Which of the following is/are the correct components of the "Lion Capital" at Sarnath? 1. The shaft (stambha-yashti) or the tall tapering column 2. An elliptical top part – the abacus, devoid of any carvings 3. Overflowing inverted petals below the abacus Select the answer using the code given below :
- (a)1 only
- (b)1 and 3 only
- (c)2 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Correct — D, 1, 2 and 3. That is the answer carried for this paper, and this card must say plainly that statement 2 does not survive checking, because the abacus of the Sarnath capital is neither elliptical nor plain. Statements 1 and 3 are sound. The standard description of the capital lists five component parts — the shaft, now broken in many places; a lotus bell base; a drum on that base carrying four animals moving clockwise; the four addorsed lions; and the crowning Dharmachakra, which survives only in fragments in the Sarnath museum — so the tall tapering shaft belongs on any list of its parts, and the inverted lotus with its petals sits directly below the abacus, exactly as statement 3 says. Statement 2 is where the item breaks. The abacus is a circular drum about eighty-six centimetres across, and far from being devoid of carvings it bears a twenty-four-spoked wheel in each of the four directions with a bull, a horse, an elephant and a lion carved between them — the very animals that make the capital famous. On the evidence the answer is option (b), 1 and 3 only. Learn the anatomy of the capital and treat the letter as open until the official key appears.
- (a)1 only — Keeps only the shaft and drops the inverted lotus, which is a genuine part of the capital and sits immediately below the abacus.
- (b)1 and 3 only — This is the reading that follows from the object itself — the shaft and the inverted lotus are real components, and the abacus is circular and carved. It is set out here as the honest alternative rather than as an error.
- (c)2 and 3 only — Pairs the inverted lotus, which is correct, with the elliptical uncarved abacus, which is not; and it discards the shaft, which the standard description of the capital includes.
The Sarnath capital once crowned a polished sandstone pillar raised by Ashoka at the site of the Buddha's first sermon. Read from the bottom, it is a shaft, then a bell-shaped inverted lotus, then a circular abacus or drum carved with four wheels and four animals, then four lions seated back to back, and finally a large wheel that the lions carried. The capital without the crowning wheel and the lotus base was adopted as the state emblem of India on 26 January 1950.
This is an item to answer from the object, not from a remembered list. Picture the capital and check each statement against it: is there a shaft, is the abacus round or oval, is it plain or carved, is there an inverted lotus below it? Three of those four are settled by looking. The elliptical, uncarved abacus in statement 2 would describe a different and plainer capital altogether; the Sarnath drum is the one every Indian sees on a passport and a currency note, wheels and animals included. Note also the paper's use of 'stambha-yashti' for the shaft — yashti is the term for the staff or pole, and it also names the mast that rises from the harmika of a stupa, which is worth carrying across from Buddhist architecture.
- The Sarnath capital's component parts are the shaft, a lotus bell base, a drum with four animals moving clockwise, four addorsed lions, and a crowning Dharmachakra now surviving only in fragments.
- The abacus is a circular drum carrying a twenty-four-spoked chakra in each of the four directions, with a bull, a horse, an elephant and a lion carved between the wheels.
- The circular abacus rests on an inverted lotus capital whose petals are individually modelled.
- The capital without the crowning wheel and the lotus base was adopted as the state emblem of India on 26 January 1950.
- The pillar commemorates the Dhammachakrapravartana, the Buddha's first sermon at Sarnath, and the chakra motif carries that meaning through later Buddhist art.
- Describing the Sarnath abacus as plain; the plain-abacus capitals are other Ashokan pillars, not this one.
- Forgetting that the crowning wheel is a separate component, surviving only in fragments and not part of the state emblem.
- Assuming the emblem shows four lions; four exist on the capital, but only three are visible in the emblem's frontal view.
As a components item on a named monument, where one statement misdescribes the shape or the ornament of a part.
Consider the following statements about Ashoka's faith in Buddhism: 1. Rummindei Pillar Inscription and Nigali Sagar Pillar Inscription provide clear evidence of Ashoka's faith in Buddhism. 2. Minor Rock Edict-I gives evidence of a sudden change in Ashoka's faith in Buddhism. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(a) 1 only
The same pillars from the epigraphic side. The Rummindei and Nigali Sagar inscriptions are cut on Ashokan columns of exactly the kind the Sarnath capital once crowned, so the two items together cover both what these monuments say and how they were built.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The abacus of the Lion Capital at Sarnath carries which of the following?
- (a)Four twenty-four-spoked wheels with a bull, a horse, an elephant and a lion between them
- (b)No carving at all
- (c)A row of geese
- (d)A honeysuckle and palmette frieze
Answer(a) Four twenty-four-spoked wheels with a bull, a horse, an elephant and a lion between them — the carving that gives the capital its fame.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Sarnath pillar of Ashoka was raised to commemorate which event?
- (a)The birth of the Buddha
- (b)The Buddha's enlightenment
- (c)The Buddha's first sermon
- (d)The Buddha's mahaparinirvana
Answer(c) The Buddha's first sermon — the Dhammachakrapravartana, which is why the wheel dominates its ornament.