In 1950, a visual rendition of it was approved as India's official emblem. It was created on top of the Ashoka pillar at the important Buddhist sanctuary of Sarnath in roughly 250 BCE, while Emperor Ashoka's reign over the Maurya Empire.
From c. 268 to 232 BCE, Ashoka, also known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian ruler of the Maurya Dynasty and the son of Bindusara, who governed practically the whole Indian subcontinent. Ashoka was a Buddhist who fostered the development of Buddhism across ancient Asia. Many consider Ashoka to be one of India's greatest kings, as he enlarged Chandragupta's empire to include territory spanning from modern-day Afghanistan to Bangladesh in the east. Except for sections of modern-day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala, it spanned the entire Indian subcontinent. Pataliputra was the empire's capital, with provincial capitals in Takshashila and Ujjain. After the Kalinga war, Ashoka became enraged by the violence and vowed to never fight again. During his reign, he was a Buddhist patron.
In around 260 BCE, Ashoka captured the kingdom of Kalinga and launched a particularly terrible battle against it. According to a reading of his Edicts, he turned to Buddhism after seeing the mass murders of the Kalinga War, which he conducted out of a thirst for conquest and reputedly resulted in over 100,000 dead and 150,000 deportations. He is known for creating the Ashoka pillars and propagating his Edicts, as well as sending Buddhist monks to Sri Lanka and Central Asia and erecting monuments commemorating key events in Gautama Buddha's life.
