Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath
E126527
The Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath is an ancient Mauryan stone column erected by Emperor Ashoka at the site of the Buddha’s first sermon, renowned as the original location of India’s national emblem.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Ashoka Pillar | 1 |
| Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath canonical | 1 |
| Ashoka pillar capital | 1 |
| Ashokan pillar | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1106037 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath Context triple: [Lion Capital of Ashoka, mountedOn, Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath]
-
A.
Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi
The Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi are an ancient complex of stupas, monasteries, temples, and pillars renowned as some of the oldest and most important surviving Buddhist architectural and artistic remains in India.
-
B.
Ajanta Caves
Ajanta Caves is a renowned complex of ancient Buddhist rock-cut cave monuments in India, famous for its exquisite murals, sculptures, and architecture dating from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE.
-
C.
Lotus Temple
The Lotus Temple is a Baháʼí House of Worship in New Delhi, India, renowned for its distinctive lotus-flower-inspired architecture and openness to people of all faiths.
-
D.
Ellora Caves
Ellora Caves is a renowned complex of rock-cut monasteries and temples in India, celebrated for its monumental architecture and intricate sculptures representing Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain traditions.
-
E.
Borobudur Temple
Borobudur Temple is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Central Java renowned for its massive stepped pyramid structure and intricate stone reliefs, and is one of the most important archaeological and pilgrimage sites in Southeast Asia.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath Target entity description: The Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath is an ancient Mauryan stone column erected by Emperor Ashoka at the site of the Buddha’s first sermon, renowned as the original location of India’s national emblem.
-
A.
Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi
The Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi are an ancient complex of stupas, monasteries, temples, and pillars renowned as some of the oldest and most important surviving Buddhist architectural and artistic remains in India.
-
B.
Ajanta Caves
Ajanta Caves is a renowned complex of ancient Buddhist rock-cut cave monuments in India, famous for its exquisite murals, sculptures, and architecture dating from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE.
-
C.
Lotus Temple
The Lotus Temple is a Baháʼí House of Worship in New Delhi, India, renowned for its distinctive lotus-flower-inspired architecture and openness to people of all faiths.
-
D.
Ellora Caves
Ellora Caves is a renowned complex of rock-cut monasteries and temples in India, celebrated for its monumental architecture and intricate sculptures representing Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain traditions.
-
E.
Borobudur Temple
Borobudur Temple is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Central Java renowned for its massive stepped pyramid structure and intricate stone reliefs, and is one of the most important archaeological and pilgrimage sites in Southeast Asia.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Ashokan pillar
ⓘ
archaeological site feature ⓘ monument ⓘ |
| approximateReign | reign of Ashoka (c. 268–232 BCE) ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Buddhism
ⓘ
Deer Park at Sarnath ⓘ Turning of the Wheel of Dharma ⓘ
surface form:
Dharmachakra Pravartana (First Sermon)
Shakyamuni Buddha ⓘ
surface form:
Gautama Buddha
|
| builderDynasty |
Maurya Empire
ⓘ
surface form:
Maurya dynasty
|
| builtBy |
Ashoka
ⓘ
surface form:
Emperor Ashoka
|
| country | India ⓘ |
| culturalSignificance |
important Buddhist pilgrimage site
ⓘ
national symbol of India ⓘ |
| currentCondition | shaft broken and fallen ⓘ |
| currentLocationOfCapital | Sarnath Museum ⓘ |
| dateOfConstruction | 3rd century BCE ⓘ |
| depictedOn |
State Emblem of India
ⓘ
surface form:
Emblem of India (via its capital)
|
| era |
Maurya Empire
ⓘ
surface form:
Mauryan period
|
| famousFor |
Lion Capital of Ashoka
ⓘ
surface form:
Sarnath Lion Capital
being the source of India’s national emblem ⓘ highly polished Mauryan stonework ⓘ |
| function |
religious commemorative column
ⓘ
royal proclamation pillar ⓘ |
| governingBody | Archaeological Survey of India ⓘ |
| hasPart |
Abacus with animal figures
ⓘ
Ashokan inscriptions ⓘ
surface form:
Ashokan edict inscription
Lion Capital of Ashoka ⓘ
surface form:
Sarnath Lion Capital
bell-shaped lotus base ⓘ monolithic shaft ⓘ |
| heritageDesignation | ASI protected monument ⓘ |
| inscriptionLanguage | Prakrit ⓘ |
| inscriptionScript | Brahmi script ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
India
ⓘ
Sarnath ⓘ Uttar Pradesh ⓘ Varanasi district ⓘ |
| material |
Chunar sandstone
ⓘ
polished sandstone ⓘ |
| near |
Dhamek Stupa
ⓘ
Mulagandha Kuti Vihara ⓘ |
| partOf |
Buddhist monastic complex at Sarnath
ⓘ
Sarnath ⓘ
surface form:
Sarnath archaeological site
|
| purpose | commemorate the Buddha’s first sermon ⓘ |
| region |
northern India
ⓘ
surface form:
North India
|
| religion | Buddhism ⓘ |
| style | Mauryan art ⓘ |
| symbolism |
Buddha’s teaching
ⓘ
Dharma Chakra ⓘ
surface form:
Dharmachakra (Wheel of Dharma)
spread of Dharma ⓘ |
| touristAttraction | yes ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath Description of subject: The Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath is an ancient Mauryan stone column erected by Emperor Ashoka at the site of the Buddha’s first sermon, renowned as the original location of India’s national emblem.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Ashoka Pillar
this entity surface form:
Ashoka pillar capital
this entity surface form:
Ashokan pillar