Emblem of India
Armiger	Republic of India
Adopted	26 January 1950
Motto	Satyameva Jayate "Truth Alone Triumphs"

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 approved by the Indian Government on 29 December 1947,^[1] and was officially adopted on 26 January 1950, the day that India became a republic.^[2]

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 national emblem of India in many places and appears prominently on Indian passports. The Ashoka Chakra (wheel) on its base features in the centre of the national flag of India.

The usage of the emblem is regulated and restricted under State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) 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 and pride mounted on a circular base. At the bottom is a horse and a bull, and at its centre is a wheel (Dharma chakra). The abacus is girded with a frieze of sculptures in high relief of The Lion of the North, The Horse of the West, The Bull of the South and The Elephant of the East, separated by intervening wheels, over a lotus in full bloom, exemplifying the fountainhead of life and creative inspiration. Carved from a single block of sandstone, the polished capital is crowned by the Wheel of the Law (Dharma Chakra).

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 galloping horse on the left, and outlines of Dharma Chakras on the extreme right and left. The bell-shaped lotus beneath the abacus has been omitted.^[3]

Forming an integral part of the emblem is the motto inscribed below the abacus in Devanagari script: Satyameva Jayate सत्यमेव जयते (English: Truth Alone Triumphs).^[4] This is a quote from Mundaka Upanishad,^[5] the concluding part of the sacred Hindu Vedas.

Artist

Dinanath Bhargava was the man handpicked by legendary painter Nandalal Bose to design the National Emblem as a 21-year-old. He died at his home in Anand Nagar, Indore, on Saturday evening, the 24th December 2016. He was 89 years old.^[6]

• The original Lion Capital of Ashoka
  The original Lion Capital of Ashoka
• 
  Ashoka Stambha at Indian Museum, Kolkata
• 
  Early photograph.
• 
  Photograph at time of discovery.
• 
  Sarnath pillar capital of Ashoka.

Emblems of national bodies

• 
  Emblem of the Supreme Court of India
• 
  Emblem of the Central Bureau of Investigation
• 
  Emblem of the Research and Analysis Wing

Historic Seals and Emblems

• 
  Emblem of the Constituent Assembly of India
• 
  Emblem of India during the British Raj called the Star of India
• 
  Coat of arms of the British East India Company which ruled most of the subcontinent after the Mughals until 1857
• 
  Coat of arms of the United Kingdom, used for all official documents, publications and correspondence during the British Raj (1858-1947) and in the Dominion of India (1947-1948)
• 
  Seal of the Mughal Empire
• 
  Lesser coat of arms of Portuguese India (1935-1961)
• 
  Greater coat of arms of Portuguese India (1935-1951)
• 
  Greater coat of arms of Portuguese India (1951-1961)

See also

• Symbols of Indian states and territories

References