Ashoka Chakra to restore Buddhist identity to Yamunanagar village

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Topra Kalan village in Yamunanagar district is all set to regain its lost historical identity. The village shall soon have the world’s largest ‘Dharam Chakra’, popularly called as Ashoka Chakra, presenting a glimpse of Emperor Ashoka’s era and re-establishing Dharma teachings in this area.

Two brothers from Yamunanagar Sidhartha Gauri and Dr Satyadeep Neil Gauri have taken the initiative for the revival of the lost Buddhist legacy. They are running an NGO, ‘Buddhist Forum’, for the revival of this ancient historical site.

With the help of the Topra Kalan gram panchayat, the Gauri brothers have planned to establish an Ashoka Edicts Park in the village and the setting up of the Asoka Chakra is part of it.

The manufacturing of the Ashoka Chakra is in an advanced stage at Topra Kalan village and it is expected to be installed before August 15. Sidhartha says the diameter of Chakra is 30 feet with 24 spokes and its weight ranges between 5 and 6 tonnes.

Anil Kumar Gadh, owner of Kamal Engineering, Yamunanagar, is voluntarily providing services such as consultancy, designing and fabrication to give the final shape to this huge monumental structure. “I am happy that we are helping in manufacturing the Ashoka Chakra, a sign of pride of our country,” says Gadh.

Besides Gadh, Surjeet Tiger, a local private civil contractor; Sanjay Saini, an interior designer from Hisar; Raj Kumari, a student of Guru Nanak Girls College, Yamunanagar; and social worker Manoj Thakur are giving their services voluntarily for the project. 

Emperor Ashoka had erected a monolithic pillar of sandstone at Topra Kalan village here. It had seven sets of inscriptions over it and is the only pillar of its kind in the Indian subcontinent.

However, in the 14th Century AD, Feroze Shah Tughlaq uprooted it and relocated it to Old Fort at Feroze Shah Kotla, New Delhi. At present Topra Kalan village is situated over the ancient mound where Mauryan era pottery pieces can be easily seen. “Ashoka Chakra is a non-armature structure, which is unique. To make it engineers have to carry out profile cutting and bending at our fabricating unit,” says Gadh.

The inscriptions on the stone will be embossed with the shot blasting technique, which is used more on the engineering side than art.

The hugeness of the structure was a challenge, so Gauri brothers decided to build it at the site at Topra Kalan village.

Surjeet Tiger, an engineer, is carrying out installation work of clubbing the 24 spokes and rings together with the basic technique of welding in isolate agriculture fields of Topra Kalan village.

Satyadeep Gauri believes that around 2,300 years ago the Ashoka Chakra was called Dharma Chakra. It was first used as a representation of the Buddha and his teachings as well. Emperor Ashoka used this chakra on pillars and he installed them all over the Indian subcontinent.

Sidhartha says nowadays only Buddha's statues are made, but not Dharma Chakra. So, we thought of going to the basics. After lots of thinking it was planned to make an iron-made Ashoka Chakra of 30-foot diameter.

He says, according to Buddhist philosophical text, a Dharma Chakra has 24 spokes; the first 12 represent the 12 teachings of dependent origination of the Buddha while the next 12 represent the neutral state of mind, which happens following mindfulness leading to ‘Nirvana’.

“Twelve links of dependent origination are ignorance, mental formations or volitions, status consciousness, ‘name’ and ‘form’, the six senses, contact, feelings, cravings or longings or desires, clinging to generation of factors of rebirth, birth and all sufferings. The worshipping of the Dharma Chakra could be found on the stone relief of Sanchi Stupa, Madhya Pradesh,” says Sidhartha.

He adds that this Ashoka Chakra will be painted in golden colour, which is regarded as the purest colour in the realms of spirituality.  

Munish Kumar, sarpanch of Topra Kalan, says that till a few years ago our village did not have heritage recognition, but now with this Ashoka Chakra it will emerge as one. Now, other villages talk about the heritage value of our Topra Kalan village.

“We now hope to see Buddhists come here on pilgrimage from all over the world. We feel proud today that Emperor Ashoka selected our village 2,300 years ago for erecting the pillar, which became the foundation for the Ashoka Chakra,” he adds.

Sidhartha Gauri claims that the government has accepted their request and Tourism Minister Ram Bilas Sharma has processed it to include this Ashoka Chakra among state tourism spots.