The Emblem of India is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. Emperor Ashoka the Great erected the capital atop a Ashoka Pillar to mark the spot where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha was founded. In the original, there are four lions, standing back to back, mounted on an abacus with a frieze carrying sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a galloping horse, a bull and a lion separated by intervening wheels over a bell-shaped lotus. Carved out of a single block of polished sandstone, the capital is crowned by the Wheel of righteousness/justice (Dharmachakra).It has four "Indian Lions", resting on a circular abacus. The fourth lion is on the rear and hence hidden from view. The emblem symbolizes a NATION that is "valiant in courage, strong of body, politic in council and a foe to fear. "The abacus is girded by four smaller animals - guardians of the four directions: the Lion of the north, the Elephant of the east, the Horse of the south and Bull of the west. The abacus rests on a nelumbo nucifera (Indian Lotus) in full bloom, exemplifying the fountainhead of life.
Indian Flag
A few days before India became independent on August 1947, flag with three colours, Saffron, White and Green with the Ashoka Chakra was selected.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who later became India's first Vice President, clarified the adopted flag and described its significance as follows:
“Bhagwa or the saffron colour denotes renunciation or disinterestedness. Our leaders must be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work. The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct. The green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends. The "Ashoka Chakra" in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma. Truth or सत्य , धर्मं or virtue ought to be the controlling principle of those who work under this flag. Again, the wheel denotes motion. There is death in stagnation. There is life in movement. India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward. The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change.”
A widely held unofficial interpretation is that the saffron stands for purity and spirituality, white for peace and truth, green for fertility and prosperity and the wheel for justice.
Ashoka Chakra
Usually inscribed below the abacus in Devanagari script is the motto सत्यमेव जयते - Satyameva Jayate (English: "Truth Alone Triumphs"). This is a quote from Mundaka Upanishad, the concluding part of the sacred Hindu Vedas.
This is the famous original sandstone sculpted Lion Capital of Ashoka preserved at Sarnath Museum which was originally erected around 250 BCE atop an Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath. The wheel "Ashoka Chakra" from its base has been placed onto the center of the National Flag of India.
The Ashoka Chakra is a depiction of the Dharmachakra, the Wheel of Dharma (Sanskrit: Chakra means wheel). The wheel has 24 spokes. Chakra is a Sanskrit word which also means cycle or self repeating process.
According to Hindu belief, in each cycle the world has to pass through four phases from its starting till end of the world when the world will be recreated. The four phases are named as Satya Yuga सत्य युग (Golden Age), Treta Yuga त्रेता युग (Silver age), Dvapara Yuga द्वापर युग (Copper age) and Kali Yuga कली युग (Iron age or the age of the Wrath of God).
Satya Yuga meaning the Golden age when the human was in his happy times and then slowly the quality of human souls started declining. And finally when he reaches Kali Yuga, or the age of the Wrath of God, the world is recreated anew after mass destruction with wars and natural calamities.
The twenty four spokes in this chakra wheel represent twenty four virtues :- Love, Courage, Patience, Peacefulness, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control, Selflessness, Self Sacrifice, Truthfulness, Righteousness, Justice, Mercy, Graciousness, Humility, Empathy, Sympathy, Godly Knowledge, Godly Wisdom, Godly Moral, Reverential fear of God and Hope/Trust/Faith in the goodness of God.
According to school textbooks in context to the position of Ashoka Chakra on flag - the twenty four spokes signify the 24 hour progress of Nation.
