Dhauli elephant
Topic: The Mauryan Empire · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Dhauli elephant is the front half of an elephant carved out of the living rock, as if it is stepping out of the stone. It sits just above Ashoka's edicts on Dhauli hill, near Bhubaneswar in Odisha. It is counted among the earliest rock-cut sculptures in India. The elephant stands for the Buddha: intelligent, powerful, patient and calm. It links Ashoka's message to the land of Kalinga, which he conquered.
Example
At Dhauli, in Mauryan times (3rd century BCE), the carved elephant faces the plain where the Kalinga war is believed to have been fought. Ashoka's edicts, cut into the rock just below it, ask his officers there to be fair and to treat people as their children.
Don't confuse with
- Sarnath lion capital: a carved animal top on a pillar at Sarnath, with four lions and a ring of four animals. The Dhauli elephant is cut directly from a natural rock and is not part of a pillar.