F. O. Oertel
Videos
Friedrich Oscar Oertel was a German-born British engineer, architect, and archaeologist. He is best known among Indian art historians and archaeologists for having excavated the archaeological site of
Oertel in Pagan (1892)
Oertel and his wife Margaret H. Lechmere, 25 July 1903
The Lion Capital of Ashoka on the ground at Sarnath, before 1911, probably 1904-05
F.O. Oertel, September 1930
Lion Capital of Ashoka
Videos
The Lion Capital of Ashoka is the capital, or head, of a column erected by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in Sarnath, India, c. 250 BCE. Its crowning features are four life-sized lions set back to back on
F. O. Oertel
…having excavated the archaeological site of Sarnath (India, Uttar Pradesh) in the winter of 1904–1905. It was here that in March 1905 he unearthed the Lion Capital of Ashoka of an Ashokan pillar, which was to become the national emblem of India. However, probably because he was mainly involved as a civil engineer and architect…
Four Asiatic lions stand back to back on a circular abacus. The Buddhist wheel of the moral law appears in relief below each lion. Between the chakras appear four animals in profile—horse, bull, elephant, and lion. The architectural bell below the abacus is a stylized upside-down lotus.
The Dhamek Stupa in Sarnath, a watercolour by Abdullah, Shaikh, January 1814 (sketch); 1819 (colour)
The excavation site two years later
Capital in Sahni's Catalogue, 1914