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Pillars of Ashoka
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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. Originally, there must have been many pillars of Ashoka although only ten with inscriptions still survive. Averaging between forty and fifty feet in height, and weighing up to fifty tons each, all the pillars were quarried at Chunar, just south of Varanasi and dragged, sometimes hundreds of miles, to where they were erected.
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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. Originally, there must have been many pillars of Ashoka although only ten with inscriptions still survive. Averaging between forty and fifty feet in height, and weighing up to fifty tons each, all the pillars were quarried at Chunar, just south of Varanasi and dragged, sometimes hundreds of miles, to where they were erected.
Overview
The columns that bear the edicts of Ashoka include the two pillars at Delhi (originally located at Meerut and Topra in Haryana and were brought to Delhi during the reign of Firuz Shah Tughluq in 1356), the pillar at Allahabad (is believed as originally located at Kaushambi) and the pillars found at Lauriya-Areraj, Lauriya-Nandangarh, Rampurva (with lion capital), Sankissa, Sanchi and Sarnath. The columns bearing dedicatory inscriptions were found in Lumbini and Nigalisagar. The pillars found at Vaishali (with single lion capital) and Rampurva (with bull capital) do not bear any edict.
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-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 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 The pillars have four component parts. The shafts are always plain and smooth, circular in cross-section, slightly tapering upwards and always chiselled out of a single piece of stone. The capitals have the shape and appearance of a gently arched bell formed of lotus petals. The abacii are of two types: square and plain and circular and decorated and these are of different proportions. The crowning animals are either seated or standing, always in the round and chiseled as a single piece with the abacii.
Description of the pillars
The most celebrated pillar is the pillar with the lion capital at Sarnath. Here, four lions are seated back to back. The pillar at Sanchi also has a similar lion capital. There are two pillars at Rampurva, one with bull and the other with lion as crowning animal. The pillar at Sankissa has an elephant as crowning animal. Five of the pillars of Ashoka (two at Rampurva, one each at Vaishali, Lauriya-Areraj and Lauryia-Nandangarh were possibly marked the course of the ancient Royal highway from Patliputra to the Nepal valley.
Pillar at 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 where 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 different from the earlier Ashokan pillars because it has only one lion capital. 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 the capital.
Pillars at Lauriya-Areraj and Lauriya-Nandangarh
The column at Lauriya-Nandangarh, 23 km from Bettiah in West Champaran district, Bihar has a 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 is presently devoid of any capital.
Erecting the Pillars
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 25 ton obelisk in 1999. This followed two experiments to erect smaller obelisks and two failed attempts to erect a 25 ton obelisk.
History of discovery
The first Pillar of Ashoka was found in the 16 century by Thomas Coryat in the ruins of ancient 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 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 enlightment. Scholars have since found 150 of Ashoka's inscriptions, carved into the face of rocks or on stone pillars's marking out a domain that stretched across northern India and south below the central plateau of the Deccan. these were placed in strategic places near borders cities and trade routes.
Background of construction
Ashoka ascended to the throne in 269 BCE inheriting the empire founded by his grandfather Chandragupta Maurya. Ashoka 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..." After this event Ashoka converted to Buddhism in remorse for the loss of life. Buddhism didn't become a state religion but with Ashoka's support it spread rapidly. The inscriptions on the pillars described edicts about morality based on Buddhist tenets. Legend has it that 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 shape. The wheel represents the sun time and Buddhist law, while the swastika stands for the cosmic dance around a fixed center and guards against evil.
See also
External links
| | | | | | Fragment of the 6th Pillar Edict of Ashoka (238 BCE), in Brahmi, sandstone. British Museum. | | | | Ashoka pillar at Wat U Mong near Chiang Mai, Thailand showing Dharma Chakra prevails over beasts (lion). A similar four "Indian lion" Lion Capital of Ashoka atop an Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath which was destroyed during Turk invasions of India missing the larger Dharma Chakra / Ashoka Chakra atop the four lions, now preserved at Sarnath Museum has been adopted as the National Emblem of India and the smaller Chakra in the base on which the lions are standing has become a part of the National Flag of India. |
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