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Ashoka Chakra

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This article is about the symbol. For the award, see Ashoka Chakra Award.

Illustration of the Ashoka Chakra, as depicted on the National flag of the Republic of India.
Depiction of a Chakravartin, possibly Ashoka, with a 16-spoked wheel (1st century BCE/CE)

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, most prominent among which is the Lion Capital of Sarnath.

The most visible use of the Ashoka Chakra today is at the centre of the National flag of the Republic of India (adopted on 22 July 1947), where it is rendered in a Navy-blue colour on a White background, by replacing the symbol of Charkha (Spinning wheel) of the pre-independence versions of the flag.

When Buddha achieved nirvana (Enlightenment) at Gaya, he came to Sarnath on the outskirts of Varanasi. There he found his five disciples (panch vargiya Bhikshu) Ashwajeet, Mahanaam, Kaundinya, Bhadrak and Kashyap, who had earlier abandoned him. He preached his first sermon to them, thereby promulgating the Dharmachakra. This is the motif taken up by Ashoka and portrayed on top of his pillars.

However, the 12 out of 24 spokes represent the twelve causal links taught by the Buddha. The twelve causal links, paired with their corresponding symbols, are:

  1. Avidyā lack of knowledge - a blind person, often walking, or a person peering out
  2. Saṃskāra constructive volitional activity - a potter shaping a vessel or vessels
  3. Vijñāna consciousness - a man or a monkey grasping a fruit
  4. Nāmarūpa name and form (constituent elements of mental and physical existence) - two men afloat in a boat
  5. Ṣaḍāyatana six senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) - a dwelling with six windows
  6. Sparśa contact - lovers consorting, kissing, or entwined
  7. Vedanā pain - an arrow to the eye
  8. Tṛṣṇa thirst - a drinker receiving drink
  9. Upādāna grasping[1] - a man or a monkey picking fruit
  10. Bhava coming to be - a couple engaged in intercourse, a standing, leaping or reflective person
  11. Jāti being born - woman giving birth
  12. Jarāmaraṇa old age[2] and death[3] - corpse being carried

These 12 in reverse represent a total 24 spokes representing the Life-The Dhamma(Pali).

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who later became India's first Vice President, described the flag as follows:

Bhagwa or the saffron colour denotes courage, sacrifice, 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 satya, dharma 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.[4][5][6]

The real reason for having 24 spokes on the Chakra is: According to Hindu religion, Puranas mentioned that only 24 Rishis wielded the whole power of the Gayatri Mantra. These 24 rishi in Himalayas are represented through the 24 letters of Gayatri Mantra. The all the 24 spokes of Dharmachakra are representation of all these 24 rishi of Himalayas in which Vishvamitra is first and Yajnavalkya is last who governs the religion (Dharma). Ashok Chakra is symbol of Dharmchakra and also known as Samay Chakra in which all the 24 spokes represented 24 hours of the day and symbol of the movement of the time[7][8][9]


24 Spokes of Ashok Chakra according Hindu religion:

  • 1. Love
  • 2. Courage
  • 3. Patience
  • 4. Peacefulness
  • 5. Magnanimity
  • 6. Goodness
  • 7. Faithfulness
  • 8. Gentleness
  • 9. Selflessness
  • 10. Self-Control
  • 11. Self Sacrifice
  • 12. Truthfulness
  • 13. Righteousness
  • 14. Justice
  • 15. Mercy
  • 16. Gracefulness
  • 17. Humility
  • 18. Empathy
  • 19. Sympathy
  • 20.Spiritual Knowledge
  • 21. Moral Values
  • 22. Spiritual Wisdom
  • 23. The Fear of God
  • 24. The Faith or Trust or belief[10][11][12]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ See, for example, Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 149; and, Gombrich (2005).
  2. ^ See Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 279, entry for "Jarā," retrieved 19 Nov 2008 from "U. Chicago" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.1:1:1721.pali . More than simply "old age," the PED provides the additional meanings of "decay, decrepitude"; and, these additional translations are reflected in the Buddha's reputed words in the Jarā Sutta (below). However, for the sake of semantic conciseness, the compound term jarā-maraṇa is here represented as "old age and death."
  3. ^ See Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 524, entry for "Maraṇa," retrieved 19 Nov 2008 from "U. Chicago" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2:1:3896.pali . The PED further contextualizes maraṇa with "death, as ending this (visible) existence, physical death...." That is, in Buddhism, maraṇa does not refer to death of the conscious process or the end of the associated suffering.
  4. ^ http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/flagcodeofindia_070214.pdf
  5. ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
  6. ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1355310/flag-of-India
  7. ^ “Representation of the 24 Spokes of the Ashoka Chakra” Ashokchakra/DharmChakra
  8. ^ “Viswamitra Composed Gayatrimantra”. Gayatri Mantra related book
  9. ^ National Perspective of the region and its people: Bharata to India: Chrysee the Golden, Volume 1 Chrysee the Golden, 2012, By M. K. Agarwal, ISBN 978-1-4759-07650, Page 156: What is Ashok Chakra/Dharma Chakra and what is 24 virtues of the spokes of the Ashok Chakra from a printed book from United States of America
  10. ^ “The Canon Law Society of India: the Dharm Chakra(Wheel of Truth)”. Is the one of web stated Dharmchakra page
  11. ^ National Perspective of the region and its people: Bharata to India: Chrysee the Golden, Volume 1 Chrysee the Golden, 2012, By M. K. Agarwal, ISBN 978-1-4759-07650, Page 156:24 virtues of the spokes of the Ashok Chakra Printed book from United States of America
  12. ^ “Ashok Chakra”. One of the Ashok Chakra's definition in Eastern Panorama
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