Collections-Virtual Museum of Images and Sounds

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Subject: Lion capital. The capital shows four addorsed lions mounted on a round abacus. On the abacus are four animals-a bull, a lion, an elephant, and a galloping horse–separated from one another by a wheel, a reference to the Buddha’s turning of the Wheel of the Law. A large stone wheel’s rim is supported on the backs of the four addorsed lions. The wheels are also a symbol of the ideal universal monarch, the chakravartin used by Ashoka, who sought to project himself as a chakravartin.

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Subject:

Lion capital. The capital shows four addorsed lions mounted on a round abacus. On the abacus are four animals-a bull, a lion, an elephant, and a galloping horse–separated from one another by a wheel, a reference to the Buddha’s turning of the Wheel of the Law. A large stone wheel’s rim is supported on the backs of the four addorsed lions. The wheels are also a symbol of the ideal universal monarch, the chakravartin used by Ashoka, who sought to project himself as a chakravartin.

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Subject: Lion capital, detail of abacus showing an elephant and a lion

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Subject: Lion capital, detail of abacus showing a lion

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Subject: Lion capital, detail of abacus showing the wheel

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Subject: Lion capital, detail of abacus showing a bull

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Subject: Lion capital, detail of abacus showing a horse

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Subject: Lion capital, detail of abacus showing an elephant

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 299-200 BCE

Subject: Lion capital, lion detail

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 200-1 BCE

Subject: Coping Stone with Railing Pillars. The pillars are adorned with a stupa at the top and a faceted pillar supporting a triratna (the tri-pronged motif symbolizing the Buddha, dharma, and the sangha) that in turn supports a wheel.

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 200-1 BCE

Subject: Coping Stone with Railing Pillars, detail. The pillars are adorned with a stupa at the top and a faceted pillar supporting a triratna (the tri-pronged motif symbolizing the Buddha, dharma, and the sangha) that in turn supports a wheel.

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 200-1 BCE

Subject: Coping stone, detail

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 200-1 BCE

Subject: Coping stone, detail

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 200-1 BCE

Subject: Coping stone, detail

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 200-1 BCE

Subject: Coping stone, detail

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 200-1 BCE

Subject: Coping stone, detail

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 100-1 BCE

Subject: Relief probably depicting the Ramagrama Stupa. This is a portion of a door lintel and was found east of the Main Shrine. Generally, the stupa depicted on the left of the lintel is assumed to be the one at Ramagrama, in Nepal. Wild elephants provided flowers for the Ramagrama stupa, and when Ashoka sought to open this stupa — one of the eight original stupas containing the Buddha’s remains, which he intended to divide among 84,000 stupas — he was persuaded not to do so even though he opened the other seven original stupas. The stupa at Ramagrama was guarded by a naga, a serpent divinity, who assumed the form of a Brahmin and persuaded Ashoka not to open it. The elephant to the left of the stupa bearing flowers and the serpent encircling it are probably an allusion to the Ramagrama stupa.

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 113 CE

Subject: Bodhisattva. This image was found between the Dharmarajika Stupa and the Main Shrine. The image originally had an umbrella (Museum No. 348) placed over its head and an inscription declares them to be a gift of Monk Bala in the third year of Kanishka's reign. The image was given in Varanasi, where the Buddha walked. A halo was positioned behind the figure's head. The figure's outer garment is draped over the proper left arm; the right arm is missing, but was probably originally raised in the reassuring gesture, abhayamudra.

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 113 CE

Subject: Bodhisattva, detail. This image was found between the Dharmarajika Stupa and the Main Shrine. The image originally had an umbrella (Museum No. 348) placed over its head and an inscription declares them to be a gift of Monk Bala in the third year of Kanishka’s reign. The image was given in Varanasi, where the Buddha walked. A halo was positioned behind the figure’s head. The figure’s outer garment is draped over the proper left arm; the right arm is missing, but the right hand probably was raised in the reassuring gesture, abhaya mudra.

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 113 CE

Subject: Bodhisattva, detail showing the girdle that is holding the lower garment in position. It is wound twice around the waist and then tied into a knot.

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 113 CE

Subject: Bodhisattva, detail. There is a small figure of a lion sitting upright between the feet.

Site Name: Sarnath

Date: 113 CE

Subject: Bodhisattva, rear. This image was found between the Dharmarajika Stupa and the Main Shrine. The image originally had an umbrella (Museum No. 348) placed over its head and an inscription declares them to be a gift of Monk Bala in the third year of Kanishka's reign. The image was given in Varanasi, where the Buddha walked. A halo was positioned behind the figure's head. The figure's outer garment is draped over the proper left arm; the right arm is missing, but was probably originally raised in the reassuring gesture, abhayamudra.

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Sarnath Museum, Uttar Pradesh (Asher Collection)