Ashoka Pillar

The Ashoka Pillar Circle in Jayanagar takes its name from the tall replica of the Sarnath lion capital that stands at its centre — the same sculptural group, commissioned by Emperor Ashoka in the third century BCE, that was later adopted as independent India’s national emblem. As a public monument, the pillar links this mid-twentieth-century Bengaluru neighbourhood to one of the deepest strands of Indian civilisational history: Ashoka’s empire-wide programme of edict pillars promoting dhamma, non-violence, and public welfare.

Jayanagar itself is significant in the city’s planning history as one of independent India’s earliest large, systematically laid-out residential extensions, developed by the Bangalore City Improvement Trust Board from the 1950s onward. The pillar circle has since become one of its most recognisable orientation points, a civic monument rather than an archaeological one, but one that keeps Ashoka’s imagery in daily public view.

Getting there: The circle is close to Jayanagar’s 4th T Block commercial complex, a short distance from the Jayanagar Post Office.