1.
Nelumbo nucifera
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Nelumbo nucifera, also known as Indian lotus, sacred lotus, bean of India, Egyptian bean or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. The Linnaean binomial Nelumbo nucifera is the currently recognized name for this species and this plant is an aquatic perennial. Native to Tropical Asia, and Queensland, Australia, it is cultivated in water gardens. It is also the flower of India, and Vietnam. The lotus is often confused with the water lilies, in fact, several older systems, such as the Bentham & Hooker system call the lotus Nymphaea nelumbo or Nymphaea stellata. Far from being in the family, Nymphaea and Nelumbo are members of different orders. The roots of lotus are planted in the soil of the pond or river bottom, the flowers are usually found on thick stems rising several centimeters above the leaves. The plant normally grows up to a height of about 150 cm and a spread of up to 3 meters. The leaves may be as large as 60 cm in diameter, researchers report that the lotus has the remarkable ability to regulate the temperature of its flowers to within a narrow range just as humans and other warmblooded animals do. Dr. Roger S. Seymour and Dr and they suspect the flowers may be doing this to attract coldblooded insect pollinators. The study, published in the journal Nature, is the latest discovery in the field of thermoregulation, heat-producing, two other species known to be able to regulate their temperature include Symplocarpus foetidus and Philodendron selloum. An individual lotus can live for over a thousand years and has the ability to revive into activity after stasis. In 1994, a seed from a lotus, dated at roughly 1,300 years old ±270 years, was successfully germinated. As mentioned earlier, the traditional Sacred Lotus is only related to Nymphaea caerulea. Both Nymphaea caerulea and Nelumbo nucifera contain the alkaloids nuciferine and aporphine, the genome of the sacred lotus was sequenced in May 2013. The distinctive dried seed heads, which resemble the spouts of watering cans, are sold throughout the world for decorative purposes. The flowers, seeds, young leaves, and roots are all edible, in Asia, the petals are sometimes used for garnish, while the large leaves are used as a wrap for food, not frequently eaten. In Korea, the leaves and petals are used as a tisane, yeonkkotcha is made with dried petals of white lotus and yeonipcha is made with the leaves
2.
State Emblem of India
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The State Emblem of India, as the national emblem of India is called, is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, preserved in the Varanasi Sarnath Museum in India. It was adopted on 26 January 1950, the day that India became a republic, the emblem forms a part of the official letterhead of the Government of India and appears on all Indian currency as well. It also functions as the emblem of India in many places. The Ashoka Chakra on its features in the centre of the national flag of India. The usage of the emblem is regulated and restricted under State Emblem of India Act,2005, no individual or private organisation is permitted to use the emblem for official correspondence. The actual Sarnath capital features four Asiatic lions standing back to back, symbolizing power, courage, confidence, at the bottom is a horse and a bull, and at its centre is a beautiful wheel. Carved from a block of sandstone, the polished capital is crowned by the Wheel of the Law. In the emblem adopted by Madhav Sawhney in 1950, only three lions are visible, the fourth being hidden from view. The wheel appears in relief in the centre of the abacus, with a bull on the right and a horse on the left. The bell-shaped lotus beneath the abacus has been omitted, forming an integral part of the emblem is the motto inscribed below the abacus in Devanagari script, Satyameva Jayate सत्यमेव जयते. This is a quote from Mundaka Upanishad, the part of the sacred Hindu Vedas. Dinanath Bhargava was the man handpicked by legendary painter Nandalal Bose to design the National Emblem as a 21-year-old and he died at his home in Anand Nagar, Indore, on Saturday evening, the 24th December 2016. Symbols of Indian states and territories
3.
Ashoka Chakra
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The Ashoka Chakra is a depiction of the dharmachakra, represented with 24 spokes. It is so called because it appears on a number of edicts of Ashoka, indias highest peacetime military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield is also called Ashoka Chakra. When Gautama Buddha achieved nirvana at Bodh Gaya, he came to Sarnath, there, he found his five disciples Assaji, Mahānāma, Kondañña, Bhaddiya and Vappa, who had earlier abandoned him. He introduced his first teachings to them, thereby establishing the dharmachakra and this is the motive taken up by Ashoka and portrayed on top of his pillars. However,12 out of the 24 spokes represent the twelve causal links taught by the Buddha, the first 12 spokes represent 12 stages of suffering. Next 12 spokes represent no cause no effect, so, due to awareness of mind formation of mental conditioning stops. This process stops the process of birth and death i. e. nibbana and these 12 in reverse represent a total 24 spokes representing the dharma
4.
Asiatic lion
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The Asiatic lion, also known as the Indian lion and Persian lion, is a lion subspecies that lives as a single population in Indias Gujarat State. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List because of its population size. The Asiatic lion was first described by the Austrian zoologist Johann N. Meyer under the trinomen Felis leo persicus and its historical range included Turkey, Persia, Mesopotamia, and from east of the Indus River in the former Sind Province to Bengal and Narmada River in Central India. It differs from the African lion by a less developed mane, since 2010, the lion population in and around Gir Forest National Park has steadily increased. Its Persian name Shir is a part of the names of places in Iran and Central Asia, like those of city of Shiraz and the Sherabad River. Thus, the word Shir is culturally significant for Iran, India, the Asiatic lion is one of five pantherine cats in India, apart from the Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, snow leopard and clouded leopard. His essay about lions contains a drawing titled Bengal lion Felis leo bengalensis, in 1833, Walter Smee exhibited two skins of lions killed in Gujerat in a meeting of the Zoological Society of London. He presented these skins of maneless lions under the name Felis leo goojratensis, in 1834, Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet proposed the name Leo asiaticus for Asiatic lions. In 1843, Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville published a drawing of an Asiatic lion skull under the name Felis leo indicus, fossil remains found in the Cromer Stage suggest that the lion or a lion-like animal that entered Europe was of a gigantic size. Frequently encountered lion bones in cave deposits from Eemian times suggest that the late Pleistocene Eurasian cave lion Panthera leo spelaea survived in the Balkans, there was probably a continuous population extending into India. Cave lions appeared about 600,000 years ago and were distributed throughout Europe, across Siberia, the gradual formation of dense forest likely caused the decline in geographic range of lions near the end of the late Pleistocene. Fossil remains of lions were found in Pleistocene deposits in West Bengal, a fossil carnassial found in the Batadomba Cave indicates that Panthera leo sinhaleyus inhabited Sri Lanka during the late Pleistocene, and is thought to have become extinct around 39,000 years ago. This subspecies was described by Deraniyagala in 1939 and it is distinct from the extant Asiatic lion. A phylogeographic analysis based on sequences of lions from across their entire range indicates that Sub-Saharan African lions are phylogenetically basal to all modern lions. Natural barriers to lion dispersal comprise the Sahara Desert, equatorial rainforests, in a study about lion evolution, genetic markers of 357 samples from captive and wild lions from Africa and India were examined. Results suggest four lineages of lion populations, one from Kenya, one from Southern Africa, one from Central and Northern Africa to Asia, and one from Southern and Eastern Africa. Lions in Southern and East Africa are genetically different from West-Central African lions, the Asiatic lions fur ranges in colour from ruddy-tawny, heavily speckled with black, to sandy or buffish grey, sometimes with a silvery sheen in certain lights. Males have only moderate mane growth at the top of the head, the mane is scanty on the cheeks and throat where it is only 10 cm long
5.
Flag of India
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The National Flag of India is a horizontal rectangular tricolour of India saffron, white and India green, with the Ashoka Chakra, a 24-spoke wheel, in navy blue at its centre. It was adopted in its present form during a meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on 22 July 1947, the flag was subsequently retained as that of the Republic of India. In India, the term tricolour almost always refers to the Indian national flag, the flag is based on the Swaraj flag, a flag of the Indian National Congress designed by Pingali Venkayya. By law, the flag is to be made of khadi, the manufacturing process and specifications for the flag are laid out by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The right to manufacture the flag is held by the Khadi Development and Village Industries Commission, as of 2009, the Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha has been the sole manufacturer of the flag. Usage of the flag is governed by the Flag Code of India, the original code prohibited use of the flag by private citizens except on national days such as the Independence day and the Republic Day. In 2002, on hearing an appeal from a citizen, Naveen Jindal. Subsequently, the Union Cabinet of India amended the code to allow limited usage, the code was amended once more in 2005 to allow some additional use including adaptations on certain forms of clothing. The flag code also governs the protocol of flying the flag, according to the Flag code of India, the Indian flag has a ratio of two by three. All three stripes of the flag are to be equal in width and length, the size of the Ashoka Chakra is not specified in the Flag code, but it has twenty-four spokes that are evenly spaced. In section 4.3.1 of IS1, Manufacturing standards for the Indian Flag, in both the Flag code and IS1, they call for the Ashoka Chakra to be printed or painted on both sides of the flag in navy blue. The navy blue colour can be found in the standard IS, note that the values given in the table correspond to CIE1931 color space. Approximate RGB values for use may be taken to be, India saffron #FF9933, white #FFFFFF, India green #138808, pantone values closest to this are 130 U, White,2258 C and 2735 C. Gandhi first proposed a flag to the Indian National Congress in 1921. The flag was designed by Pingali Venkayya, in the centre was a traditional spinning wheel, symbolising Gandhis goal of making Indians self-reliant by fabricating their own clothing. The design was modified to include a white stripe in the centre for other religious communities. A few days before India became independent on 15 August 1947, a modified version of the Swaraj flag was chosen, the tricolour remained the same saffron, white and green. However, the charkha was replaced by the Ashoka Chakra representing the wheel of law. To address the question of how the star conveyed Indianness, Queen Victoria created the Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India to honour services to the empire by her Indian subjects
6.
Pillars of Ashoka
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The pillars of Ashoka are a series of columns dispersed throughout the Indian subcontinent, erected or at least inscribed with edicts by the Mauryan king Ashoka during his reign in the 3rd century BC. Originally, there must have been many pillars but only nineteen survive with inscriptions, and only six with animal capitals, many are preserved in a fragmentary state. Averaging between 12 to 15 m in height, and weighing up to 50 tons each, the pillars were dragged, sometimes hundreds of miles, a few such Ashokan pillars have been discovered in China. All the pillars were built at Buddhist monasteries, many important sites from the life of the Buddha, some of the columns carry inscriptions addressed to the monks and nuns. Some were erected to commemorate visits by Ashoka, the uniformity of style in the pillar capitals suggests that they were all sculpted by craftsmen from the same region. It would therefore seem that stone was transported from Mathura and Chunar to the sites where the pillars have been found. The shafts are always plain and smooth, circular in cross-section, slightly tapering upwards, the lower parts of the capitals have the shape and appearance of a gently arched bell formed of lotus petals. The abaci are of two types, square and plain and circular and decorated and these are of different proportions, the crowning animals are masterpieces of Mauryan art, shown either seated or standing, always in the round and chiselled as a single piece with the abaci. Presumably all or most of the columns that now lack them once had capitals and animals. It is also possible some of the stone pillars predate Ashokas reign. Several pillars were relocated by later Mughal Empire rulers, the capitals being removed. One of them, the four lions of Sarnath, has become the State Emblem of India, various foreign influences have been described in the design of these capitals. The animal on top of a lotiform capital reminds of Achaemenid column shapes, a similar kind of design can be seen in the frieze of the lost capital of the Allahabad pillar. These designs likely originated in Greek and Near-Eastern arts and they would probably have come from the neighboring Seleucid Empire, and specifically from a Hellenistic city such as Ai-Khanoum, located at the doorstep of India. These contain inscriptions recording their dedication, Lumbini, Rupandehi district, Nepal was erected by Ashoka where Buddha was born. Nigali-Sagar, near Lumbini, Rupandehi district, Nepal The most celebrated capital erected by Emperor Ashoka circa 250 BC. also called the Ashoka Column, four lions are seated back to back. At present the Column remains in the same place whereas the Lion Capital is at the Sarnath Museum. This Lion Capital of Ashoka from Sarnath has been adopted as the National Emblem of India and the wheel Ashoka Chakra from its base was placed onto the centre of the flag of India
7.
Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
8.
Sarnath
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Sarnath is a city located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers in Uttar Pradesh, India. The deer park in Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, Sarnath has been variously known as Mrigadava, Migadāya, Rishipattana and Isipatana throughout its long history. Isipatana is the used in the Pali Canon, and means the place where holy men landed. The legend says that when the Buddha-to-be was born, some came down to announce it to 500 rishis. The rishis all rose into the air and disappeared and their relics fell to the ground, another explanation for the name is that Isipatana was so called because sages, on their way through the air, alight here or start from here on their aerial flight. Pacceka Buddhas, having spent seven days in contemplation in the Gandhamādana, bathe in the Anotatta Lake and come to the habitations of men through the air and they descend to earth at Isipatana. Sometimes the Pacceka Buddhas come to Isipatana from Nandamūlaka-pabbhāra, Xuanzang quotes the Nigrodhamiga Jātaka to account for the origin of the Migadāya. According to him the Deer Park was a forest given by the king of Benares of the Jātaka, the Migadāya was so-called because deer were allowed to roam about there unmolested. The king is so moved that he creates the park as a sanctuary for deer, the park is active in modern times. Before Gautama attained enlightenment, he gave up his austere penances and his friends, while travelling to Sarnath, Gautama Buddha had no money with which to pay the ferryman to cross the Ganges, so he crossed it through the air. Later when King Bimbisāra heard of this, he abolished the toll for ascetics, when Gautama Buddha found and taught his five former companions, they understood and as a result, also became enlightened. At that time the Sangha, the community of the ones, was founded. The sermon Buddha gave to the five monks was his first sermon and it was given on the full-moon day of Asalha Puja. Buddha subsequently also spent his first rainy season at Sarnath at the Mulagandhakuti, the Sangha had grown to 60 in number, and Buddha sent them out in all directions to travel alone and teach the Dharma. Several other incidents connected with the Buddha, besides the preaching of the first sermon, are mentioned as having taken place in Isipatana, here it was that one day at dawn Yasa came to the Buddha and became an Arahant. It was at Isipatana, too, that the rule was passed prohibiting the use of sandals made of talipot leaves. On another occasion when the Buddha was staying at Isipatana, having gone there from Rājagaha, he instituted rules forbidding the use of certain kinds of flesh, twice, while the Buddha was at Isipatana, Māra visited him but had to go away discomfited. Mention is made, too, of a discourse in which several monks staying at Isipatana tried to help Channa in his difficulties, according to the Udapāna Jātaka there was a very ancient well near Isipatana which, in the Buddhas time, was used by the monks living there
9.
Ashoka
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Ashoka was an ancient Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from c. 268 to 232 BCE. One of Indias greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over a realm that stretched from the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan to the state of Bangladesh in the east. It covered the entire Indian subcontinent except parts of present-day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, the empires capital was Pataliputra, with provincial capitals at Taxila and Ujjain. In about 260 BCE, Ashoka waged a destructive war against the state of Kalinga. He conquered Kalinga, which none of his ancestors had done and he embraced Buddhism after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest. Ashoka reflected on the war in Kalinga, which reportedly had resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and 150,000 deportations, Ashoka converted gradually to Buddhism beginning about 263 BCE. He was later dedicated to the propagation of Buddhism across Asia, Ashoka regarded Buddhism as a doctrine that could serve as a cultural foundation for political unity. Ashoka is now remembered as a philanthropic administrator, in the Kalinga edicts, he addresses his people as his children, and mentions that as a father he desires their good. Ashokas name Aśoka means painless, without sorrow in Sanskrit, in his edicts, he is referred to as Devānāmpriya, and Priyadarśin. His fondness for his names connection to the Saraca asoca tree, along with the Edicts of Ashoka, his legend is related in the 2nd-century CE Ashokavadana, and in the Sri Lankan text Mahavamsa. The emblem of the modern Republic of India is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka, Ashoka was born to the Mauryan emperor, Bindusara and a relatively lower ranked wife, Subhadrangī. Ashoka became a great emperor despite having an appearance that was unfavorable to his father. He was the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan dynasty, since, according to Roman historian Appian, Ashokas grandfather Chandragupta had made a marital alliance with Seleucus, there is a possibility that Ashoka had a Seleucid Greek grandmother. The Avadana texts mention that his mother was queen Subhadrangī, according to the Ashokavadana, she was the daughter of a Brahmin from the city of Champa. Though a palace intrigue kept her away from the emperor, this eventually ended and it is from her exclamation I am now without sorrow, that Ashoka got his name. The Divyāvadāna tells a story, but gives the name of the queen as Janapadakalyānī. Ashoka had several siblings, all of whom were his half-brothers from the other wives of Bindusara. His fighting qualities were apparent from an age and he was given royal military training
