Ashokan Pillar

The mainstays of Ashoka are a progression of segments scattered all through the Indian subcontinent, raised or if nothing else engraved with decrees by the Mauryan ruler Ashoka amid his rule from c. 268 to 232 BC. Of the columns raised by him, twenty still survive incorporating those with engravings of his decrees. Just a couple with creature capitals get by of which seven finish examples are known.

Two columns were migrated by Firuz Shah Tughlaq to Delhi. Several columns were moved later by Mughal Empire rulers, the creature capitals being removed.Averaging between 12 to 15 m 40 to 50 ft in tallness, and weighing up to 50 tons each, the columns were dragged, here and there many miles, to where they were erected.

The Pillars of Ashoka are among the soonest known stone sculptural stays from India. Just another column part, the Pataliputra capital, is conceivably from a marginally prior date. It is believed that before the third century BC, wood as opposed to stone was utilized as the primary material for India compositional developments, and that stone may have been embraced following cooperation with the Persians and the Greeks. A realistic portrayal of the Lion Capital of Ashoka from the section there was received as the official Emblem of India in 1950.