#history
National Emblem.
The Four Lions became the State Emblem of independent India after the Constituent Assembly adopted the same in 1947.
The Four lifesized Lions, carved in sandstone, are set back to back on a drum-shaped Abacus.
They originally stood atop a pillar erected by Emperor Ashoka in Saranath c.250 BCE.
The artefacts were buried under earth for centuries, till a German engineer Frederick Oscar Ortel ( 1862-1942) discovered it.
Ortel was a Superintending Engineer in the PWD, entrusted with the storage of other artefacts discovered from Saranath. He obtained permission from the Archeological Survey of India to continue the excavations. He started his excavations in 1903.
The Lion Capital was discovered on 15 March 1905. It is now a prized exhibit in the Saranath Museum.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
