Ashoka Pillar History:
- Brick Stupa and Asokan Pillar built by Emperor Asoka in 3rd century BC.
- Laborers cut and dragged the stone from quarries in Mathura and Chunar, located in the northern part of India within Ashoka’s empire.
- The first pillar was discovered in the 16th century.
- The physical appearance of the pillars underscores the Buddhist doctrine.
- Most of the pillars were topped by sculptures of animal.
- Each pillar is also topped by an inverted lotus flower, which is the most pervasive symbol of Buddhism.
- This flower, and the animal that surmount it, form the capital, the topmost part of a column.
- Most pillars are topped with a single lion or a bull in either seated or standing positions.
- The animals are always in the round and carved from a single piece of stone.
Ashoka Pillar Information :
- The Ashoka pillars height vary from 40 to 55 feet. They are cut from two different types of stone- one for the shaft and another for the capital.
- The pillars weigh about 50 tons each.
- Only 19 of the original pillars survive and many are in fragments.
- The shaft was almost always cut from a single piece of stone.
- The shaft of the Lion Pillar is formed of a single block of polished sand stone.
- The pillar about 33 feet in height, with a diameter of 35.5 inches at base and 26.2. inches at the top.
- The capital 6 feet 10 inches in height, is bell-shaped, with a circular abacus supporting the statue of a lion facing the north.
- Amazing fact about pillar is, it may be difficult to understand the fact that how a single stone measuring 42 ft and weighing nearly 50 tons was carried from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh to Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh over a distance of 800 km.
- This Herculean task of transporting a pillar weighing 50 tons was accomplished 2300 years ago when there were no cranes and modern roads.
- Thousands of labors might have worked day and night to bring this huge pillar, haul it to the top of the hill and then raise it to bring it to upright position.
- Ashoka had also built several stupas containing the relics of the Buddha.
- Along with them he also built several monolithic pillars with the characteristic Mauryan era Polish, which looks fresh even to this day.
Inspirational Fact about Ashoka Pillar:
Ashoka Pillar is considering as Emblem of India.
