This is the famous original sandstone sculpted Lion Capital of Ashoka preserved at Sarnath Museum which was originally erected around 250 BCE atop an Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath. The angle from which this picture has been taken, minus the inverted bell-shaped lotus flower, has been adopted as the National Emblem of India showing the Horse on the left and the Bull on the right of the Ashoka Chakra in the circular base on which the four Indian lions are standing back to back. On the far side there is an Elephant and a Lion instead. The wheel "Ashoka Chakra" from its base has been placed onto the center of the National Flag of India.
The Emblem of India is an adaptation from the SarnathLion Capital of Ashoka. Emperor Ashoka the Great erected the capital atop a Ashoka Pillar to mark the spot where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha was founded. In the original, there are 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 wheels over a bell-shaped lotus. Carved out of a single block of polished sandstone, the capital is crowned by the Wheel of righteousness/justice (Dharmachakra).
It was adopted as the National Emblem of India on 26 January 1950, the day that India became a republic. [1]
It has four "Indian Lions", resting on a circular abacus. The fourth lion is on the rear and hence hidden from view. The emblem symbolizes a nation that is "valiant in courage, strong of body, politic in council and a foe to fear."citation needed The abacus is girded by four smaller animals - guardians of the four directions: the Lion of the north, the Elephant of the east, the Horse of the south and Bull of the west. The abacus rests on a nelumbo nucifera in full bloom, exemplifying the fountainhead of life.
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