The Lion Capital of Ashoka is a polished sandstone sculpture from the 3rd century BC, erected around 250 BC under the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. F. O. Oertel found it at Sarnath in the winter of 1904 to 1905, west of the main shrine. It is displayed in the Sarnath Museum, the Archaeological Survey of India's first site museum.
The capital is 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall. Four lions sit back to back on a drum-shaped abacus 34 inches (86 centimeters) across. A 24-spoke wheel appears below each lion, with a lion, elephant, bull and horse between them. An inverted lotus bell with 16 petals forms the base, carved in a Persepolitan style.
A larger wheel once crowned the lions and survives only in fragments. The wheel on the abacus inspired the one on India's flag. The Constituent Assembly adopted the resolution on December 11, 1947.
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