 25ton obelisk in 1999. This followed two experiments to erect smaller obelisks and two failed attempts to erect a 25-ton obelisk. A number of
1743-615: Is thought that before the 3rd century BC, wood rather than stone was used as the main material for Indian architectural constructions, and that stone may have been adopted following interaction with the Persians and the Greeks . A graphic representation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka from the column there was adopted as the official State Emblem of India in 1950. All the pillars of Ashoka were built at Buddhist monasteries, many important sites from
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#17328526517021826-714: The Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley , from c. 500 to 330 BC. Hellenistic influence has also been suggested. In particular the abaci of some of the pillars (especially the Rampurva bull , the Sankissa elephant and the Allahabad pillar capital ) use bands of motifs, like the bead and reel pattern, the ovolo , the flame palmettes , lotuses , which likely originated from Greek and Near-Eastern arts. Such examples can also be seen in
1909-583: The Akshay Vat , an Indian fig tree of great antiquity. The Ramayana refers to this tree under which Lord Rama is supposed to have prayed while on exile. The column at Lauriya-Nandangarh , 23 km from Bettiah in West Champaran district , Bihar has single lion capital. The hump and the hind legs of the lion project beyond the abacus. The pillar at Lauriya-Areraj in East Champaran district , Bihar
1992-604: The Allahabad Fort , also the royal palace, built during the 16th century by Akbar at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. As the fort is occupied by the Indian Army it is essentially closed to the public and special permission is required to see the pillar. The Ashokan inscription is in Brahmi and is dated around 232 BC. A later inscription attributed to the second king of
2075-532: The Allahabad Museum . A few more possibly Ashokan capitals were also found without their pillars: It is also known from various ancient sculptures (reliefs from Bharhut , 100 BC), and later narrative account by Chinese pilgrims (5-6th century AD), that there was a pillar of Ashoka at the Mahabodhi Temple founded by Ashoka, that it was crowned by an elephant. The same Chinese pilgrims have reported that
2158-826: The Ashoka pillar in Bodh Gaya , Kausambi , Gotihawa , Prahladpur (now in the Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi ), Fatehabad , Bhopal , Sadagarli , Udaigiri-Vidisha , Kushinagar , Arrah ( Masarh ) Basti , Bhikana Pahari , Bulandi Bagh ( Pataliputra ), Sandalpu and a few others, as well as a broken pillar in Bhairon ("Lat Bhairo" in Benares ) which was destroyed to a stump during riots in 1809. The Chinese monks Fa-Hsien and Hsuantsang also reported pillars in Kushinagar ,
2241-565: The Gupta empire , Samudragupta , is in the more refined Gupta script , a later version of Brahmi, and is dated to around 375 AD. This inscription lists the extent of the empire that Samudragupta built during his long reign. He had already been king for forty years at that time and would rule for another five. A still later inscription in Persian is from the Mughal emperor Jahangir . The Akbar Fort also houses
2324-603: The Jetavana monastery in Sravasti , Rajagriha and Mahasala , which have not been recovered to this day. There are altogether seven remaining complete capitals, five with lions, one with an elephant and one with a zebu bull. One of them, the four lions of Sarnath , has become the State Emblem of India . The animal capitals are composed of a lotiform base, with an abacus decorated with floral, symbolic or animal designs, topped by
2407-583: The Lomas Rishi Cave in the Barabar Caves , with its ornamented facade, echoing the forms of wooden art. Most scholars agree that Mauryan art was influenced by Greek and Persian art , especially in imperial sculpture and architecture. Political and cultural contacts between the Greek and Persian cultures and India were intensive and ran for a long period of time, encouraging the propagation of their advances in
2490-531: The Major Pillar Edicts were engraved at the end of Ashoka's reign, which now displayed very good inscriptional craftsmanship but a much more solemn and less elegant style for the associated lion capitals, as for the Lauria Nandangarh lion and the Rampurva lion. Of the Allahabad pillar , only the abacus remains, the bottom bulb and the crowning animal having been lost. The remains are now located in
2573-453: The Sanchi and Sarnath pillars, their only inscriptions. This approach offers an almost reverse chronological order to the preceding one. According to Irwin, the Sankissa elephant and Rampurva bull pillars with their Hellenistic abacus are pre-Ashokan. Ashoka would then have commissioned the Sarnath pillar with its famous Lion Capital of Ashoka to be built under the tutelage of craftsmen from
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2656-405: The architecture of India , most of them exhibiting the characteristic Mauryan polish . Twenty of the pillars erected by Ashoka still survive, including those with inscriptions of his edicts. Only a few with animal capitals survive of which seven complete specimens are known. Two pillars were relocated by Firuz Shah Tughlaq to Delhi . Several pillars were relocated later by Mughal Empire rulers,
2739-499: The 13th year of Ashoka's reign. Asoka's 6 Major Pillar Edicts have been found at Kausambhi (Allahabad), Topra (now Delhi), Meerut (now Delhi), Lauriya-Araraj, Lauriya-Nandangarh, Rampurva (Champaran), and a 7th one on the Delhi-Topra pillar. These pillar edicts include: 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. At present
2822-464: The 1830s James Prinsep began to decipher them with the help of Captain Edward Smith and George Turnour . They determined that the script referred to King Piyadasi which was also the epithet of an Indian ruler known as Ashoka who came to the throne 218 years after Buddha's enlightenment. Scholars have since found 150 of Ashoka's inscriptions, carved into the face of rocks or on stone pillars marking out
2905-420: The 2nd century CE, is an example. The Pataliputra capital , dated to the 3rd century BCE, has been excavated at the Mauryan city of Pataliputra . It has been described as Perso - Ionic , with a strong Greek stylistic influence, including volute , bead and reel , meander or honeysuckle designs. This monumental piece of architecture tends to suggest the Achaemenid and Hellenistic artistic influence at
2988-464: The Arthashastra. Based on his identification of the symbols on the punch-marked coins with certain Mauryan rulers, Kosambi argued that the Mauryan punch-marked Karshapana after Chandragupta has the same weight as its predecessor, but much more copper, cruder fabric, and such a large variation in weight that the manufacture must have been hasty. This evidence of stress and unsatisfied currency demand
3071-509: The Mauryan court from early on. Emperor Ashoka also erected religious pillars throughout India. These pillars were carved in two types of stone. Some were of the spotted red and white sandstone from the region of Mathura , the others of buff-coloured fine grained hard sandstone usually with small black spots quarried in the Chunar near Varanasi . The uniformity of style in the pillar capitals suggests that they were all sculpted by craftsmen from
3154-514: The abaci of the capitals, and the front half of the representation of an elephant carved in the round from a live rock at Dhauli. Ananda Coomaraswamy , writing in 1923, argued that the Mauryan art had three main phases. The first phase is found in some instances of the representation of the Vedic deities (the most significant examples are the reliefs of Surya and Indra at the Bhaja Caves ). However
3237-503: The abaci. Presumably all or most of the other columns that now lack them once had capitals and animals. They are also used to commemorate the events of the Buddha's life. Currently seven animal sculptures from Ashoka pillars survive. These form "the first important group of Indian stone sculpture", though it is thought they derive from an existing tradition of wooden columns topped by animal sculptures in copper , none of which have survived. It
3320-479: The accounts of medieval Chinese pilgrims, when the Indian Civil Service engineer F.O. Oertel , with no real experience in archaeology, was allowed to excavate there in the winter of 1904–05. He first uncovered the remains of a Gupta shrine west of the main stupa , overlying an Ashokan structure. To the west of that he found the lowest section of the pillar, upright but broken off near ground level. Most of
3403-461: The animal capitals being removed. Averaging between 12 and 15 m (40 and 50 ft) in height, and weighing up to 50 tons each, the pillars were dragged, sometimes hundreds of miles, to where they were erected. The pillars of Ashoka are among the earliest known stone sculptural remains from India. Only another pillar fragment, the Pataliputra capital , is possibly from a slightly earlier date. It
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3486-516: The area of sculpture. This period marked an imaginative and impressive step forward in Indian stone sculpture; much previous sculpture was probably in wood and has not survived. 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
3569-401: The art of the Bhaja Caves is now generally dated later than the Mauryan period, to the 2nd-1st centuries BCE. The second phase was the court art of Ashoka , typically found in the monolithic columns on which his edicts are inscribed and the third phase was the beginning of brick and stone architecture, as in the case of the original stupa at Sanchi , the small monolithic rail at Sanchi, and
3652-508: The buildings, an 80 pillared hall at Kumrahar are of particular significance. Out of 80 stone columns, that once stood on a wooden platform and supported a wooden roof, Spooner was able to discover the entire lower part of at least one in almost perfect conditions. It is more or less similar to an Ashokan pillar, smooth, polished and made of grey Chunar sandstone . Many stupas like those at Sanchi , Sarnath and possibly Amaravati Stupa were originally built as brick and masonry mounds during
3735-580: The capital of the Lumbini pillar was a horse (now lost), which, by their time had already fallen to the ground. The inscriptions on the columns include a fairly standard text. The inscriptions on the columns join other, more numerous, Ashokan inscriptions on natural rock faces to form the body of texts known as the Edicts of Ashoka. These inscriptions were dispersed throughout the areas of modern-day Bangladesh , India , Nepal , Afghanistan and Pakistan and represent
3818-468: The capital. In Prayagraj there is a pillar with inscriptions from Ashoka and later inscriptions attributed to Samudragupta and Jehangir . It is clear from the inscription that the pillar was first erected at Kaushambi , an ancient town some 30 kilometres west of Allahabad that was the capital of the Koshala kingdom, and moved to Allahabad, presumably under Muslim rule. The pillar is now located inside
3901-626: The column remains in the same place whereas the Lion Capital is at the Sarnath Museum. This Lion Capital of Ashoka from Sarnath has been adopted as the National Emblem of India and the wheel "Ashoka Chakra" from its base was placed onto the centre of the flag of India . The lions probably originally supported a Dharma Chakra wheel with 24 spokes, such as is preserved in the 13th century replica erected at Wat Umong near Chiang Mai , Thailand by Thai king Mangrai . The pillar at Sanchi also has
3984-518: The cultural and artistic borrowings from the west, the pillars of Ashoka, together with much of Mauryan art and architectural prowesses such as the city of Pataliputra or the Barabar Caves , remain outstanding in their achievements, and often compare favourably with the rest of the world at that time. Commenting on Mauryan sculpture, John Marshall once wrote about the "extraordinary precision and accuracy which characterizes all Mauryan works, and which has never, we venture to say, been surpassed even by
4067-399: The decorations found on the Pillars of Ashoka. The Diamond Throne has a decorative band made of honeysuckles and geese , which can also be found on several of the Pillars of Ashoka, such as the Rampurva capitals or the Sanchi capital. The geese ( hamsa ) in particular are a very recurrent symbol on the pillars of Ashoka, and may refer to the devotees flocking to the faith. The same throne
4150-452: The differences and similarities, writing that "If the Ashokan pillars cannot in their entirety be attributed to Persian influence, they must have had an undocumented prehistory within the subcontinent, perhaps a tradition of wooden carving. But the transition from stone to wood was made in one magnificent leap, no doubt spurred by the imperial tastes and ambitions of the Maurya emperors." Whatever
4233-461: The edicts inscribed, are as follows: The Amaravati pillar fragment is rather problematic. It consists of only six lines in Brahmi which are hardly decipherable. Only the word vijaya (victory) can be made out, arguably a word also used by Ashoka. Sircar , who provides a detailed study, considers it as probably belonging to an Ashokan pillar. There are also several known fragments of Ashokan pillars, without recovered Ashokan inscriptions, such as
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#17328526517024316-507: The elephant, the tree in railing symbol and the mountain. The technique of producing such coins was generally that the metal was cut first and then the device was punched. These symbols are said to have either represented the Royal insignia or the symbol of the local guild that struck the coin. Some coins had Shroff ( money changer ) marks on them indicating that older coins were often re-issued. The alloy content closely resembles that specified in
4399-434: The emperor. The patrons of the popular art were the local governors and the more well-to-do subjects. It is represented by figures such as the female figure of Besnagar, the male figure of Parkham and the whisk-bearer from Didarganj (although its age is debated). Technically they are fashioned with less skill than the pillar capitals. They express a considerable earthiness and physical vitality. The stone elephant at Dhauli
4482-637: The finest workmanship on Athenian buildings". Five of the pillars of Ashoka, two at Rampurva , one each at Vaishali , Lauriya Araraj and Lauria Nandangarh possibly marked the course of the ancient Royal highway from Pataliputra to Nepal . Several pillars were relocated by later Mughal Empire rulers, the animal capitals being removed. The two Chinese medieval pilgrim accounts record sightings of several columns that have now vanished: Faxian records six and Xuanzang fifteen, of which only five at most can be identified with surviving pillars. All surviving pillars, listed with any crowning animal sculptures and
4565-460: The first onsite museum in India (and one of the few then in the world) was set up to house them. According to legend, Ashoka built 84,000 stupas commemorating the events and relics of Buddha's life. Some of these stupas contained networks of walls containing the hub, spokes and rim of a wheel, while others contained interior walls in a swastika (卐) shape. The wheel represents the sun, time, and Buddhist law (the wheel of law, or dharmachakra), while
4648-694: The first tangible evidence of Buddhism. The edicts describe in detail Ashoka's policy of Dhamma , an earnest attempt to solve some of problems that a complex society faced. In these inscriptions, Ashoka refers to himself as "Beloved servant of the Gods" ( Devanampiyadasi ). The inscriptions revolve around a few recurring themes: Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism, the description of his efforts to spread Buddhism, his moral and religious precepts, and his social and animal welfare program. The edicts were based on Ashoka's ideas on administration and behaviour of people towards one another and religion. Alexander Cunningham , one of
4731-674: The first to study the inscriptions on the pillars, remarks that they are written in eastern, middle and western Prakrits which he calls "the Punjabi or north-western dialect, the Ujjeni or middle dialect, and the Magadhi or eastern dialect." They are written in the Brahmi script . These contain inscriptions recording their dedication, as well as the Schism Edicts and the Queen's Edict. They were inscribed around
4814-515: The former Achaemenid Empire , trained in Perso-Hellenistic statuary, whereas the Brahmi engraving on the very same pillar (and on pillars of the same period such as Sanchi and Kosambi-Allahabad) was made by inexperienced Indian engravers at a time when stone engraving was still new in India. After Ashoka sent back the foreign artists, style degraded over a short period of time, down to the time when
4897-407: The frieze of the lost capital of the Allahabad pillar . These designs likely originated in Greek and Near-Eastern arts. They would probably have come from the neighboring Seleucid Empire , and specifically from a Hellenistic city such as Ai-Khanoum , located at the doorstep of India . Most of these designs and motifs can also be seen in the Pataliputra capital . The Diamond throne of Bodh Gaya
4980-486: The hole in the centre. When complete, they are about 2.5 to 4 inches across. The designs vary, but all examples are finely carved, despite their small size. A number of components appear in a variety of variations. Typically the innermost zone, which runs down the sloping sides of the hole, has standing female figures, often nude or nearly so, but with jewellery and elaborate hairstyles, with trees in between them. These may be called "goddesses", or "mother goddesses", and
5063-581: The life of the Buddha and places of pilgrimage. Some of the columns carry inscriptions addressed to the monks and nuns. Some were erected to commemorate visits by Ashoka. Major pillars are present in the Indian States of Bihar , Uttar Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh and some parts of Haryana . Ashoka ascended to the throne in 269 BC inheriting the Mauryan empire founded by his grandfather Chandragupta Maurya . Ashoka
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#17328526517025146-460: The period marked a second transition to use of brick and stone, wood was still the material of choice. Kautilya in the Arthashastra advises the use of brick and stone for their durability. Yet he devotes a large section to safeguards to be taken against conflagrations in wooden buildings indicating their popularity. The Greek ambassador Megasthenes mentions that the capital city of Pataliputra
5229-422: The pillars set out edicts about morality based on Buddhist tenets. They were added in the 3rd century BC. The traditional idea that all were originally quarried at Chunar , just south of Varanasi and taken to their sites, before or after carving, "can no longer be confidently asserted", and instead it seems that the columns were carved in two types of stone. Some were of the spotted red and white sandstone from
5312-463: The pillars were thrown down by either natural causes or iconoclasts, and gradually rediscovered. One was noticed in the 16th century by the English traveller Thomas Coryat in the ruins of Old Delhi . Initially he assumed that from the way it glowed that it was made of brass, but on closer examination he realized it was made of highly polished sandstone with upright script that resembled a form of Greek. In
5395-484: The pillars. Persian columns are built in segments whereas Ashokan pillars are monoliths , like some much later Roman columns. Most of the Persian pillars have a fluted shaft while the Mauryan pillars are smooth, and Persian pillars serve as supporting structures whereas Ashokan pillars are individual free-standing monuments. There are also other differences in the decoration. Indian historian Upinder Singh comments on some of
5478-576: The realistic depiction of an animal, thought to each represent a traditional directions in India. Various foreign influences have been described in the design of these capitals. The animal on top of a lotiform capital reminds of Achaemenid column shapes. The abacus also often seems to display some influence of Greek art : in the case of the Rampurva bull or the Sankassa elephant, it is composed of honeysuckles alternated with stylized palmettes and small rosettes . A similar kind of design can be seen in
5561-457: The region of Mathura, the others of buff-colored fine grained hard sandstone usually with small black spots quarried in the Chunar near Varanasi. The uniformity of style in the pillar capitals suggests that they were all sculpted by craftsmen from the same region. It would therefore seem that stone was transported from Mathura and Chunar to the various sites where the pillars have been found, and there
5644-520: The reign of Ashoka . Most were renovated many times, which leaves us with hardly a clue of the original structures. Use of the potters wheel became universal. The pottery associated with the Mauryan period consists of many types of ware. But the most highly developed technique is seen in a special type of pottery known as the Northern Black Polished Ware (NBP), which was the hallmark of the preceding and early Mauryan periods. The NBP ware
5727-554: The remains of the Mauryan capital city of Pataliputra . It has also been suggested that 6th century Greek columns such as the Sphinx of Naxos , a 12.5m Ionic column crowned by an animal in the religious centre of Delphi , may have been an inspiration for the pillars of Ashoka. Many similar columns crowned by sphinxes were discovered in ancient Greece, as in Sparta , Athens or Spata , and some were used as funerary steles . The Greek sphinx ,
5810-500: The rest of the pillar was found in three sections nearby, and then, since the Sanchi capital had been excavated in 1851, the search for an equivalent was continued, and the Lion Capital of Ashoka , the most famous of the group, was found close by. It was both finer in execution and in much better condition than that at Sanchi. The pillar appeared to have been deliberately destroyed at some point. The finds were recognised as so important that
5893-543: The royal palace and the city of Pataliputra , a monolithic rail at Sarnath , the Bodhimandala or the altar resting on four pillars at Bodhgaya , the rock-cut chaitya -halls in the Barabar Caves near Gaya (including the Sudama cave bearing the inscription dated the 12th regnal year of Ashoka ), the non-edict-bearing and edict-bearing pillars, the animal sculptures crowning the pillars with animal and vegetal reliefs decorating
5976-469: The same region. It would therefore seem, that stone transported from Mathura and Chunar to the various sites where the pillars have been found and here the stone was cut and carved by craftsmen They were given a fine polish characteristic of Mauryan sculpture. These pillars were mainly erected in the Gangetic plains . They were inscribed with edicts of Ashoka on Dhamma or righteousness. The animal capital as
6059-566: The swastika stands for the cosmic dance around a fixed centre and guards against evil. Ashoka also built the Diamond Throne in Bodh Gaya , at the location where the Buddha had reached enlightenment some 200 years earlier. This purely Buddhist monument to the Buddha is a thick slab of polished grey sandstone with Mauryan polish The sculpted decorations on the Diamond Throne clearly echo
6142-410: The tradition of carving stone pillars was present before the period of Ashoka. John Irwin also highlights the fact that carvings on pillars such as Allahabad pillar was done when it had already been erected indicating its pre Ashokan origins. Though influence from the west is generally accepted, especially the Persian columns of Achaemenid Persia, there are a number of differences between these and
6225-417: The trees, apparently of various species, as the tree of life , but these interpretations are not universally accepted. Their purpose, and any practical function, remains unclear and "enigmatic". They may have a specific religious purpose, or a more general one promoting fertility, or been used to make jewellery by hammering metal foil over the designs. About 70 have been found, many only as fragments, with
6308-495: The undecorated square abacus. Next would follow the Sankissa elephant and the Rampurva bull, also not yet benefiting from Mauryan polish , and using a Hellenistic abacus of lotus and palmettes for decoration. The abacus would then adopt the Hamsa goose as an animal decorative symbol, in Lauria Nandangarh and the Rampurva lion. Sanchi and Sarnath would mark the culmination with four animals back-to-back instead of just one, and
6391-400: The vent of an extinct volcano . In architecture, the term has considerable overlap with megalith , which is normally used for prehistory , and may be used in the contexts of rock-cut architecture that remains attached to solid rock, as in monolithic church , or for exceptionally large stones such as obelisks , statues, monolithic columns or large architraves , that may have been moved
6474-514: Was also probably carved by local craftsmen and not by the court-based artists who were responsible for the animal capitals. The image of the elephant emerging from the rock is a most impressive one, and its purpose was probably to draw attention to the inscription nearby. Popular terracotta objects of various sizes have been found at Mauryan sites, and elsewhere, and are probably the most numerous Mauryan works of art. Made by local people who may not have been specialists, but for example potters with
6557-510: Was believed that the destruction of the enemy's dhvaja brought misfortune to their opponents. A relief of Bharhut stupa railing portrays a queenly personage on horseback carrying a Garudadhvaja. Heliodorus pillar has been called Garudadhvaja, literally Garuda-standard, the pillar dated to 2nd century BC is perhaps the earliest recorded stone pillar which has been declared a dhvaja. Ashokan edicts themselves state that his words should be carved on any stone slab or pillars available indicating that
6640-416: Was cut and carved by craftsmen. The pillars have four component parts in two pieces: the three sections of the capitals are made in a single piece, often of a different stone to that of the monolithic shaft to which they are attached by a large metal dowel . The shafts are always plain and smooth, circular in cross-section, slightly tapering upwards and always chiselled out of a single piece of stone. There
6723-546: Was encircled by a massive timber-palisade, perforated by holes or slits through which archers could shoot. It had sixty-four gates and 570 towers. According to Strabo , the gilded pillars of the palace were adorned with golden vines and silver birds. The palace stood in an extensive park studded with fish ponds. It was furnished with a great variety of ornamental trees and shrubs. Excavations carried out by Spooner and Waddell have brought to light remains of huge wooden palisades at Bulandi Bagh in Pataliputra . The remains of one of
6806-508: Was reputedly a tyrant at the outset of his reign. Eight years after his accession he campaigned in Kalinga where in his own words, "a hundred and fifty thousand people were deported, a hundred thousand were killed and as many as that perished..." As he explains in his edicts, after this event Ashoka converted to Buddhism in remorse for the loss of life. Buddhism became a state religion and with Ashoka's support it spread rapidly. The inscriptions on
6889-577: Was used largely for dishes and small bowls. It is found in abundance in the Ganges valley. Although NBP was not very rare, it was obviously a more expensive ware than the other varieties, since potsherds of NBP were occasionally found riveted with copper pins indicating that even a cracked vessel in NBP ware had its value. The coins issued by the Mauryans are mostly silver and a few copper pieces of metal in various shapes, sizes and weights and which have one or more symbols punched on them. The most common symbols are
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