The Dharma Chakra and the Lion Capital of Ashoka: Tracing Buddhist Connections in India’s National Symbols

The Dharma Chakra at the centre of India’s national flag and the Lion Capital of Ashoka adopted as the State Emblem of India are among the most recognisable symbols of the Republic. Both have a long historical association with India and, more particularly, with the Buddhist and Mauryan traditions. Their presence in the symbolic identity of modern India therefore raises an interesting question: how did these ancient symbols become part of the visual language of the modern Indian Republic?

The Dharma Chakra is associated with Sarnath and with the Buddha’s first teaching. The Lion Capital also comes from Sarnath and belongs to the reign of Ashoka. Centuries separate the Buddha from the Mauryan emperor, and many more centuries separate Ashoka from independent India. Yet these different historical periods meet in the symbols that India chose for its national identity.

For me, the interesting part of this history lies in the meeting of these different layers. The Buddha, Ashoka, Sarnath, the Dharma Chakra, the Lion Capital and the Constitution belong to very different historical periods, yet they meet within the national symbolism of contemporary India.

To understand this properly, it becomes important to look at the Buddhist texts, the Ashokan inscriptions, the archaeological remains of Sarnath and the discussions that took place during the making of independent India.

The Dharma Chakra and the Buddha’s First Teaching

The history of the Dharma Chakra reaches into one of the most important moments in the Buddhist tradition.

The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta of the Saṃyutta Nikāya (56.11) records the Buddha’s first teaching at Isipatana, identified with present-day Sarnath. In this teaching, the Buddha explains the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths and the path leading towards the cessation of suffering.

The teaching is described through the image of setting the Dhamma-cakka in motion. The wheel of Dhamma therefore becomes associated with the movement of the Buddha’s teaching into the world.

This gives the Dharma Chakra a very particular significance within Buddhist history. It is not simply a decorative wheel or an abstract symbol. It is connected with the Buddha’s teaching and with the beginning of his public teaching career.

The same geographical landscape would later become associated with Ashoka and the Mauryan period. Sarnath therefore brings together two important moments in Indian history: the Buddha’s first teaching and the later development of Buddhist patronage under Ashoka.

Ashoka and the Sarnath Lion Capital

The Lion Capital at Sarnath belongs to the reign of Ashoka. The polished sandstone capital originally stood above an Ashokan pillar at Sarnath and formed part of the monumental landscape of the site.

The four lions stand back-to-back above an abacus on which animals and Dharma Chakras are represented. The quality of the carving and the highly polished sandstone make the Lion Capital one of the finest surviving examples of Mauryan art.

The sculpture, however, becomes even more interesting when it is understood together with Ashoka’s inscriptions.

Ashoka speaks in his inscriptions about Dhamma, moral conduct, welfare, the responsibilities of officials and relations between different religious communities. His inscriptions provide us with an important historical record of a ruler reflecting upon the responsibilities associated with political authority and the conduct of people within his realm.

The Lion Capital therefore belongs to a much larger historical environment in which political authority, Dhamma and ideas concerning moral conduct were being discussed together.

This becomes particularly relevant when we look at the later adoption of the Lion Capital by the Republic of India.

The Chakra Enters the National Flag

On 22 July 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the resolution concerning the national flag before the Constituent Assembly.

The resolution specified that the wheel placed in the centre of the white band would be based on the Chakra appearing on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka.

Nehru’s explanation of the flag is important because he did not speak about the Chakra merely as an artistic design. He connected it with India’s ancient cultural inheritance and with the historical figure of Ashoka.

He described the wheel as “a symbol of India’s ancient culture.”

This gives us an important insight into how the symbol was being understood at the time of independence. The Chakra was being taken from an ancient Indian historical context and placed within the national flag of a newly independent country.

Nehru also spoke about the wider significance of the Ashokan period and connected Ashoka’s legacy with ideas of peace, culture and goodwill. The Chakra therefore had both a historical association and a larger meaning within the imagination of the new Republic.

The choice was not simply about taking an old symbol and placing it on a new flag. It was also about selecting a particular part of India’s past to represent the country as it entered a new historical period.

The Dharma Chakra therefore entered modern public life without losing its historical association with Sarnath and the Buddhist tradition.

From Buddhist Symbol to National Symbol

The modern Dharma Chakra therefore has several dimensions to its identity.

Its Buddhist association remains fundamental. Its connection with Sarnath brings it into the history of the Buddha’s first teaching. Its association with the Lion Capital connects it with Ashoka and the Mauryan period. Its adoption in the national flag gives it a further identity within the modern Republic.

These different meanings do not necessarily have to be separated from one another.

A symbol can come from a particular historical and religious tradition and, over time, acquire a wider civic meaning. The Chakra is an interesting example of this process.

An ancient Buddhist symbol entered the visual identity of a modern constitutional Republic whose citizens belonged to many different religious, cultural and social traditions.

Its historical origin remained part of its story, while its civic meaning became wider.

This is one of the reasons I find the Dharma Chakra particularly interesting as a symbol of modern India.

The Lion Capital and the State Emblem

The second major Ashokan symbol adopted by independent India is the Lion Capital.

On 26 January 1950, when the Constitution of India came into force, the Sarnath Lion Capital became the basis of the State Emblem of India.

The choice was significant because the Lion Capital carried several dimensions of Indian historical memory. It represented Ashoka, the Mauryan period, Sarnath, Buddhist history and the artistic achievements of ancient India. At the same time, it was now being placed within the institutional framework of a modern constitutional Republic.

The modern State Emblem retains the essential form of the Sarnath sculpture.

Beneath it appears:

सत्यमेव जयते — Satyameva Jayate

from the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad.

This brings together different strands of India’s intellectual and historical inheritance. The visual form comes from the Ashokan world, while the motto comes from the Upanishadic tradition. The institutional meaning belongs to the constitutional Republic.

I find this combination particularly significant because it demonstrates that modern Indian national symbolism was not constructed from one single historical source.

Different strands of India’s intellectual and cultural history could come together within the identity of the Republic.

What the Constituent Assembly Reveals

The discussions of the Constituent Assembly provide another important dimension to this history.

Nehru’s speech is particularly relevant, but the Ashokan and Buddhist associations of the symbols were also present in the wider discussions surrounding the national emblem and flag.

V. I. Muniswamy Pillai welcomed the Sarnath Lion Capital and referred to Ashoka’s association with Buddhism and his sympathy towards humanity.

These remarks are important because they show that the Buddhist dimension of the Ashokan symbol was already present in the political discussions surrounding the formation of the Republic.

The Chakra was therefore being understood through several different dimensions at the same time: ancient Indian history, Ashoka, Buddhism, peace, human welfare, national identity and the future of independent India.

This makes the Constituent Assembly discussions particularly valuable for understanding how these symbols were viewed during the period in which they entered the national identity.

Ashoka and the Ethical Idea of Rule

Ashoka becomes particularly interesting when considered from the perspective of Socially Engaged Buddhism.

His inscriptions provide evidence of a ruler reflecting upon the responsibilities of political authority and the welfare of people within his realm. They speak about moral conduct, welfare measures, religious coexistence, administrative responsibilities and the conduct expected from those exercising authority.

The Ashokan understanding of Dhamma belongs to its own historical circumstances and therefore needs to be understood within the Mauryan context. At the same time, his inscriptions give us an important historical example of ethical considerations being brought into the public language of political rule.

This is one reason Ashoka has remained important within Indian historical and political imagination.

The modern Republic did not inherit the Mauryan Empire and it would be historically incorrect to treat ancient Mauryan rule and modern constitutional democracy as the same political system.

What modern India inherited was a part of the historical memory associated with Ashoka and selected symbols from his reign. These symbols were then interpreted within a very different political and constitutional framework.

For me, this distinction is important because it allows us to study the relationship between ancient history and modern public life without making the two periods identical.

The Chakra, Movement and Public Life

The wheel also carries another interesting dimension.

Within the Buddhist tradition, the image of setting the Dhamma wheel in motion expresses the movement of the Buddha’s teaching into the world. It therefore carries ideas of movement, continuity and transmission.

When the same Chakra was placed at the centre of the national flag, it entered another context of collective life.

A nation also moves through time. Its institutions develop, its people participate in its history and its understanding of justice, dignity, responsibility and social order continues to develop.

The Chakra can therefore be understood not only as a symbol inherited from the past but also as something that remains connected with movement and continuity.

India was itself passing through a major transformation when the Chakra was placed on the national flag. The country was moving from colonial rule into independence and beginning the process of establishing a constitutional democracy.

The symbol therefore looks towards an ancient past while simultaneously becoming part of a new political future.

Buddhism, Ashoka and Constitutional India

The Buddhist connections visible in India’s national symbols are best understood through their history and through the different meanings that developed around them.

The Dharma Chakra has an important Buddhist genealogy.

The Lion Capital belongs to the world of Ashoka and the Mauryan period.

The Chakra from the Sarnath Lion Capital was consciously selected for the national flag.

The Lion Capital itself subsequently became the basis of the State Emblem.

Through these choices, ancient Buddhist and Ashokan imagery became part of the symbolic architecture of a modern constitutional state.

The symbols then acquired a wider national meaning. They became part of the identity of the Republic and therefore part of the shared public landscape of its citizens.

This is what makes their history compelling.

A symbol can retain the memory of its historical origin while acquiring a wider civic meaning in another period.

From Sarnath to the Republic

The journey from Sarnath to the Indian Republic therefore passes through several different historical worlds.

At Sarnath, the Dharma Chakra is connected with the Buddha’s first teaching. Under Ashoka, the Chakra and the Lion Capital became part of a monumental landscape associated with the Mauryan period. In 1947, the Chakra was consciously selected for the national flag. In 1950, the Lion Capital became the State Emblem of India.

The symbols remained recognisable, but their context changed.

For me, this history demonstrates one of the ways in which Buddhism can enter public life through history, symbolism, political memory and ethical reflection. The story of the Dharma Chakra and the Lion Capital is therefore not only a story about Buddhist symbols. It is also a story about how independent India looked towards its ancient past while creating a modern political identity.

The symbols of the Republic consequently carry several layers of meaning.

They carry memories of Sarnath, the legacy of Ashoka, the language of Dhamma, the discussions surrounding the formation of independent India and the aspirations of a newly established Republic.

The Dharma Chakra at the heart of the national flag and the Lion Capital associated with the institutions of the Republic stand at an interesting meeting point of Buddhist history, Mauryan heritage, Indian historical memory and constitutional modernity.

Their continued presence gives us an opportunity to understand how the symbols and ideas of India’s past continue to participate in the imagination of its public life.

And perhaps this is where the history of the Dharma Chakra and the Lion Capital becomes most meaningful to me: not simply in what these symbols represented in the past, but in how they continue to acquire meaning as India itself continues to evolve.

PRIMARY FOUNDATIONS

Saṃyutta Nikāya 56.11 — Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Ashokan Inscriptions — Rock Edicts and Pillar Edicts

Sarnath Archaeological Remains — Ashokan Pillar and Lion Capital

Constituent Assembly Debates — 22 July 1947, adoption of the Dharma Chakra in the National Flag

Constituent Assembly Proceedings — adoption of the Lion Capital as the State Emblem of India

Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.1.6 — source of “Satyameva Jayate”

Srishti Sharma

Buddhologist