Senaka Weeraratna

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke new ground at the opening Day of the G20 Conference in Delhi yesterday when he greeted world leaders with a ‘Namaste’ and shook hands with them in front of a giant-sized Dharmachakra (also called Asoka Chakra) at the newly opened Bharat Mandapam.

It was a huge boost for Buddhism internationally, a theme constantly mooted by Modi and an idea close to his heart, as the Dharmachakra (also called the Dharma wheel) is the most potent symbol of Buddhism.  It is a foundational concept in Buddhism that represents the “Wheel of Dharma” or the path to enlightenment.  

It appears on a number of the Edicts of Ashoka the most prominent among which is the Lion Capital Pillar of Ashoka at Sarnath. The most visible use of the Ashoka Chakra today is at the center of the Flag of India (adopted on 22 July 1947).

India’s National Emblem is another version of Emperor Asoka’s Lion Capital Pillar (situated in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh), and accepted as the National Emblem on 26th January 1950, the day the Indian Constitution came into force.

The Dharmachakra is represented in the form of a wheel to display the completeness of the Dharma. The eight spokes in the wheel are also Buddhist symbols showing how the steps of the Noble Eight-Fold Path are connected to each other as are the three jewels at the center.

Asoka was a Mauryan King. Hailed as a Chakrawarty King (Universal Monarch), according to Buddhist legend i.e., the greatest King among world rulers. Chakrawartin means in Sanskrit ‘ Wheel Turner’ i.e., one who upholds the Dharma and ‘he who turns the wheel (of Dharma)’. He is the secular representation of the Buddha.

The Buddha is renowned for having set the “wheel of dharma” in motion when he delivered his first sermon at Varnasi, which is named as the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. This “turning of the wheel” portrays a great and revolutionary change with universal consequences, instituted by an exceptional human being – Gautama the Buddha.

Senaka Weeraratna