We chance upon two Bharhut carvings, one representing a scene of worship of the Bodhi-Tree and the other that of an offshoot or descendant of the same, in both of which the Bodhi-Tree is confronted by an Asokan Pillar Surmounted by the standing figure of an elephant. In both, the stone-pillar is placed on the north-east side of the tree and at a short distance from it. That the spot of the Bodhi-Tree was once marked with an ornamented stone-pillar is equally borne out by an account in the kalingabodhi-Jataka, which mentions eighteen cubits as the probable height of the pillar.

What has befallen the stone-pillar erected by king Asoka at Bodhgaya we cannot say. The pillar is noticed neither by Fa-Hian nor by Huen-tsang. If it had actually been erected by Asoka, its disappearance must have taken place before the visit of the Chinese pilgrims. Historians have many speculations. But so long as the fact of its erection hazard anything beyond this observation that it is rather easier to presume its erection by Asoka than its disappearance caused by some unknown agent. The present pillar has been found at gaya and brought at Buddhagaya few year back.

ASOKAN RAILING